The storm that passed by without dropping any rain on Sucker Bay
As he said they would be, my Dad and Mom were in the car by 10:00 a.m. on their way back to Illinois. I had a very nice visit with them, and I hope they enjoyed their time at Leech Lake as well.
After my parents left, I pulled out the power washer, hooked it up to the hose, started it up, and washed the back deck at the cabin. If it doesn't rain tonight, I'll paint the deck tomorrow morning.
I took care of some business emails and calls, and then around noon I had a chance to get out on the lake to do some fishing. I returned to the spot Duane Paulsen had told me about -- between Schiebe's cabin and the government cabins in 8-11 feet of water -- and immediately hooked a 24-inch northern. I was using a Lindy Max Gap jig tipped with a orange Northland Swim'N Grub. I returned the northern to the lake.
After a few more casts, with no bites, I switched to a live fathead minnow on my jig. I caught numerous perch, including two that bordered on being jumbos, so I put those in my live well. I fished until 2:00 p.m. but then came home.
The weather today was beautiful once again. This morning it started out around 56 degrees but warmed to 72 degrees by midday. The wind was out of the SSE at 5-10 mph, a perfect breeze for drifting for perch and walleye. The sky was partly cloudy and the water temperature was 70.6 degrees.
After doing more work and other household chores, I returned to the lake at 5:00 p.m. Once on the water I was met with dark skies in the south, and I was sure I'd have to scramble off the lake in a hurry to avoid getting pelted by the storm. I estimated that the storm was no more than 45 minutes away. But as the evening wore on, the storm dissipated, and blew to the west of Sucker Bay making it a perfect evening on the water.
The wind had picked up, to 8-12 mph, but was still out of the SSE. I used a jig and fatheads exclusively for my evening drift. I once again got things rolling by hooking a northern pike. This one was smaller than the one I caught earlier, around 18".
I caught numerous perch and one 13" walleye. I hoisted the little walleye into the boat without the aid of a net and as soon as it was over the boat it twisted and cut my line. The jig was still hooked in its mouth. I removed the jig, which was bent and needed to be replaced anyway, and put the little walleye back into the lake unharmed.
I retied using an 1/8 oz. VMC Hot Skirt Glow Jig in blue and tipped it with a fathead. I caught a few more perch, but no more walleye. At 7:00 p.m. I came ashore for the night. I decided to not go trolling tonight.
All in all, it was a fun and successful day of fishing on Minnesota's Leech Lake.
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