At 9:30 a.m. this morning the temperature was 26 degrees, there was a light covering of frost on the ground, the sun was shining through partly cloudy skies and the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SW.
As I pulled the truck from the house to the cabin in preparation of pulling my boat out of the water this morning, I bumped into Duane Paulsen. He was on his old Ford tractor pulling into our woods in search of a tree he said had fallen. He offered to help me take my boat out of the water, but I declined. I figured it was best to let Duane focus his attention on cutting up firewood.
I got the truck into position, backed it up and got it lined up with the boat trailer. I hooked up the trailer to the receiver hitch on the truck, got the cables in place and connected the wiring. I then got to work removing the canopy from the boat lift. If I don't take the canopy off the lift with the boat in the lift, I would have to wait until Shore Brothers got it on shore to remove it. And doing that would run the risk of the lift becoming airborne should we have strong winds.
The canopy came off fairly easily since there was little wind to get it flapping. I pulled the canopy onto the dock, then dragged it up near the cabin. I'll get the power washer out later today and spray off the seagull guano that accumulated during the summer months.
I then backed the trailer down the boat ramp and into the lake. With the water temperature in the low 40s I got my waders on to finish the job. I lowered the boat off the lift, got in the water myself and walked the boat around the dock and lined it up with the trailer.
I snapped the strap onto the front of the boat and slowing began cranking the wench handle thus pulling the boat onto the trailer. With the boat on the trailer and secured, I got into the truck and pulled the boat and trailer up the ramp and parked them next to the garage. Later today I'll go back over the cabin and take everything out of the boat and fully secure it -- with tow straps and transom saver -- for the trip to Corner Sports in Bemidji. I'll take it into town on Monday when I take Kathleen to the airport.
It's not rocket science getting a boat out of the water, but this was the first time I did it without any assistance. I've often had a neighbor or family member standing by should I need help. I guess going it alone is some type of Northwoods rite of passage. I passed.
After lunch I devoted my time to cleaning out all of the gear from the boat -- tackle, rods and reels, life jackets, etc. I also added some air to the tires of the boat trailer; they were each about 10 lbs light.
Just as I started to put the cover on the boat the skies opened up and it started raining hard. I didn't want the boat to get too much water in it before I take it in for winter storage, so I continued to cover the boat in the rain. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I had the cover completely on the boat the rain stopped and the sun actually peeked out from behind a cloud.
It seems not that long ago that I was putting my boat in the water for the season. Now it's out and ready for winter storage.
Once I take it in to Corner Sports, I'm going to have them repair or replace the driver's side dashboard, which they cracked while installing the networking system for my two Lowrance units. I'm also going to have the repair the bilge outlet cover, which I damaged while pulling into the boat lift. If the water levels wouldn't have been so low, that mishap never would have happened.
I'll also have them do a 350 hour check on the Mercury Verado motor. Three-hundred and fifty hours is the total number of hours the Verado has run since leaving the manufacturer. I'm estimating that I've put on about 250 hours of the total (my boat was a demo so it did have some hours on it before I bought it). All of those nights trolling for walleye over the past three years do add up.
At 2:45 p.m. it's 40 degrees outside, the sky is gray and it looks as if it might rain again, the ground is wet from the previous rain and the wind is light at 5-8 mph out of the SW.
Kathleen and I went for a walk at 3:40 p.m. I went as far as Paulsen's, while Kathleen went to the Community Center (2 miles and 6 miles respectively).
Once home I cleaned and oiled my four primary fishing reels and stored them for the winter. A Prairie Home Companion came on at 5:00 p.m. and I listened to that while enjoying a Leinenkugel Oktorberfest beer.
Kathleen apparently didn't get enough exercise on her 6-mile run/walk, so once home she got on her bike and rode the 6-mile loop from our house to the Community Center down Ottertail Rd. to 26th and back home again.
By 7:30 p.m. the temperature was down to 30 degrees and it was raining. I got a fire going in the fireplace and Kathleen and I enjoyed a peaceful night in front of the fire playing dominoes and listening to Joe Pass guitar music.
My boat is out of the water so there will be no more open-water fishing this season. But despite no trolling for walleye tonight, it was a wonderful evening at Leech Lake.
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