September 22, 2009 -- On Leech Lake

When I got out of bed this morning and looked outside, the ground was wet from an overnight rain. The sky was cloudy and looked like it could produce more rain at any time. The temperature was 62 degrees and the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the south.

As the morning evolved into early afternoon, however, no more rain fell and the sun actually broke through the heavy cloud cover. At 1:00 p.m. I decided to go fishing, and to my surprise and delight, my father asked if he could join me.

While my dad always took us to various northern Michigan locations for summertime vacations in remote cabins, he was never one to get out on the lake for any angling action. On this occasion I was more than happy to have him join me in the boat, even if he chose not to fish.

Once in the boat I noted that the water temperature had cooled to 70.2 degrees. The air temperature had warmed to the low 70s.

I started fishing in front of our house in 9-11 feet of water using a Lindy Max Gap jig tipped with a fathead minnow. I caught one small perch. There were seven other boats very close to us, many with licenses that showed them to be from Wisconsin and Iowa, so I decided to move to another location. I don't like fishing in packs of boats.

I moved the boat to 12-14 feet of water in front of the Malay's cabin, and again used a jig and minnow presentation. Again, I caught only a couple of small perch.

I decided it was time for another change of venue and presentation. I motored over to Norm's cabin and began throwing a spinner bait for bass. Using my MinnKota electric trolling motor I navigated along the edge of the reeds while making my way north toward Schiebe's cabin. I didn't catch any bass, but a big muskie broke the surface just in front of the boat. I caught a quick glimpse of its back, and both my dad and me saw and heard the big splash it made as it disappeared back into the water.

With the boat in front of The Birches, I stowed the electric trolling motor and moved the boat out into 9-10 feet of water. I fished The Birches for 20 minutes or so, but caught only one rock bass; again on a jig and minnow presentation.

At just after 3:00 p.m. we made our way back to shore. Within 30 minutes of coming ashore, the sky darkened and the wind shifted to the north and picked up to 12-15 mph. It looked like we were going to get some rain, but the dark clouds passed overhead without dropping any moisture.

The wind was still fairly strong as evening turned to night and rather than go out fishing by myself, I stayed inside and visited with my parents.

Tomorrow we'll be going into Bemidji to run some errands and to eat dinner in town. If the weather permits, I'd like to get out trolling tomorrow evening so I can attempt to catch a 16-18 inch walleye or two so we can have a fish fry dinner before my parents have to leave for home.

More from Leech Lake tomorrow.