May 29, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

Rick with a 23 1/2-inch Leech Lake walleye; off Second Duck Point.

Today was Rick's first day on Leech Lake since September 2008 and he was happy to be back on it. We started fishing today jigging with shiners at the Birches. We caught a couple of small perch but no walleye. Then we motored across Sucker Bay to Big Hardwood Point where we joined about 8 other boats. We again jigged for walleyes with shiners and again were skunked.

We then motored back across the bay to Second Duck Point where we decided to fore go jigging and start trolling crankbaits. That was the ticket.

Using #9 Rapala Minnow Raps -- Rick's in purpledescent color and me with a bleeding hot olive colored lure -- we started to catch fish.

I caught several perch, a rock bass and a small northern (generally disappointing), but Rick did much better. He caught a perch, a small 9" walleye, as well as a 22" and 23 1/2" walleye.

The temperature today was a pleasant 66 degrees as a high, with a low of 42. The water temperature was 61 degrees. The wind while we were out fishing was 6 mph from the south, but by evening it had picked up to 15-25 mph from the NW so we didn't go out trolling tonight. The wind finally died down to around 5-10 mph from the west around 10 p.m.

A very good day on Leech Lake.

May 28, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

Today was a strange day weather wise. The morning sky was overcast and gray, but the winds were relatively light at 5-8 mph out of the south. As the day progressed, the skies cleared to sunny, but the wind picked up to 12-18 mph and shifted to the NW. The lake got very choppy.

The temperature today hit a high of 68 degrees and the low was around 40.

Tom Malay stopped by today with his trailer. We had talked last night while fishing that he would help me load my ATV onto the trailer and then he'd take it into Bemidji Sports on Friday when he and Lainey (his wife) went into town. It was a very nice gesture and I took him up on it.

After Tom left with my ATV in tow, I transplanted a small cedar tree from near the house to near the shoreline by the harbor. Over time, this little cedar tree, along with the cedar tree I transplanted last year, should provide a nice wind block and help stop shoreline erosion.

I did other chores around the properties today included making the beds at the cabin, watered the plants and the newly planted spruce trees and generally cleaned house. At 10:50 p.m., my friend Rick from Brisbane, Australia arrived at the Bemidji airport. By the time we got home it was after midnight.

No fishing on Leech Lake today.

May 27, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

Yesterday when I went into Bemidji I bought two small Colorado blue spruce trees from the Home Depot. Today, I planted them near the property line between our cabin and Poage's. I dubbed the trees the "Jayden trees," in honor of our little grandson Jayden Stephen who was born on Easter Sunday. I plan to track the growth of both Jayden and the trees over time.

It was a pleasant day to work in the yard. The high temperature today was 60 degrees with a low of 42. The sky started out overcast, but gradually cleared to mostly sunny. The wind was out of the SSE from near calm to 8 mph.

At 1:30 p.m. I decided to go fishing. I started out at Second Duck Point and drifted with the breeze past our house and all the way to the Birches. I used a jig and shiner and was able to hook two very nice jumbo perch, a rock bass and a 15" walleye. All were released. Just before 5:00 p.m. I came to shore for some dinner.

At 6:30 p.m. I hit the lake again; this time trolling a crankbait. I used a #9 Minnow Rap in "bleeding hot olive" color and caught a northern and 14" walleye. Then I got a call on my cell phone. It was Tom Malay asking if I wanted to go fishing, which of course I was already doing. I told him to meet me at the end of his dock and I'd pick him up.

After getting Tom, his fishing rods, and cooler into the boat, we trolled from his place south past Second Duck Point in water depths ranging from 8-12 feet. The water temperature tonight was 58.7 degrees.

I caught another 14" walleye as well as a 15" eyeball. Tom caught walleyes of 12", 14" and 17". He kept the 17" fish.

We got back to the boat lift around 10:30 p.m. and I was inside the house by 10:45 p.m. Another fantastic day of fishing on Leech Lake -- 7 walleyes boated today.

May 26, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The high temperature today was only 52 degrees and the low dropped to 38. It was gray, overcast and drizzly all day. The wind was 10-20 mph out of the NNW, and with stronger gusts, the lake was choppy and often filled with white caps. I decided today would be a good day to go into Bemidji.

My first stop was Corner Sports where I dropped off the boat trailer for repairs. I then went to drop off my PC to get it fixed. I registered the truck for another year, got groceries, ran some other errands then drove home.

It was cold tonight, so I had my first fire in the fireplace while listening to classical music on KCRB.

