Looking south on Sucker Bay toward Second Duck Point
A view from the inside of my boat toward our cabin and house
At 10 a.m. this morning the sky was gray and hazy, it looked as if it might rain, the wind a slight wind out of the SSE at maybe 5-8 mph and the temperature was 66 degrees. According to the weather reports, it might hit 79 degrees today, although there is a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms.
One of the many chores I need to complete before I leave for San Jose is filling the various cracks in our asphalt driveway. The harsh -30 degree winters and humid, hot 90 degree summers really do a number on asphalt. I filled one of the cracks as a test, and it seems to be acceptable, so I'm going to fill other cracks later this afternoon. But first, some fishing.
At 12:40 p.m. I took the boat out into 10 feet of water in front of our house. With the light 5 mph SSE blowing, it pushed the boat toward Malay's and out into deeper water. I made three such drifts and caught 3 big rock bass, a number of perch, including a couple of jumbos, and a 12" walleye. At 2:00 p.m. I came ashore because I needed to eat some lunch, and hadn't taken any food with me out onto the boat.
After I ate lunch I decided to fill in more of the cracks in our asphalt driveway. I managed to fill all of the major cracks, but it took all of my concentration and determination to do so because I was constantly surrounded by a large, buzzing cloud of mosquitoes.
Personally, I have never had so many of the blood-sucking insects around me at one time in my entire life. They were biting my hands, face, ears, neck, and nose and were even trying to get into my eyes. I tried not to let the miniature vampires affect me, but it was hard not to be distracted. It should be interesting to see just how well those cracks are filled in once the mosquitoes retreat.
I went out fishing at 3:30 p.m. Originally I had planned to do some walleye fishing in front of our house in 10-12 feet of water, but I changed my mind and motored down to Norm's to try to catch a "welcome bass." Usually, the first cast into the reeds in front of Norm's cabin produces a nice largemouth bass, thus we dubbed the experience a welcome bass. Unfortunately, my Senko Texas-rigged on a 3/0 hook brought no bass to welcome me.
I moved to Bass Bay right in front of the harbor and began throwing a spinner bait. I moved around for some time and caught only one small rock bass. With my bass fishing not producing fish I decided to go back to "plan A" and fish for walleye in front of our house. I fired up the Mercury Verado and started on my way at 35 mph.
But about half way to our house from Bass Bay the big Verado coughed a couple of times and then stopped altogether. I tried starting it three or four times, but it simply wouldn't turn over. Luckily, I still have "Little E," my trusty Honda 8.8hp kicker motor. I started up the Honda and slowly motored back to the boat lift.
Once the boat was on the lift, I raised the boat just enough so that the boat was secure but the Verado was in the water. I turned off the power to everything, then switched it back on. I then tried to start the Verado and this time it turned over on the first try and sounded like it was running normally.
With the Verado still running, I lowered the boat back in the water and took the boat out for a test drive. The Verado seemed to work fine at slow speeds so I opened it up and got it up to 35-40 mph. Again, the motor seemed to run fine, just as it always has. I was getting ready to take the boat back to the boat lift, when I changed my mind and decided to do a little walleye fishing as I had planned before my motor troubles started.
I put a shiner on my lime green/black XPS jig and dropped it into the 11 feet of 65 degree water. I jigged for about a half an hour with no success, so I decided to go ashore. I was anxious to see if the Verado would start; but no worries, it turned over and started on the first try. I took the boat in and put it on the boat lift.
As I was getting out of the boat I noticed 30-40 largemouth bass swimming under the dock and boat lift. They were joined with some absolutely jumbo perch and monster blue gills. I quickly got back in the boat, got out a light tackle rod and reel set up with a tiny jig, spinner and soft plastic.
I made about 10 short casts just beyond the boat lift, but while scores of bass followed my lure, I could only coax one into biting. So as it turns out, I caught more largemouth bass right off my dock than I did at Norm's (normally a hot bed for largemouth activity) or up in Bass Bay.
Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to go into Bemidji either tomorrow or on Saturday to get my boat trailer, which apparently has been repaired with a new coupling, in case I have additional motor problems and need to take the boat out of the water and into Corner Sports for repairs.
At 9:00 p.m. this evening the temperature was a very muggy 68 degrees, the air was heavy and foreboding with strong thunderstorms looming to the south. I contemplated going fishing, and was even as far as the end of the dock getting into the boat, when those dark threatening skies suggested to me to stay in tonight.
By the time I went back to the house, put my things away and walked out onto the end of the dock at the house, the storm had moved nearly on top of me. The sky, which is usually light until 10:30 p.m. is now pitch black at 9:15 p.m. The rain is starting to fall. The wind is starting to blow hard. There is lightening and thunder. The storm is upon us!!
I’m going to stay in tonight, watch the storm, listen to classical music on KCRB and maybe watch a movie. I think that will be a nice way to complete another great day at Leech Lake.
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