At Leech Lake, June 2010 -- A Brief Look Back

I arrived at our house on Leech Lake around 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15. I did not pick up the boat in Bemidji as I usually would because I planned to do so on Thursday when I picked up Rick from the airport. Besides, my plan was to drive to St. Cloud first thing on Wednesday morning to visit Kathleen's mother, Marge.

I spent Tuesday night, my first night at Leech Lake this year, visiting with my neighbor John Newman; it was good to see him again.

At 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning I drove to St. Cloud. I spent most of the afternoon with Marge and my sister-in-law Sandy. In the early evening, I met my aunt Maureen for dinner. She happened to be in St. Cloud for regional quilting convention. After dinner I drove back to the lake and arrived home after 10 p.m. Wednesday night.

On Thursday, June 17, I drove into Bemidji to pick up Rick from the airport. We bought groceries, other supplies, then drove out to Corner Sports on Hwy. 71 in Bemidji to pick up my boat. Throughout the day it rained heavily, the wind was constantly changing direction, but was blowing upwards of 20 mph.

We got back to the house in the late afternoon, put the boat at the top of the boat ramp for its eventual launch in to the water, unpacked the supplies and then just hung out. The rain continued and around 6:00 p.m. we heard that there was a tornado watch for Cass County. We had lots of rain and some heavy winds, but no twisters. Elsewhere in the state, however, there were some fatalities from the tornadoes.

Friday, June 18, we awoke to extremely strong winds -- 30-40 mph out of the south. Leech Lake was an odd brownish color due to all of the sediment that was churned into the water by the wind. Several trees along Sucker Bay Road and West Shores Road went down, but we were fortunate not to have any trees topple on our property.

We checked out the roof at the cabin (which we're going to re-roof) and Rick made a CAD drawing of it and calculated the amount of materials we'll need to replace it. Since it was too windy to launch the boat and go fishing, we decided to head back into Bemidji Friday afternoon to get an estimate on the building materials for the re-roofing project.

The roof on the cabin, which is more than 40 years old, is not in good shape. The cedar shake shingles are rotting and are in such poor condition that my insurance company threatened to cancel my policy if I don't replace the roof. There are actually trees going out of the roof!


One of the several trees growing on the roof at the cabin. This one is a birch.

Late Friday afternoon I finally got the new DSL wireless modem up and running so I could check email, and post to this blog again. That's why I've had to post this brief look back. I think I'm all caught up for now.

It's great to be back at Our Oasis on Leech Lake (for you Kathleen).

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.