July 30, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

This morning both Joe and I slept in a little later than usual. When I got up about 10:00 a.m. the sky was clear and bright blue, the temperature was 74 degrees, the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SW and the humidity was at 75%.

After a quick cup of yogurt, I went outside to waterproof the other set of stairs by the harbor. That chore took a little over an hour and when I was done I had some lunch before setting out on the next set of chores -- power-washing the out buildings in preparation for painting them.

Joe and I spent all afternoon, from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m., power washing the fish cleaning house, the bunk house (which is where we store all of our lawn tools) and the ATV garage (which is where the ATV is stored, among other things). I took a shower and listened to a rebroadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, which aired last Fall, a show I remember listening to when I was here last year.

Just 20 minutes before an 8:54 p.m. CDT sunset, and right around moon set, I left shore to troll for walleye. Joe elected to stay on shore and cast off the dock for bass; apparently with no success.

The water temperature was 79 degrees, the moon was 0% waning (a new moon), and the wind was nearly calm. The surface of the lake was like a mirror reflecting the orange, purple, blue and other colored parts of the sky. With no "walleye chop" I wondered how the bite would be.

I set out into Duck Bay while trolling at 2.5 mph ground speed and pulling my Rapala #9 Minnow Rap in Tennessee shad color at a depth of 11 feet, just above the sand-covered bottom of the lake.

On my first pass heading north, I felt that familiar pull on the line and watched the tip of the rod shot toward the back of the boat. I held fast and set the hook. The fish felt like a decent size and the two things I needed to determine were "is it a walleye?" and if so "how big is it?"

As I reeled the fish toward the boat, it gave up and began "water skiing." A sure sign of a walleye. But when it was close to the boat, but not close enough to where I could see it, the fish dove deep peeling off some line. At this point I figured it was a northern.

When I finally got the fish back to the boat I saw that it was indeed a walleye so I grabbed the net and landed the fish. A quick measurement showed that it was a 19-inch walleye, a slot fish, so it immediately went back into the lake.

On my next pass through the same spot I again felt a pull on my line, but this time the rod and line didn't hook the fish, instead the line snapped. It was as if my lure just stopped dead in the water. Whatever took my favorite lure was definitely big. I'm guessing a muskie.

I decided not to retie a new lure onto my line and instead opted to come ashore.

Joe and I watched a DVD, then called it a night. We're going to start painting the out buildings a the house tomorrow. I'm not going to push the job however. We'll work at a steady pace, but if the weather is right for fishing, we will be on Leech Lake again tomorrow.

Until Sunday, good night.