June 11, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

At 10:00 a.m. this morning, the wind was at 8-12 mph out of the west, the sky was mostly sunny, with just a few big white fluffy billowy clouds, and the temperature is 54 degrees. If the local weather report can be believed, it's supposed to warm to 65 degrees by the middle of the afternoon.

Since my ATV has been in the shop since my arrival here at Leech Lake, I've yet to take a ride around the peninsula. I think after breakfast I'll take the ATV for a ride, and maybe stop in to say hi to a couple of neighbors I've yet to see. I'm also sure that sometime later today, probably no later than noon or 1:00 p.m., Rick and I will go fishing.

There are already a number of boats out on the water. As I look through the binoculars at the boat licences of the handful of boats right in front of our dock, I see boats from Iowa (FIBs), Nebraska, South Dakota and Missouri. In the past few days, I've also spotted boats from Kansas, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois, as well as Minnesota.

Apparently the ongoing stream of articles about the great walleye fishing at Leech Lake keep a steady flow of out-of-staters coming to our little slice of Northwoods paradise. Unfortunately these "meat hunters" insist on keeping almost any fish they catch including 5-lb largemouth bass, small perch and bluegill, and even rock bass.

According to Frank at Birch Ridge Resort, a number of his guests also try to keep slot-walleyes, that is, walleyes from 18-26" which by Minnesota law must be returned to the lake. I've also heard reports that Mark, the local MN DNR officer, has handed out many citations to fishermen who keep illegal-sized walleye. Go home FIBs.

Rick and I went fishing at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon. We started at "The Hole," and while we caught several perch while jigging shiners in 13-15 feet of water, and even a "Charlie Brown," we didn't catch any walleye. The water temperature at the north end of Sucker Bay was 62 degrees. We decided to move to Second Duck Point, but upon arrival there we found 8 boats already camped on that spot so we kept motoring south to Otter Tail Point.

We jigged shiners for about 20 minutes, but when that method produced no bites we switched to trolling Minnow Raps. We made a couple of passes off the Point in 13-15 feet of water, but didn't catch anything. At 4:15 p.m. we made our way back to shore.

We're going to have BBQ'd pork ribs for dinner tonight, and will then go trolling in our usual evening spot -- Malay's to the north and Second Duck Point to the south in 8-12 feet of water.

Rick and I hit the water at 9:10 p.m. and there was only one other boat within sight; and by 9:30 p.m. that boat took off for the resort leaving us alone on the water. The water tonight was as still as is possible as a result of no wind; the water temperature was 63 degrees. The air temperature was 50 degrees.

About 9:45 p.m., just off Second Duck Point, Rick caught a 23" walleye while trolling a purpledescent #9 Minnow Rap. Shortly thereafter, I caught a nice 17" eater-sized walleye, but with a fish already in the basket for tomorrow's dinner, we let it go.

Then on a single pass from Malay's to Second Duck Point, in 8.5 feet of water, Rick caught a 20 1/2" walleye, a 21 1/2" eyeball and a massive 25 3/4" walleye (a personal best for Rick). Then, as quickly as the bite turned on, it turned off again. We made two complete passes from Malay's to Second Duck Point without so much as a tap and a miss, so we decided to come ashore.

It was beautiful, and productive, night on Leech Lake.