With no wind, Leech Lake is like glass this afternoon
As the pale yellow sun tried to force its way through the gray, snow laden clouds in the southeast and a 8-10 mph wind from the SSW made it feel even colder than the 28 degrees than the thermometer recorded, I went fishing this morning at 10:00 a.m.
I have a business conference call this morning at 11:30 a.m. so I figured I'd fish for an hour; until 11:00 a.m. In this cold, an hour might be challenging.
Completely bundled up in my Cabela's Guidewear Gore-Tex bib overalls and parka, I lowered the boat into the 44.4 degree water, started up the Mercury Verado motor, and slowly pulled away from the boat lift.
Instead of fishing off Second Duck Point or in front of our house and cabin, I decided to start fishing today just north of Norm's cabin drifting toward The Birches. Once I had arrived at my destination, I turned off the motor, deployed the drift sock, put a fathead minnow on my VMC Hot Skirt Glow jig and dropped it into the 9 feet of water just as a light snow began to fall.
Within minutes I feel that familiar tug on my line and I set the hook. A nice perch is boated. I put the perch back in the lake, put a new fathead on my jig and drop it back into the water.
Over the next 45 minutes I catch several more nice perch, including a couple of jumbos, and a 13 1/2" walleye; a beautiful little fish. All went back into the lake.
Just minutes before 11:00 a.m., as I was preparing to go ashore, something larger hit my jig. I hoped for a big walleye, but I could tell by the way it was fighting it was most likely a northern. Sure enough, as I got it close to the boat I could see it was big pike.
I got the fish along side the boat, grabbed it with my hand, at which point I noticed how warm the 44 degree water felt when compared to the air temperature, unhooked the pike and got it back in the water.
I noticed that the jig was completely bent and twisted as a result of being chopped on by Mr. pike. I cut the jig off the line and decided not to retie at this moment, but rather head home. I fired up the Verado and zipped home in no time flat.
Once again I proved to myself that you can't catch fish from the comfort of your living room, you have to get out on the lake to catch a walleye no matter how cold it may be.
After my conference call, a number of emails, some lunch, and my daily 2-mile walk I decided to go fishing again. I hit the water at 2:15 p.m.
I started in front of Malay's in 9 feet of water but had no luck. I motored a little further north to Norm's, but again caught nothing. I finally decided to go to The Birches, the site of my success earlier today.
Once at The Birches I could see a snow storm approaching from the west and north. As it got closer I lost all visual contact with the western shore of Sucker Bay. The government cabins disappeared behind a white wall of snow.
Before long I was fishing in the midst of a heavy snow storm. Big, white flakes were falling rapidly and beginning to pile up inside the boat. I've fished in thunderstorms, heavy rain, cold, wind, extreme heat and sun, but never had I been fishing open water in a blizzard.
Unfortunately, the snow storm didn't turn on the fish bite, and I finally gave up and came ashore just before 3:30 p.m. It looked like the snow fall from the movie It's A Wonderful Life. Giant, white flakes. Imagine the perfect Christmas morning snow; this was it.
At 5:30 p.m. I went to the Malay's to return some DVDs and pick some new ones. They have about 40 DVDs from a friend of theirs and they are loaning them to me.
I got home at 6:30 p.m. and immediately changed into my cold weather gear for my third time on the water today. This time I'd do some trolling.
I have a business conference call this morning at 11:30 a.m. so I figured I'd fish for an hour; until 11:00 a.m. In this cold, an hour might be challenging.
Completely bundled up in my Cabela's Guidewear Gore-Tex bib overalls and parka, I lowered the boat into the 44.4 degree water, started up the Mercury Verado motor, and slowly pulled away from the boat lift.
Instead of fishing off Second Duck Point or in front of our house and cabin, I decided to start fishing today just north of Norm's cabin drifting toward The Birches. Once I had arrived at my destination, I turned off the motor, deployed the drift sock, put a fathead minnow on my VMC Hot Skirt Glow jig and dropped it into the 9 feet of water just as a light snow began to fall.
Within minutes I feel that familiar tug on my line and I set the hook. A nice perch is boated. I put the perch back in the lake, put a new fathead on my jig and drop it back into the water.
