October 21, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

This morning at 7:17 a.m. I heard something not natural to the sounds of the northwoods. It was the sound of large truck, and it was coming from the cabin. I looked outside, it was still dark with the sun not yet up over the forest in the east, and could see the Ferrell Gas truck next door delivering propane to our cabin. About 10 minutes later the truck rumbled down our driveway and filled the propane tank here at the house. Content with the situation, I went back to bed for another hour of rest.

When I next checked the weather, at 9:00 a.m., the temperature was a chilly 30 degrees, the sky was mostly clear and the wind was out of the south at 5-10 mph. The forecast was for a beautiful Fall day here in the northwoods and at that time in the morning it looked like the forecast might be right.

Spent a few hours doing some consulting work, and then took a break shortly before noon to check on the work my neighbor John Newman and our mutual friend Clarence T. (from whom I bought our house on Leech Lake) were doing back on the deer stands on our collective properties. For the past several years Clancy, John and John's son Greg have been using a deer stand on my property and another stand in John's part of the woods to hunt whitetail deer. Last year Clancy bagged a 10-point buck on my property. This year everyone is hoping Greg will finally get his first deer.

To get back into the woods I fired up my Polaris Sportsman 500 ATV and drove it out of one of our out buildings, down the driveway and across W. Shores Rd. and into the woods. I have 17.5 acres of wooded land, John Newman and Norm Hansen have similar plots of land, so together we have more than 50 acres of prime northern woods. Our collective properties then abut land from the Chippewa National Forest and the Bowstring State Forest, giving us access to hundreds of acres of woodlands populated with maples, ash, ironwood, basswood and a few oaks. There are also some stands of white pine and sections full of birch trees, which when taken together provide outstanding habitat for not only deer, but for grouse as well. Good hunting in the woods; great fishing in the lake. This is a sportsman's paradise!

I came across John and Clancy as they were coming out of the woods. Most of their minor repair work to the deer stands had been complete, and so they were heading back to John's cabin. We chatted for a while in the woods, then all of us headed back home. Once home, I ate some lunch and the got out the Toro leaf blower and set about clearing the leaves off the road-side of the house.

I've said it before and I'll say it again now, this is a chore that always takes longer than I originally estimate. Today, I spent from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. clearing the leaves and I still have a bit more to do. I stopped when I did because John came over to invite me to an early dinner of freshly cooked roast beef sandwiches, home made potato salad and a variety of malted beverages. I was thoroughly tired of clearing leaves, so I gladly put away the leaf blower and made my way to John's cabin.

John, Clancy and I spent the next hour and a half eating, telling tall tales and enjoying being on the shores of Leech Lake. With the table cleared and the food put away, Clancy headed down to visit a friend of his on Ottertail Peninsula while I made my way home to get ready for a late afternoon, early evening, fishing session with John.

I took with me my spinning rod/reel rigged with a 1/4-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS walleye jig and my baitcasting rod/reel with a Rapala Minnow Rap tied on for trolling. At the time we motored out of John's harbor, around 5;15 p.m., there were nine boats set up in front of our cabins. Rather than join the flotilla we instead went a bit further north toward Malay's cabin.

With the wind coming out of the NNW at 10-12 mph the boat was pushed toward shore and south toward our cabins. We made several passes through this general area during which I caught a medium-sized northern pike, which bit off my jig right at the side of the boat as I tried to land it, and John caught one nice jumbo perch, probably 11-inches long. Those were the only two fish we caught during the drifting portion of the trip.

After sunset, which occurred around 6:15 p.m., we switched tactics and started trolling. We trolled to the middle of Duck Bay in 8-10 feet of water, and then turned and headed north toward our cabins. The hour-long venture yielded no fish, and only one hit -- something hit my Minnow Rap but didn't get hooked. At this point John wanted to come ashore so he could let the Newman's new puppy, Bernard, out of the kennel so he could go outside.

Once on shore I made my way home, had a frozen pizza for dinner (after all it was Friday night) and then settle in front of the fireplace with a warm, roaring fire. I listened to some relaxing old jazz records on the turntable, did some writing and eventually went to bed well after midnight.

Although I caught only one pike today, it was great to be out fishing on Leech Lake. Since I leave on Tuesday, and since John is pulling his boat out of the water on Sunday, I may only get one, possibly two, days of fishing before I have to fly back to California. At that point, my next time on the lake will most likely be in May 2012 when I return to put the boat back into the water. Of course there is a slight chance of a winter visit which would enable me to get onto the hard water for some ice fishing; something I haven't had the pleasure of doing in several years now.

Good night from Leech Lake.