September 11, 2008 on Leech Lake

I picked up our friend Rick at the airport last night at 10:45 p.m. We didn't get to our house on Leech Lake until near midnight. I know Rick was happy to be at the lake again.

After spending the morning and early afternoon on shore, Rick and I decided to some fishing just after lunch. We hit the water at 1:00 p.m. The temperature was 67 degrees, the skies mostly sunny, the winds were 5-10 mph out of the NW. I had told Rick about the recent run of great panfishing, so he asked if we could try that.

I took the boat north on Sucker Bay until we were in about 12 feet of water in front of Schiebe's cabin. I recorded the water temperature of 62 degrees. With a NW wind, this would allow us to drift SE right along the weed line near the Birches where the panfish bite had been great the past couple of weeks.

Rick and I caught several perch, crappie and bluegill. I kept only one of the jumbo perch I hooked, and by 3:30 p.m. we were back on shore.

After dinner, Rick wanted to go trolling for walleye, and he didn't need to ask me twice. We hit the water at 8:00, and by the time we came in at 10:30 p.m., I had boated four walleye. I caught a 14", two 17 1/2" and a 24" walleye. We decided to keep the two 17 1/2" 'eyes for a future fish fry.

Our lures of choice tonight were the Rapala Minnow Raps. Rick used a variety of colors, but caught no fish, I stayed with my favorite color -- hot steel -- and caught four walleye. Rick swears that tomorrow night he's going to use a Minnow Rap with some purple in it.

September 10, 2008

Today was an overcast, drizzly kind of a day. A grey day.

The temperature hit only 62 degrees and the winds were light again at 5 mph out of the SW.

I power-washed the game room deck and the "fish" garage in preparation for painting and staining them.

Our friend Rick, from Brisbane, Australia, arrives tonight at the Bemidji airport. I'll drive into town later to pick him up.

No fishing on Leech Lake today.

September 9, 2008

The winds were light today at 5 mph out of the SW, the temperature was 68 degrees and the skies were partly cloudy. It would have been a good day to go fishing, but I had work to do at the cabin, so I stayed on shore.

I power-washed the cabin and game room in preparation for painting.

NOTE: The water level in the lake is down a full 18 inches from early June. We really need rain.