On Leech Lake, June 20, 2010 -- Father's Day

I awoke this morning to a beautiful day at Leech Lake. The sun was shining, there were only a few billowy clouds, the wind was light at 5-7 mph from the south and the temperature was on its way to a comfortable 75 degrees by midday.

At noon, Melissa and Jayden called me to wish me a Happy Father's Day, which was nice. I look forward to holding little Jayden again soon.

Then at 1:30 p.m. Rick and I went fishing. We started at the reeds in front of Norm's cabin fishing for largemouth bass. I was throwing a spinner bait on a baitcasting reel while Rick was using a spinning reel with a Senko rigged Texas style, with no additional weight.

Rick caught a 9" bass, but I caught nothing. When we came to the end of the reeds, we switched tactics. We both started jigging with Northland Slurpies on 1/8 oz. jigs. Rick caught a small perch, and again I was skunked.

With very little breeze to move the boat we decided to do some daytime trolling. I was using a small jointed Shad Rap, and Rick used his favorite purpledescent Rapala Minnow Rap (I had replaced the treble hook which had its barbs snipped off last night).

Rick caught a small 13" walleye and small perch, while I finally caught a fish, a small perch. We came ashore at 4:00 p.m. Rick decided he was going to build a work bench in the garage at the cabin while I called my Dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day. After talking with my father, I got a call from Kathleen and Joe wishing me a Happy Father's Day. The circle was complete.

After my family calls I went to the cabin to clean the walleye for dinner. Here's the process from start (before cleaning) to finish (on the dinner plate).




Top to bottom:
1. The 16 3/4-inch walleye on the cutting board prior to being filleted.
2. One of the fillets removed.
3. Both of the fillets with the skin removed, washed clean and patted dry.
4. Golden brown pan-fried walleye with asparagus and potatoes. Time to eat

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After a very tasty Father's Day walleye dinner, Rick and I hit the lake at 8:55 p.m. The surface of Leech Lake was like glass; there was no wind at all. The water temperature was 70.3 degrees, the moon was 67% waxing and the sunset at 9:18 p.m.

As usual we trolled from the Malays to the mid point between Second Duck Point and Duck Point. I was using a hot-steel colored Minnow Rap, while Rick used a variety of different lures throughout the night.

Rick caught a small northern pike around 9:30 p.m., but we didn't boat another fish until 10:15 p.m. when I caught a 17 1/2-inch walleye off of Second Duck Point. The fish was legally a keeper, but because it was so close to the 18-inch slot limit we decided to put it back in the lake. And besides, we had just eaten a walleye dinner a few hours earlier, so we won't keep another fish for a couple of days yet.

On our final pass past Second Duck Point, at around 10:45 p.m., I hooked into a little bigger fish. When we got it into the boat, the walleye measured 20-inches, a Leech Lake slot fish, so it went back into the water too.

We pulled the boat onto the lift just after 11:00 p.m. It was a beautiful night on the water, with some light left in the Western sky until nearly 11:00 p.m. Summer officially arrives at Leech Lake at 5:28 a.m. tomorrow morning. I will not be up to greet it.

Until tomorrow.