July 12, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

Kathleen leaves for California today.

The weather didn't even seem to try this morning, as if it and Leech Lake knew of Kathleen's impending departure. At 9:00 a.m. the sky was grey and overcast, the temperature was a chilly 54 degrees and the wind was blowing out of the NW at 8-12 mph. The lake was slate grey and looked uninviting. It looked more like a late-October morning than one in mid-July; save for the green of the leaves.

It's strange, the weather was poor, cool, grey and rainy the week leading up to Kathleen's arrival, and then suddenly, as if she brought it with her herself from California, the clouds parted, the sun came out and the temperature warmed by at least 15 degrees as soon as her plane landed in Bemidji. And now that she is preparing to leave, the weather seems to have once again given up.

We tried to make the morning last by savoring our coffee, lingering over breakfast, reading Billy Collins and just enjoying the peace of the northwoods. But time relentlessly moved forward and at last it was time for Kathleen to get ready for her trip.

The drive to Bemidji is always difficult when someone is leaving. Once at the airport, I helped Kathleen get her things inside the terminal and watched her go through security. Then it was time for me and her to go our separate ways.

I took care of a number of errands in Bemidji including getting Kathleen's bike serviced, taking care of some banking issues, getting groceries, etc. I drove back to the lake by 4:30 p.m., where the temperature had warmed to 70 degrees, the wind was still out of the NW but had slowed somewhat to 8-10 mph, and the sky was still full of big white clouds with only small patches of blue.

I took care of various business issues for a couple of hours before having some dinner. As the hour approached 9:00 p.m., I noticed that the sky had cleared and the wind had calmed to 5-8 mph from the NW. Leech Lake was inviting me to go fishing.

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Fishing Report

I motored my Lund Pro V 1800 Verado Limited Edition out onto the water at just after 9:00 p.m. The water temperature was just under 76 degrees, cooler than it's been the past few days, and the moon had already risen and was 93% waxing. The sunset was at 9:12 p.m., so I put the lights on the boat immediately after getting her off the boat lift. I watched as the cantaloupe colored sky turned darker and finally morphed into a color of concord grapes.

I was the only boat on Sucker Bay as far as I could see. I piloted my Lund out into 10 feet of water and began trolling between the cabin and the middle of Duck Bay. On my first pass south I hooked into a small hammer handle, which I released over the side of the boat.

On my next pass I hooked another fish and this one felt more like a walleye -- an initial hit then no resistance at all. When the fish got up next to the boat I saw it was indeed a walleye so I quickly slid the landing net underneath it and scooped it into the boat. I unhooked the Minnow Rap (Tennessee Shad color) from the fish and measured it on "The Judge." The fish measured a perfect 16 1/2 inches, a fine eating fish, so into the live well it went.

I made one more half-hearted pass, but since I already had tomorrow night's dinner in the box I wasn't too concerned if I caught anything or not. I didn't, by the way.

I put the boat on the lift right around 10:15 p.m., and was back inside the house by 10:30 p.m.

I listened to some music, read the newspaper, said goodnight to Kathleen in California and then called it a night myself. Good night from Leech Lake.