August 25, 2011 -- On Leech Lake (One Day and Counting)

Unlike yesterday morning where the wind was howling at more than 25 mph, today at 9:00 a.m. the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SSW. The sky was mostly sunny, although there were a fair amount of clouds and the temperature was 70 degrees. A beautiful day on Leech Lake.

Unfortunately, today was my last full day at Leech Lake. Tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. I must make the drive into Bemidji to catch my plane to Minneapolis, and then from there it's on to San Jose. My work load today was full -- with cleaning, stowing boating and fishing gear, closing up buildings and of course, fishing.

My first order of business after breakfast and some initial cleaning was to get out onto the lake. At 11:00 a.m. I motored off the boat lift and toward Second Duck Point in 9 feet of 74 degree water. I deployed the drift sock, letting the breeze push the boat north toward the cabin, put a fathead minnow on my jig and started fishing.

I made three drifts in this area and caught a number of perch, no jumbos however, and one decent sized northern pike. At 12:15 p.m. I was back on shore doing more cleaning.

I took a break to have some lunch and soon afterward went for a bike ride. I did the entire 8-mile loop again and loved every second of the trip. When I got back home I was hot as a result of the 82 degree temperature and my bike ride, so I took a camp bath in the lake.

Thoroughly refreshed from my dip in the lake I took the opportunity to go fishing again. From 3:30 p.m. to just before 5:00 p.m. I once again jigged in an attempt to catch perch and/or walleye.

As a change of pace, I went north to the Birches and did a drift through 8 feet of water from just past Norm's cabin to just before Schiebe's. I didn't catch a single fish. I figured that there was no sense trying another pass at the Birches so I motored out into Duck Bay just past Second Duck Point.

Once again I deployed the drift sock and slowly drifted back toward the boat lift. During this drift I caught several small perch.

At 5:00 p.m. I was back on shore and back at the cleaning.

I took a short break in my cleaning to take one last ride on the ATV. I rode all the way down to the Capone house and then back up Ottertail Point Dr. to Sucker Bay Road and then West Shores Road and home.

While I was riding up by the Capone house I encountered a whitetail doe standing along side the road. I slowed down because it's been my experience that rather than run into the woods on the side of the road where the deer is standing, they prefer, for some odd reason, to dart across the road to the woods on the other side.

Sure enough the doe ran across the road and disappeared into the trees. She was immediately followed, however, by a small fawn, still wearing its white spots. I figured it was now now safe to proceed and started giving the 4-wheeler some gas. Just as I did so, a second fawn came darting out of the woods chasing after its mother and sibling. Startled by my presence, or maybe just because it was a bit clumsy, the fawn, as it ran through the ditch, tumbled and went head over heels landing on its back. It quickly bounded to its feet and retreated back into the woods from which it had come, on the other side of the road from where its mother and sibling had gone.

At this point I continued on my ride. As I came back to the point where I'd first seen the deer, I once again spotted the doe, which turned tail and ran when she heard me approach. It was quite a sight. I'd never seen a deer, or shall I say fawn, tumble like that.

Once home I began cleaning again. After more than 90 minutes of cleaning I took a break to lay in the hammock. It was so peaceful and so warm that I could have fallen asleep there. But I didn't. Instead I got up, ate a quick dinner, then gathered up my gear to go out on the lake for some evening fishing.

I hit the water at 7:45 p.m., just in time to watch the sun sink into the western sky. The sunset tonight was at 8:12 p.m. CDT. I love watching the sunset when I'm on the water.

I started jigging in front of Newman's cabin and slowly drifted to our cabin. In just one pass I caught several good sized perch, but all went back into the lake. On my next pass I caught a number of rock bass, some more perch and a 14" white crappie. It was truly a slab.

At 8:45 p.m. it was already getting dark. I had had the lights on in my boat for the past 30 minutes, and at this point figured it was time to abandon jigging and switch to trolling crankbaits -- Minnow Raps are my preferred lure for trolling.

I trolled from our house out into Duck Bay and back but didn't catch anything. At 9:30 p.m. I headed to shore. I took the minnows and transferred them to a minnow bucket in Newman's harbor. Since there is no point in wasting perfectly good bait I gave more than a full scoop to John. I then came home and commenced cleaning.

Finally at midnight I took a shower and got ready for bed. It's always tough to leave the lake and this time is no exception. I will, however, have to return in the Fall, most likely sometime in early- to mid-October, to close up the properties and pull the boat out of the lake. I'm already looking forward to my return. Until then, so long from Leech Lake.