October 20, 2009 -- On Leech Lake

This morning at 8:30 a.m. the temperature is 38 degrees, the sky is completely cloudy and gray, the wind is light at 5-7 mph from the NW and the ground is wet from an overnight rain. It is supposed to rain on and off for the next several days.

At 1:15 p.m. Kathleen and I went for a walk. I walked with her as far as the beaver swamp, then turned and walked home (about 2.5 miles) while Kathleen went all the way to the Community Center and back (a 6 mile trip).

On my way back to the house I stopped by Malay's to discover that Tom had pulled his boat out of the water by himself. He thought the water level may have been too low to do it, but he decided to try anyway. Apparently he donned his waders and walked the boat around the dock and onto the trailer, then used the strap and wench to secure his boat onto the trailer. He never even fired up the motor.

After my stop at Malay's I went to the cabin where I retrieved the walleye from the wire basket, cleaned it, and got it ready for our dinner tonight. I am going to make baked walleye, risotto and asparagus.

I brought a load of firewood into the garage and cleaned out the fireplace in case Kathleen and I decide to have a fire tonight.

The temperature at 3:45 p.m. is 38 degrees, the sky is gray and overcast, there is a light rain falling and the wind is light at 5-8 mph out of the NW.

At 5:00 p.m. I went fishing. There was still a light rain falling, the temperature was 39 degrees, the wind had shifted and was blowing at 5-8 mph out of the NNE and the water temperature was 43.7 degrees.

The way the wind was blowing enabled me to start at The Birches in 9-10 feet of water and drift in that same depth all the way back to my boat lift. I used an 1/8 oz. pink jig tipped with a fathead minnow. I caught one nice jumbo perch, which I put back into the lake, but caught no other fish, and didn't have any other bites.

I came ashore around 6:15 p.m. I was planning to cook the walleye I had cleaned earlier in the day, but Kathleen and I decided to eat light, opting instead for some hors d'ouvres and salad. We'll have the walleye and risotto tomorrow night.

We listened to music, watched the fire in the fireplace and eventually watched a movie. Once again we went to bed late. Oh well, that's what you do when you're at Leech Lake.