In Leech Lake -- October 24, 2010

It must have rained some last night because I awoke this morning to a wet landscape. The sky is gray and overcast, and it looks like it could rain again. The temperature is 40 degrees and the wind is out of the ENE at 10 mph.

After eating a cup of yogurt, I got in the truck and drove it next door. Once there, I attached the boat trailer to the 2" ball on the receiver hitch on the truck, connected the electrical wiring, and secured the trailer with the heavy wire cables.

I then walked down the dock and got into the boat. One by one I removed the bungee cords that hold the heavy vinyl canopy onto the boat lift. Once all of the cords had been removed, it was a relatively easy process of popping the canopy off the lift and then to pile it up on the dock. I then dragged the canopy onto shore and left it on the ground near the cabin. It is completely covered in sea gull guano, so I think I'll have it professionally cleaned this year. I just don't think I could get all of the crap off of it myself.

With the canopy off the lift, I was ready to move onto the next phase of pulling my boat out of the water. I backed the truck down the landing putting the trailer into the water. I then got on my waders, walked out to the end of the dock, lowered the boat into the water, got in the water myself and then guided the boat off the lift, around the dock and onto the trailer. I clipped tow strap to the hook at the bow of the boat and began cranking the handle. Slowly the boat moved up the trailer until at last it was completely on the trailer.

I got out of the water, took off my waders, got into the truck and drove up the ramp pulling the boat and trailer behind me. I pulled the drain plug out of the stern of the boat, put on the safety straps and transom saver, and then decided to take a break for some breakfast.

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It's now 1:10 p.m., the sky is a grayish white and it looks like it could rain at any moment. Oops, just checked again and it is raining. The wind is still about 10 mph out of the ENE. A little later on this afternoon I'm going to go next door to the cabin, get everything out of the boat and then put the cover on the boat. My plan is to take the boat to Corner Sports in Bemidji tomorrow, where they'll winterize and store the boat until next Spring.

It's now 4:45 p.m., everything is out of the boat, but hanging up in the garage to dry out, and the cover is on the boat. The boat is ready to take into town tomorrow morning. I'm having a late lunch and listening to the Arizona-Seattle game on the NFL Radio network. We don't have TV here at the lake, so all of my sports updates are from either the radio or Internet.

My final entry of the night will be a weather report. It's 9:45 p.m., the wind has died down, the temperature is 39 degrees and there's a light mist falling; everything is wet. Tomorrow I'll take the boat into Bemidji, run a few errands and then come home to finalize some the winterization chores around the property.

I guess if I am going to go fishing again before leaving for California it'll have to be with Tom Malay in his 14-foot aluminum boat. I hope I do get one more chance to catch a walleye before I have to leave Leech Lake.