October 11, 2008 on Leech Lake

Today was another cold, grey and rainy day. The temperature was 52 degrees, the wind was out of the NW at 5-8 mph and the water temperature was 51.5 degrees.

I put my aerated bucket of fathead minnows in the boat and shoved off from the boat lift at 1:00 p.m. under completely grey skies and a light rain. I decided that rather than heading north to the Birches, that I was start my drift at Second Duck Point in 8-12 feet of water.

I tipped my 1/8 oz. Northland spinner/jig with a fathead and got down to business. For the next 2 1/2 hours I caught several good-sized perch, but decided to put all of them back into Leech Lake.

At 3:15 p.m. the wind started to pick up and I saw lightening over the north end of Sucker Bay. I decided that staying on the water with lightening that close was foolish, so I fired up my Mercury Verado, put the big 150hp motor in gear and quickly made it back to the boat lift. No sooner had I come ashore than lightening was striking all over Sucker Bay, many bolts right where I had been fishing just minutes ago.

I made the short walk from the cabin to the house and in that brief time the storm had moved directly overhead. First it began to rain very hard, then the storm started to pelt us with heavy hail. About 20 minutes into the storm the power went out. This created a bit of concern for all of us residents on the Peninsula because tonight is the night of the annual Otter Tail Peninsula Association potluck dinner at the Community Center. Without power, none of us would be able to prepare the food that we had planned to bring to the potluck.

As the afternoon turned into evening, and without power, phone calls were made to the Association President, VP and Secretary to find out if the potluck was a 'go' or not. Around 5:30 p.m., just a half hour before the scheduled start of the potluck, word was sent out that the event would be postponed until tomorrow 1 p.m.

Kathleen and I settled in front of a roaring fire in the living room to stay warm -- the outside temperature was now in the 40s -- and listened to A Prairie Home Companion on the portable radio.

Finally around 9:30 p.m. the power was restored.

Just another interesting day on Leech Lake, where the weather is an important part of every day.

October 10, 2008 on Leech Lake

Today the temperature hit only 41 degrees and there was a hard, steady rain all day long. Fall is definitely here. The wind was at 8 mph out of the NW.

Despite the rain, the cold and dark skies, I decided I'd do some later afternoon fishing. I hit the water at 4:00 p.m.

I drifted off the Birches along the weed line using a jig/spinner tipped with a live fathead minnow (I picked up a couple of scoops yesterday). I caught no fish.

I switched to trolling a Minnow Rap and again was skunked. It was very cold on Leech Lake as the sun was sinking low, so I decided I'd head to shore at 5:25 p.m.

Once on shore I cleaned the walleye that I had caught on Oct. 7, and Kathleen and I had it for dinner. Nothing beats a fresh Leech Lake walleye dinner.

Tomorrow is the annual Otter Tail Peninsula Association potluck dinner at the Community Center. Since purchasing our house in 2001, I've yet to miss a potluck dinner -- this will be my eighth.

My boat on the lift at the cabin. The reeds, like the leaves on the trees, have turned yellow.

October 9, 2008 -- A Scenic Drive

Today was another very windy day. The sky was mostly sunny, the wind was 20+ mph out of the WSW. The temperature was 54 degrees.

Kathleen and I needed to go into town to pick up a few groceries, but rather make our usual run to Bemidji, we decided we would go into Deer River, and then take the "scenic" way home. In northern Minnesota, in the Chippewa National Forest, nearly every highway and road you could possibly drive on is scenic. The route we had planned was one we had never taken before and we figured it would be especially beautiful since the leaves on the trees were near full Fall color.

After our stop in Deer River we started out heading west on Hwy. 2 for just a couple of miles before turning off on State Route 46 heading NW. State Rt. 46 led us to the far eastern edge of Lake Winnibigoshish where the Mississippi River flows out of the lake. Kathleen and I stopped there to check out the beautiful scenery around the river.

We then continued NW on State Rt. 46 to Alvwood where we turned west onto County Route 13/30 (it's Rt. 13 in Itasca County and turns into Rt. 30 when you cross into Beltrami County). This was a particularly spectacular road, so we took our time and enjoyed every colorful tree and beautiful meadow.

County Route 30 took us into the small town of Blackduck, just east of Blackduck Lake. We stopped in Blackduck so Kathleen could check the incredible fabric store in town. I have to admit, I've never seen a fabric store, even the big chains, with such an amazing selection of material.

We left Blackduck going south on County Rt. 39. That took us through the Buena Vista State Forest by the eastern shore of Kitchi Lake and Cass Lake. Along Rt. 39 we stopped in the very tiny town of Pennington, where I bought two scoops of fathead minnows. Eventually Rt. 39 led us to Hwy. 2 again, about 10 miles west of Sucker Bay Road.

The entire venture took us four or five hours and we couldn't have had a better time. The sun was shining most of the day, the color of the Fall leaves on the trees was spectacular, and we saw no more than 5 or 6 cars the whole trip. Although we didn't spend the day at Leech Lake, we did enjoy the splendor of northern Minnesota.

October 8, 2008

Today was a beautiful Fall day, although very windy. The temperature was 52 degrees and the wind was 20+ mph out of the SW. The sky was mostly sunny.

Kathleen and I did some final touch-up painting at the cabin today, and then played in the yard by chasing, and trying to catch, the leaves as they were blown off the trees. We spent nearly all day outside and had a wonderful time.

No fishing on Leech Lake today.