Saturday -- Z-Man Invitational Walleye Classic
The 7th Annual Z-Man (Glen Zimmerman) Invitational Walleye Classic -- as it was listed on the hand towel Glen gave out -- began on Saturday, September 19 at 7:00 a.m. on Leech Lake. Glen, who lives in the grouping of houses collectively known as The Harbor, puts on this little get-together as part of his birthday celebration. His birthday is September 19, same as Rick's. Happy birthday Rick.
To ensure an early start for the one-day tournament, I met John Newman at his place at 6:15 a.m. for breakfast. I had awakened around 4:00 a.m. this morning and had not been able to go back to sleep. So by the time I got to John's I'd already been up for more than two hours.
We ate a Hearty Angler's Breakfast® consisting of ham, bacon, eggs, home-fried potatoes, and English muffins along with coffee and orange juice. By 7:00 a.m. our bellies were full and we were ready to do some walleye fishing.
We hit the water just after 7:00 a.m. under clear skies and a temperature of 65 degrees, on its way to a high of 80. The winds were light in the morning hours at 5-8 mph out of the SSE, but as the day progressed, so did the winds shifting to the south and increasing to 12-18 mph. The water temperature was 72.4 degrees.
John and I started the morning by trolling Minnow Raps in The Alley in 9-12 feet of water at a ground speed of just over 2 mph. We caught three big northern pike, including one John hooked that was close to, if not, 30 inches. But no walleye.
Around 9:00 a.m. we switched tactics. We both used jigs tipped with fathead minnows. I used an 1/8 oz. Lindy Max Gap jig in chartreuse, and John used a round jig head similar to a Northland Gum Ball jig. We took advantage of the wind, and drifted north from Second Duck Point to past the Malay's cabin in 9-11 feet of water.
After several drifts, numerous perch and a northern pike or two, I finally boated our first walleye of the day, a nice 16" fish that I kept (Although I subsequently let it go because it was just 16" long and fairly skinny. I prefer to keep 16 1/2" to 17 1/2" walleye if they've got some weight to them).
I recorded my catch on my official tournament scorecard, and got back to fishing.
John and I made several more passes between Second Duck and the Malay's, but neither of us caught another walleye; but we did continue to catch perch, and I hooked into at least a couple of pike because twice I lost my jig to a "toothy" biter and had to re-tie.
We decided to motor over to Big Hardwood Point because the word was the walleye were active over there. When we arrived it was obvious we weren't the only ones who had heard about the walleye biting at Big Hardwood because there were at least a dozen other boats in the area.
John and I spent about an hour or more jigging fatheads around the point, but we didn't get so much as a perch bite. Finally we decided to head north to another location I know, which I've dubbed the "Hole." It consists of 15-18 feet of water surrounded by shallower water of 10-12 feet. It's located in front of the old Bay Shore Resort on the north end of Sucker Bay. I've caught walleye there before, so we thought we'd give it a try.
We made numerous passes through the Hole, around it, along side of it, near it, etc., but we only caught a few small perch. At 2:20 p.m. we came ashore for some lunch, to regroup, and map out a plan of action for the final few hours of the tournament.
John and I hit the water again around 3:45 p.m. and fished for another three hours. Our location this time was the only place where we'd seen a walleye today -- the Alley between Second Duck Point and the Malay's cabin in 9-11 feet of water.
We both caught numerous perch, in fact John keep several of them, but no walleyes saw the inside of the boat. At 6:45 p.m. we made our way back to the boat lift and eventually to Glen's cabin at the Harbor for the tournament wrap up and dinner.
The winner of this year's Z-Man Invitational Walleye Classic did so with a total of 83 1/2 inches for four fish, a nice group of fish indeed. Lainee Malay and Lenette Gabrielson made the dinner of shredded beef sandwiches, beans, pasta salad, etc. After dinner, door prizes were handed out and by 8:30 p.m. John and I were on our way back to our respective houses.
We had been on the water for the better part of the day, and even though we only caught one walleye between us, we had another great day on Leech Lake.
Sunday
Today was cooler than yesterday with a temperature of 77 degrees as a high and the mid 50s for a low. The sky was filled with big billowy clouds early in day that darkened by noon, but eventually gave way to a clear night sky filled with stars. Even the Milky Way was visible overhead in a north-south arc. The wind varied from 10-12 mph early in the day to more than 20 mph midday, with gusts up over 30 mph, before calming to 8-12 mph after dark.
The moon was 5 percent waxing and sunset was at 7:19 p.m. The water temperature was 71.2 degrees.
I made it out onto the water for the first time today around 11:45 a.m. I went south toward Second Duck Point but pulled up in front of Giza's cabin in 9 feet of water. I deployed the drift sock, put a fathead minnow on my Lindy Max Gap jig and started drifting north. I made only two passes before the wind started to really kick up, so by 1:00 p.m. I was back on shore. I had caught no fish.
John Newman invited me over for dinner, and we dined on brined then oven-roasted chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes and corn. Sure, the meal lacked any green leafy vegatables, but is sure was tasty.
At 7:15 p.m. John and I went onto the water for an evening trolling session. We trolled The Alley in 9-12 feet of water pulling Rapala Minnow Raps. I caught a small pike and a 22" walleye. Those were the only fish we caught, however, and by 9:30 p.m. we were back on shore.
It was a beautiful autumn day in northern Minnesota and I feel blessed to have spent it on Leech Lake.
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