Over the next 45 minutes I catch several more nice perch, including a couple of jumbos, and a 13 1/2" walleye; a beautiful little fish. All went back into the lake.
Just minutes before 11:00 a.m., as I was preparing to go ashore, something larger hit my jig. I hoped for a big walleye, but I could tell by the way it was fighting it was most likely a northern. Sure enough, as I got it close to the boat I could see it was big pike.
I got the fish along side the boat, grabbed it with my hand, at which point I noticed how warm the 44 degree water felt when compared to the air temperature, unhooked the pike and got it back in the water.
I noticed that the jig was completely bent and twisted as a result of being chopped on by Mr. pike. I cut the jig off the line and decided not to retie at this moment, but rather head home. I fired up the Verado and zipped home in no time flat.
Once again I proved to myself that you can't catch fish from the comfort of your living room, you have to get out on the lake to catch a walleye no matter how cold it may be.
After my conference call, a number of emails, some lunch, and my daily 2-mile walk I decided to go fishing again. I hit the water at 2:15 p.m.
I started in front of Malay's in 9 feet of water but had no luck. I motored a little further north to Norm's, but again caught nothing. I finally decided to go to The Birches, the site of my success earlier today.
Once at The Birches I could see a snow storm approaching from the west and north. As it got closer I lost all visual contact with the western shore of Sucker Bay. The government cabins disappeared behind a white wall of snow.
Before long I was fishing in the midst of a heavy snow storm. Big, white flakes were falling rapidly and beginning to pile up inside the boat. I've fished in thunderstorms, heavy rain, cold, wind, extreme heat and sun, but never had I been fishing open water in a blizzard.
Unfortunately, the snow storm didn't turn on the fish bite, and I finally gave up and came ashore just before 3:30 p.m. It looked like the snow fall from the movie It's A Wonderful Life. Giant, white flakes. Imagine the perfect Christmas morning snow; this was it.
At 5:30 p.m. I went to the Malay's to return some DVDs and pick some new ones. They have about 40 DVDs from a friend of theirs and they are loaning them to me.
I got home at 6:30 p.m. and immediately changed into my cold weather gear for my third time on the water today. This time I'd do some trolling.
The sun is setting at just around 6:30 p.m., so immediately upon getting the boat off the lift I had to put in rear navigation light and turn on the lights. I then got other things in the boat situated -- rod holder in place, landing net ready, flashlight nearby -- and started trolling south toward Second Duck Point with a #9 Minnow Rap.
Within minutes I had hooked a 2-foot long pike that had a big belly on it. I carefully unhooked the fish, trying not to get it into the boat, and got it quickly back into the lake.
I redeployed my Minnow Rap and started trolling again. I hadn't gone 50 yards when another fish hit my lure. It again felt like another northern, but as I got it closer to the boat I could see it was a big walleye. I netted the fish, removed the lure from its mouth and did a quick measurement -- 22 inches. And like the pike, this walleye had a big gut. The fish are feeding heavily now, bulking up for the winter.
I had just passed Second Duck Point for the first time when I had another hit. This time I was sure I had hooked a small perch or maybe a rock bass. But when I reeled it in, I found a small, but healthy foot-long walleye. This fish too was quickly unhooked and put back into the lake.
On my northern pass through The Alley in 9 1/2 feet of water I hooked another walleye. This one measured 19 1/4 inches. And on my southern pass through The Alley I caught a very chunky 18 1/2 inch walleye.
I caught no more fish on my final pass back to the boat lift. But I had caught 4 walleye and one big northern in just 75 minutes on the water. By 8:00 p.m. I was back on shore thawing out my fingers and cheeks.
A quick check of the temperature as I came into the house showed the temp to be 26 degrees, with a slight wind of 5-10 mph out of the WSW.
I got a fire going in the fireplace, warmed up and called Kathleen to see how she's doing. I found out today that she can get away from work for a while, and will be arriving in Bemidji late-afternoon this Thursday. That means she'll be here for the OPA potluck dinner on Saturday and her birthday on Monday. It will be great to have her here at Leech Lake.
Posts