No fishing on Leech Lake today.

May 25, 2009 -- Memorial Day at Leech Lake

The wind today was 10-15 mph from the SE which created a nice chop on the lake, but because of the direction of the wind it was calm and the water flat at the boat lift. The temperature today was a high of 62 degrees and a low of near 40. The water temperature was 61 degrees and the sky was overcast and gray.

Mike, Barb and Sean left for home around 1:30 p.m. with a nice bag of walleye fillets on ice. After they left I decided to do a little fishing. I went out at 3:00 and stayed out only an hour because I wasn't catching any fish while jigging with a live shiner at Second Duck Point and because it started to rain and I wasn't wearing my rain gear.

I made it out onto Leech Lake, although I didn't catch any fish.

May 24, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The high temperature today was 70 degrees and the low was 44. It was partly cloudy and the winds varied from calm to 8 mph out of the south. The water temperature had warmed to 62 degrees.

At noon, I took my sister-in-law Barb and her son Sean out fishing. We decided to use jigs and live emerald shiners as we drifted around Second Duck Point. As I reported in past posts on this blog, newspapers in Minnesota, and elsewhere in the Midwest, have been writing stories about how "Leech Lake is back," and that if you want great walleye fishing "go to Leech Lake."

Obviously lots of people read those stories and acted upon them because as I piloted my boat to Second Duck Point we were surrounding by no less than 30 other boats. Undeterred, Barb, Sean and I put shiners on our jigs and got down to some walleye fishing.

We all caught a few perch, but no walleye. By 1:30 p.m. we decided to leave the crowded point and go back to the cabin for some lunch.

At 3:15 p.m. in the afternoon, we decided to once again try our luck drifting Second Duck Point with jigs and shiners. This time we were more successful. Or to be more specific, Barb was more successful. She caught a 12" and 14" walleye, both of which were released. Barb couldn't remember the last time she'd caught a walleye, so she was very satisfied with the outing. At 4:45 p.m. we headed to shore to get dinner going.

Later in the evening, just around 9:00 p.m., under a new moon, I took Sean out trolling for walleye -- our third fishing trip of the day. I used a #9 Minnow Rap in "bleeding hot olive" color and Sean used a perch colored Wally Diver. During the next two hours we trolled from a spot between Duck Point and Second Duck Point to the south, north to past the Malay's cabin in 8-12 feet of water.

Sean caught a 14" and a 15" walleye, and I caught five walleyes measuring 14", 16", 17", 18" and 20". All but the 17" walleye were released. I added the 17" walleye to the 17 1/2" walleye I'd caught a few days ago in the fish basket (which is kept off the end of the dock in the lake). I'll clean the two fish tomorrow and make sure that Barb and Sean leave here with enough walleye fillets for a nice dinner.

Another great day of fishing on Leech Lake.

May 23, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

It was much cooler today. The high was only 60 degrees and the low was near 40 degrees. The sky vacillated between cloudy and sunny all day long. At 12:15 p.m. I took the boat to Second Duck Point and drifted using a jig and Gulp minnows in smelt color.

The wind was out of the SSW at 8-12 mph so it pushed me from Second Duck Point past our house and toward Malay's in roughly 10-12 feet of water. The water temperature was 58 degrees.

I had several bites, probably small perch, but I didn't catch any fish so around 2:00 p.m. I went to shore. Nonetheless, it was nice to spend a couple of peaceful hours alone on Leech Lake.

When I got back to shore I got the cabin ready for my first visitors of the season, Kathleen's brother Mike, his wife Barb and my nephew Sean. They arrived around 5:00 p.m. We had a great evening spent listening to music, talking, and having a fire in the fire pit at the cabin.

They brought some live emerald shiners with them, so tomorrow I'll take Barb and Sean fishing with my first live bait experience since arriving. From what I've heard, live shiners are what the walleye are biting. We'll see.

May 22, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The winds today started out light at 5-8 mph out of the SW but increased throughout the day to 12-18 mph out of the west. I went out fishing at 12:30 p.m. with the temperature at the high for the day 70 degrees. The sky was partly cloudy and gradually grew to overcast.

I started drifting at the Birches and caught nothing, so I switched to the #7 Minnow Rap in hot steel color and tried some trolling in the 57.7 degree water. I caught one small perch and nothing else so at 2:00 p.m. I decided to go to shore.

I had a very nice rib dinner at the Newman's tonight and went home around 9:30 p.m. There is a strong chance of thunderstorms this evening.

