On Leech Lake -- October 23, 2010

The sky was gray, the temperature was 36 degrees and the winds were out of the ENE at 8-12 mph at 9:00 a.m. this morning. Jackson was the only one awake when I came into the living room; Sandy and Tim awoke within the next 45 minutes.

Since they had to go back to St. Cloud at noon today, Tim, Jackson and I decided to go fishing one more time. We got into the boat at 10:20 a.m. and made our way to 13 feet of water in front Malay's cabin. We deployed the drift sock and began drifing toward Second Duck Point.

Out on the water the wind was stronger than it was on shore, closer to 15 mph out of the ENE. The water temperature was under 50 degrees for the first time since I've been here, registering at 49.5 degrees.

As always, we tipped our jigs with fatheads in search of perch and walleye. We were joined this chilly October morning on Sucker Bay by three other boats, including Duane Paulsen and Ron Geppart from here on Ottertail Peninsula.

We made two drifts and the only fish we caught was a small perch Tim landed. We were all cold and Tim and Jackson still had to pack up for their trip home, so we motored ashore. When we got on the dock, we released the 16" walleye Tim had caught a couple of days earlier since it really isn't worth keeping just one small walleye for a dinner for a family of three.

While we were on the water, I had seen Tom Malay out on his dock working on this boat lift motor. I thought he was trying to get his boat trailered to pull it out of the water, so I called Elaine Malay to tell her to tell Tom to wait until I got to shore and I'd help him. She told me that Tom was having problems with the lift motor and that he was unable to lower the boat into the water. I told Elaine that I have a hand crank that I use for manually raising and lower my lift when necessary and that I'd be happy to bring the crank down to see if it would work on Tom's lift.

Once on shore, I took the crank to Tom's cabin, but it wasn't the right size, so it was of no help. Tom was going to continue working on the motor (we think that there's a bad connection in the motor) to see if he can get it to operate properly. Before I left, Tom and I agreed to help each other get our boats out of the water and trailered on Sunday. I can't believe the open water fishing season is over for me. The last fish I caught this season was that walleye I boated yesterday.

Tim, Sandy and Jackson headed for home about 12:30 p.m. I decided to take care of some of the many winterization chores that remain on the properties. I walked over to the cabin and removed all of the screens from the windows and replaced them with storm windows. They aren't the best storm windows available, but they should provide a little better insulation than screens.

I also cleaned out the fireplace in preparation for fire tonight. According the the National Weather Service, there's a very good chance of some light rain tonight and the temperatures are supposed to drop to around 35 degrees. A good night for a warm fire.

At 5:00 p.m. this evening I plan to listen to a Prairie Home Companion on Minnesota Public Radio. I enjoy listening to Garrison Keillor; especially when I'm here at Leech Lake.

Well, after listening to the "News from Lake Woebegon" tonight, I was not that impressed. Garrison seemed to take the night off, although Sarah Watkins and the Old Crow Medicine Show were very good.

From a sports perspective, today was a great day for me. The SF Giants advanced to the World Series against the Texas Rangers after the Giants beat the Phillies 4 games to 2 in the NLCS. The Michigan State Spartans went to 8-0 after beating the Northwestern Wildcats 35-27, and the San Jose Sharks beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-1 on the road. All of my teams won. Of course the Detroit Lions and the SF 49ers still suck, but other than that, it was great day.

Good night from Leech Lake.