A family of merganser ducks slices its way through the fog on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake
Much like yesterday, this morning was hot, humid and foggy. At 8:30 a.m. the temperature was 76 degrees, the humidity was more than 90%, the air was still, wet and heavy and there hung a dense fog over everything. It was as if I had awoke inside a cloud.
I spotted a pelican casually swimming off the end of the dock around 9:15 a.m., and an occasional boat motored by, but for the most part the lake was quiet and enveloped in fog.
I took a quick walk over to the cabin to give the leeches some fresh water, and in just that little distance I was sweating and wet from the humidity. Plus with absolutely no wind, or even a slight breeze, the deer flies were out in full force and were instantly buzzing around my head, landing on me and biting. Normally here at the lake I could step outside to cool off, but not today. Quite the opposite -- step outside and things heat up.
By 2:00 p.m. the temperature stopped rising at 80 degrees, the fog, which I thought would have lifted by now, clung stubbornly to the sky making it look like it might storm. There was a whisper of breeze every now and then, but not enough to clear the air of the 90% humidity that dampened everything. The lonely call of the loon echoed across the afternoon stillness, competing occasionally with the clatter of a 2-stroke motor from some determined fisherman.
By 3:00 p.m. the temperature had cooled a little to 76 degrees, the sky was getting a little darker and thunder rumbled across the horizon. The humidity was still up over 90%, however, so I took a refreshing camp bath in the lake. It cooled me off while I was in the water, but as soon as I got back up to the house I was hot again. Maybe a storm will show itself and with it cleanse the air of this infernal dampness.
Just before 4:00 p.m. the slight breeze that had occasionally made its presence felt out of the south, shifted to the north and actually started to blow. Lightening bolts were now visible across the bay and the lake began to rile. By 4:15 p.m. there were white caps on the lake behind the force of 15-20 mph north winds. Thinking that a storm would descend upon the lake at any minute, I raced outside to fold up the lounge chairs and lay them flat on the dock. I then came inside and began shutting windows so the rain wouldn't soak the floors.
I then sat back in my chair in the living room, book in hand (Truman Capote's In Cold Blood) and watched for the storm. For more than 45 minutes the wind howled, the lake rolled with waves, but little rain fell. A few sprinkles freckled the back porch and windows, but no humidity-relieving rain fell. As the wind blew hard from the north the sky actually started to clear and get brighter. The dark, ominous clouds blew by and a cantaloupe-colored sky appeared on the horizon.
Every now and again a lightening bolt would show itself over Sucker Bay, and the rumble of thunder would follow, but no storm appeared. At 5:30 p.m. rain fell for a short time before disapearing. The wind, too, had left the area and once again the flag hung limp against the pole. The storm blew by without really unleashing any of its fury.
The humidity, however, had dipped to below 90% for the first time in two days, and at 84% actually felt cool. The wind, I noticed, had shifted again, and was now blowing lightly at 5-8 mph from the south. I thought about going fishing, but everything was wet and damp and I just didn't feel like slipping on rain gear in this hot, humid weather. So rather, I stayed inside, tried to stay cool, and read.
By 9:00 p.m. the humidity had started to rise again, even though the temperature hovered around 75 degrees. The wind was out of the north at 6-10 mph and the sky was mostly cloudy. It was in these fairly favorable conditions that I decided to go fishing.
I got the boat off the lift, motored out to 9 feet of water, got the lights on, and the dropped my Rapala Minnow Rap (in Tennessee Shad color) into the water. I trolled south past Second Duck Point well into Duck Bay and then headed north toward our house.
In addition to the swarms of big, hungry mosquitoes I was forced to battle out on the water, I encountered another foe that eventually drove me back on shore -- weeds.
For years I've known that as I troll north of the Malays the weeds get very thick thus making it difficult to pull a lure through the lake without getting snagged. But in the past year or two, the weed seem to be migrating south, and are now common in fairly large patches all the way to Second Duck Point. While the weeds make for great habitat for rock bass, they make trolling for walleye very difficult.
Ever since its introduction seven or eight years ago, the #9 Rapala Minnow Rap has been one of my "go-to" baits, a confidence lure. In addition to flat out attracting and catching walleye, the lure has a very distinctive action in the water than enables me to "feel" if it's running true. If the bait is clean and running properly I feel a consistent "tap, tap, tap, tap" in the tip of the rod. But if it hooks a weed, even a 1/2 inch ribbon-sized piece of cabbage, the action of the Minnow Rap changes completely and feels as if it's "dead;" no wobble or tapping.
Tonight, I felt the Minnow Rap hook onto a weed nearly every time I dropped in the water and let it out behind the boat. In more than a half dozen cases I thought I'd actually hooked a fish only to reel in a two-pound, football-sized clump of weeds. After "catching" two such balls of weeds I decided to go ashore in frustration. It didn't help that I was fighting off hundreds of mosquitoes while trying to clean the weeds from my lure.
Needless to say, it was not my best outing on Leech Lake this year. In fact, it's one of the few times on the water in the past couple of months where I was completely skunked; not a pike nor a rock bass. I came ashore at 10:30 p.m. and sat up and read for a couple of hours before deciding it was time to call it a night.
I did hear from Kathleen and Joe earlier in the evening that Joe was able to get an airline ticket to come to Minnesota and that he'll be arriving in Minneapolis next Monday morning. I'll have to figure out if I'll meet him in Minneapolis at the airport or if I'll meet up with him in St. Cloud should he decide to take the shuttle. Either way, we'll be able to spend some time together at the lake -- just father and son. We haven't been able to do that in more than three years. I'm looking forward to it.
Good night from Leech Lake.
Posts