May 21, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The winds today were out of the west at 15-20 mph. The high temperature was 61 degrees with a low of just 40 degrees. The sky was sunny and there were white caps on the lake, but I needed to get out on the water.

I awoke early this morning and had my boat on the lake by 6:30 a.m. I drifting using 4" Gulp minnows in smelt color on a Northland Slurp! Jig. I started fishing 8-10 feet of water off Second Duck Point, and gradually worked my way toward our house and eventually motored down to the Birches.

I caught a one jumbo perch, which I put back in the lake, and one FIB walleye (i.e., a rock bass). At 8:00 a.m. I went back to shore because the wind was really starting to pick up and the swells were getting a bit too big for me.

I saw my neighbor John Newman out on the lake, also up early and fishing, and he invited me over for coffee when we both got back on shore. We shared a pot of coffee, caught up on things and then I left to continue a variety of chores back at the house.

The order of business was to take the snow plow off the ATV and move the ATV from the garage attached to house to one of the out buildings we've dubbed the ATV garage. I keep the ATV in the attached garage during the winter, with the plow attached, to make it easier to plow the snow away from the house. But come springtime, I like to move it to the ATV garage so we have more room in the garage at the house.

I went to start the ATV but the battery was completely dead. I keep a trickle charger attached to the battery during the winter to keep the battery fresh, but I guess the battery is so old (7 years by my count) that it could no longer hold a charge. I used the pull cord to get the ATV started, lowered the winch I so could remove the snow plow blade, and then moved the ATV to the out building. I think I'll take the ATV into Bemidji Sports for service and a new battery next week sometime. I do a lot of the service on the ATV myself -- oil and filter change, air filter, grease all the various bearings, etc. -- but I have never had it in for a professional service and it's now due.

My next project was getting the Mosquito Magnet up and running. I had already charged the battery for 24 hours, so I was now ready to clear the hose entry and hook up a propane tank. At first the Magnet didn't work. But when I switched out propane tanks the thing fired up and started running properly.

As the sun set, the wind died down so I decided to go trolling for walleye -- my first such trip of the new season. I tied on a #7 Rapala Minnow Rap in a hot steel color and began trolling from Malays to past Second Duck Point in 8-12 feet of water. The water temperature was 58 degrees.

From 9:00 to 10:15 p.m. I caught a 12", 14 1/2", 17 1/2" and an 18 1/4" walleye. I kept the 17 1/2" fish for a later dinner.

After the various inconveniences of the past few days, it was really nice to settle into my Lund Pro V 1800 IFS boat and do some walleye fishing on Leech Lake!

May 20, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

2009 Minnesota Walleye Stamp

Tom Malay and Ron Neustrand stopped by this morning to help me put my boat in the water. Ron, a former mechanic on the railroad before he retired, took a look at the coupling on my trailer. I figured who better to look at a coupling and hitch than a former railroad mechanic.

Ron took apart the coupling and found a key component was cracked. After putting the assembly back together, Ron said that the coupling still didn't "ride right" on the 2" ball of the receiver hitch. He suggested I take it into Corner Sports for repairs, or better yet, a replacement coupling.

After we got the boat in the water and onto the boat lift, Tom and Ron helped me get the canopy onto the boat lift. We then shared a noon time beer and the two friends and neighbors departed. I then went back to the house to turn on the computer and begin blogging my experiences of the past day.

Unfortunately, a flaw in the Symantec Norton Antivirus software caused my PC to be stuck in a Windows XP reboot mode. Essentially, my PC was continually rebooting. I turned off the PC, unhooked every cable running to it, and got it ready to take into town on Monday for repairs (along with my boat trailer).

Since I couldn't use the PC, I went back outside and got the water pump primed and running so we can pump water from the lake to water our flowers, garden and trees. I then got in the truck and drove to Birch Ridge Resort where I purchased a 2009 fishing license and the first ever walleye stamp (photo above).

I got home and checked the lake to see if going fishing was an option. The temperature was a very warm 81 degrees, but the winds were strong at 10-15 mph out of the SSE which created quite some big chop on the water by mid-afternoon. I decided to stay on shore and work around the properties instead.

In the evening I went to turn on the furnace, because the temperature had dropped to a cool 44 degrees, only to discover that the furnace was on the blink too. Boat trailer. PC. And now the furnace. I put a call into the Hill's Heating and Plumbing and hopefully they'll call me back in the morning.

A variety of "things" may have gone awry, but one gigantic thing is working in my favor -- I'm at Leech Lake!