July 23, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

6 Days and Counting...

Believe it or not, the temperature hit 78 degrees this afternoon! That's the warmest it's been here at Leech Lake in a number of weeks. The water temperature has warmed to 70 degrees.

The wind today was light at 5-8 mph out of the SSE, but the sky was mostly cloudy. As the day progressed, the cloud cover increased until it the sky was completely overcast by 4:30 p.m. There is a chance of a late-afternoon or early-evening thunderstorm.

My nephew Jackson and I went fishing from 1:15 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and tried numerous locations on Sucker Bay from Second Duck Point to in front of our house to The Birches. Jackson caught numerous perch, including some very nice-sized ones, some rock bass and a 22" northern pike. Jackson was using a jig, a small Colorado blade spinner and a chartreuse plastic trailer.

I used a variety of jigs and plastic and a jig tipped with a leech. I caught a few perch and rock bass, but no northerns or walleye.

This evening I made BBQ chicken and roasted corn-on-the-cob for dinner. Afterward we sat around the camp fire and made s'mores. Ashley and Jackson played ping pong while Sandy, Liz and I sat around the fire and talked.

As of 10:00 p.m. we still haven't had any thunderstorms, or even any rain.

After we doused the fire, we went back to the house to watch a movie. Liz and Ashley leave for St. Cloud tomorrow. I hope they enjoyed their time at Leech Lake.