June 15, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

This morning at 7:30 a.m. it was 50 degrees, dark, grey and raining. The wind is light, if any, and the flag is hanging limp.

As a result of the rain, or just plain indifference, the guys from Peterson Excavating did not show up again today to work on the harbor restoration. I'm glad they didn't show up today, because with the ground so wet from all of the rain the big front hoe would have caused excessive damage to the lawn. If they don't show up tomorrow morning I'll have to give them another call.

It rained all morning, letting up for just a few minutes here and there. At noon, I decided that since it was raining today would be a good day to drive into Cass Lake to pick up some leeches, some groceries and have lunch at the 371 Cafe; the place I had lunch with our realtor some 10 years ago when I first saw our future house on Leech Lake.

It finally stopped raining at about 2:00 p.m., just before I left Cass Lake on my way back to Leech Lake. I did indeed have lunch at the 371 Cafe and did pick up two dozen large leeches at Froggy's. At 3:15 p.m., it was still dark, grey and overcast, although it was not raining. The temperature was 58 degrees and the wind was light at 5-10 mph out of the NNE.

Upon arriving home, I found a big spool of cable in the yard by the harbor, as well as a big bag of bolts and connectors. I assumed that a supplier had dropped them off so I decided to call Butch at Peterson Excavating to let him know the supplies had arrived. As it turned out, Butch himself had dropped off the materials and told me that he and another guy would be out on Thursday to work on the harbor.

With that bit of business settled, I contacted John Newman to see if he wanted to go fishing. He did, so we did.

Once the boat was in the 66.5 degree water, I motored to a spot about 200 yards pass Schiebe's cabin in 9 feet of water and deployed the drift sock. With the wind coming out of the NE, the boat moved south toward Norm's cabin and out into the bay into 10-14 feet of water.

John used a "beetlespin" tipped with a fathead, while I used my standard 1/8 ounce Gumball jig tipped with a leech. We both caught a few pike, rock bass and perch. And both of us had our tackle bitten off; most likely by a pike.

I tied on a parrot-colored 1/8 ounce Gumball jig, while John went with a lime-green jig tipped with a fathead. John caught a very nice 21-inch walleye, while I boated a somewhat slim 15 1/2-walleye. Both fish went back into the lake.

I think John was a bit surprised that I released my fish since I'm trying to catch a third "eater" so I can prepare a walleye dinner for my parents and Kathleen next week. But from my perspective, the 15 1/2-inch walleye was just a bit too small for me to keep. I prefer to keep fish in the 16- to 17 1/2-inch range. Sure, that's only a 1 1/2 inch range, but it keeps it sporting for me. And I've got another week to catch that third fish, so I was confident enough to let that one go.

The entire time we were on the water the temperature hovered around 50 degrees, and the sky was grey and overcast, and it looked like it was going to rain, although it didn't. We came ashore just after 8:00 p.m.

I ate dinner and had an early night since I'm anticipating Peterson Excavating to be here early tomorrow morning.