October 11, 2009 -- On Leech Lake

It was another cold morning. At 8:30 a.m. the temperature was 26 degrees, the sky was gray and the wind was 12-15 mph out of the WSW.

After some breakfast and a pot of strong coffee I decided I'd go fishing. I didn't actually make it out onto the lake, however, until 1:15 p.m. The wind was supposed to die down to around 5-8 mph out of the SSW, but when I got out on the water it was still blowing at 12-15 mph.

I motored the boat slowly out past Second Duck Point giving the Mercury Verado plenty of time to warm up. I stopped the boat in 9 1/2 feet of water, put the drift sock (which was encased in ice) and put a fathead on my 1/8 oz. VMC Hot Skirt Glow jig.

With the wind out of the SSW, the boat drifted to the north toward our house and cabin. About halfway through the drift, the wind started to pick up. The hour-by-hour weather report had the wind speed dropping, but instead it increased. By the time I got in front of our house the wind was probably blowing at 15-18 mph out of the SSW, there were the beginnings of white caps and I was traveling at a ground speed of almost 1 mph even with the drift sock in the water.
During my entire drift I marked a good deal of fish on the Lowrance electronics, but I didn't get one bite.

Right around 2:30 p.m., and with the boat in front of the Malay's house, and still no bites, I decided to head in. I was cold, the wind was blowing hard and it was even spitting snow. The water temperature was 45 degrees.

I had a tough time getting the boat onto the lift because the waves had become so large and my hands were ice cold grabbing onto the boat lift to steady the boat. Once I got back home it took probably 10 minutes for my hands to warm up. My fingers felt as if they were on fire and being stuck with millions of needles all at the same time.

Once I had thoroughly warmed up, it was time to go outside again. At 5:15 p.m. I took my walk down to Paulsen's and back. It was a great walk and I wasn't cold at all.

On the way home I stopped at the cabin and picked up another few pieces of firewood. With the temperatures due to drop to the mid-20s I knew I needed a fire tonight.

About a half hour after getting home I contemplated going fishing again; this time an evening troll for walleye. It appeared that the wind had died down some, so I got on my Gore-Tex bibs and parka, my wool hat and walked over to the boat lift.

As if it were some kind of warning from the weather gods, several very large gusts of wind hit me just as I was climbing into the boat. I lowered the motor, turned on the power to the boat, and got hit with several more gusts of very strong wind.

I sat in the boat for about five minutes during which time the wind continued to blow very hard. I figured I didn't want to battle rough water and wind at night in the dark and cold, so I went back to the house and started a fire.

I stayed in tonight enjoying the warmth of the fire and reading the Sunday paper. Later I watched a movie before heading off to bed.

I'm hoping the wind dies down tomorrow so I can get in some more fishing on Leech Lake.