August 12, 2008 on Leech Lake

Above is a picture taken this evening from the edge of the harbor at our Leech Lake house. You wouldn't know it from this picture, but earlier in the day it was very windy. Under overcast skies and a temperature of only 68 degrees, the winds were relatively strong at 10-20 mph from the SW.

Despite the wind, I decided to do some more drifting for panfish since the bite had been so good the previous two days. I used a 1/16 oz. Northland Neon-tone Gum-Ball jig and a gold Colorado spinner blade, tipped with either a Gulp 2" orange grub or a Gulp 3" pearl silver minnow. And boy did the fish go after these baits today.

Drifting north from in front of our house to just past Norm's cabin in 7-10 feet of water, I caught dozens of good-sized perch, including some jumbos, a number of good-sized crappie and bluegill, and for good measure, a couple of rock bass (the scourge of Northwoods fishing; although they do put up a good fight).

In the evening I stayed on shore and enjoyed watching the beautiful sunset with Kathleen. Anther great day at Leech Lake.

August 11, 2008 on Leech Lake

Much like yesterday, today was a perfect day to drift for panfish. The sky was overcast, the temperature had cooled to 70 degrees, the water temperature dropped slightly to 74 degrees, but the winds were almost identical to yesterday -- calm to 8 mph out of the south.

I left the boat lift at 1:15 p.m., pulled the boat out to 8 feet of water, put the drift sock in the water and drifted from our cabin to between Norm's and Schiebe's. I used a very similar system that I did yesterday, with one small change. Like yesterday, I used a 1/8 oz. white crappie jig tipped with a Gulp silver pearl minnow. The change was that I added a small, silver-colored Colorado blade spinner to the jig. I have found that using the spinner blade adds a little more flash to the lure and can many times mean more fish in the boat.

I had a good afternoon of fishing, catching numerous perch, crappie and rock bass, before heading to shore for some lunch at 3:30 p.m.

After a quick bite to eat, I was back on the water by 4:15 p.m. I used the same jig/spinner blade set up and again caught a number of perch and crappie. Then right around 6:30 p.m., something big hit my lure, peeled off a good amount of line before biting right through the 6 lb. test Fireline Crystal; no small feat. It was obviously some type of heavy toothy critter on the line, I'm guessing either a big pike or a small muskie. I took this as a sign to call it a day. I'll be back on Leech Lake tomorrow, weather permitting.

August 10, 2008 on Leech Lake

The winds today were relatively calm -- from 2 to 6 mph out of the SSW -- which meant that if I wanted to drift for panfish, all I had to do was pull the boat out of the lift, motor out to about 7 or 8 feet of water, turn the boat sideways, drop in the drift sock (to keep the boat from spinning rather than to slow the speed of the boat) and drop a jig into the water, which is exactly what I did.

I pulled the boat out of the lift at 1:45 p.m., with the temperature 78 degrees and the water temperature at 75.5 degrees. I used a small, 1/8 oz. white crappie jig tipped with a 3" Gulp silver pearl minnow. The slight breeze blew the boat from straight out in front of our house past Norm's on the way toward Schiebe's. Most of the fish I caught, however, came from the stretch of water from in front of our cabin north to Norm's.

I caught numerous perch, rock bass, bluegill and crappie. The highlight of the day was catching a crappie so big it can only be described as humongous. It was by far the largest crappie I've ever put in the boat. I also caught another giant crappie, not quite as big as the first one, but close, and monster bull bluegill. All of the fish were released unharmed.

At 5:00 p.m., after an enjoyable day on Leech Lake, I returned the boat to the lift and called it a day.