June 2, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

The sky this morning was grey and overcast with a threatening look to it, but no rain present. The temperature was 52 on its way to a high of around 63 degrees. The wind was strong at between 20 and 25 mph, but it was out of the ESE so the water along our shoreline was relatively calm. But about 200 yards off shore the waves started and you could really feel the strength of the wind.

After some calls and a late breakfast, Rick and I decided to go fishing. We didn't have to go far. I pulled the boat in front of our house in 9 feet of water, dropped in the drift sock and then started fishing.

To start, both Rick and I were using slip bobber rigs with small hooks tipped with leeches. This was the method that Rick used last evening when he boated three walleye. Unfortunately, this method did not prove effective and we had to switch gears.

I moved to a small 1/8 ounce Northland Gumball jig in a chartreuse/green color tipped with a fathead. Almost immediately I caught a perch.

We made several drifts from about 9 feet of water outward toward the center of Sucker Bay where the deepest water we fished was 14 feet. Most of our action came in 10-12 feet of water.

During the next two hours I caught numerous perch, including some pretty big ones (although not jumbos), as well as a 13-inch and a 21-inch walleye. As is often the case, when one guy has the hot stick the other guy in the boat often struggles. Last night Rick hooked three walleye while I was catching nothing but rock bass. Today I was catching perch and walleye, and Rick could only hook into a couple of small perch. That's fishing.

We came ashore at 3:00 p.m. because a mechanic from New Leech Lake Campground, Mark Ashe, was supposed to come by to work on my Honda 8hp kicker motor, which isn't running right. As of 4:30 p.m., he had not shown up.

Mark did show up at 5:00 p.m. and determined that I needed new spark plugs. I'll go into town sometime early next week and pick up a couple of new plugs and according to Mark, that should get my motor running great again. I'll report back on it.

Rick and I went out again at 7:15 p.m. and fished for about an hour, but the only fish we caught were the few perch I boated. No walleye.

We ate dinner late, after 9:00 p.m., as the rain was falling. As of 10:30 p.m. there is only a very light rain and winds at 20 mph out of the SE. Until tomorrow...