The Coyles had planned on heading home sometime midday today but are having so much fun that they've decided to extend their stay through early Sunday. As a result, Jackson and Tim were anxious to get out on the water and do some fishing.
The clouds today were of particular interest. The were gigantic, bright white and very billowy. They almost looked unreal, like someone had painted them against the blue backdrop of the sky.
Big, white billowy cloud over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake. Big Hardwood Point on the left.
With a cooler full of drinks and sandwiches, Tim, Jackson and I lowered the boat into the water and motored to a spot in 12-feet of water off Second Duck Point; the spot where we'd been catching perch the past few days.
We spent maybe a half an hour jigging fatheads in this previously good spot without so much as a bite. The water was relatively calm, with just small ripples on it from the breeze out of the SSE, so we decided to take a run south of Big Hardwood Point; a spot which in the past has produced good walleye fishing.
The run to that spot took about 10 minutes at 35 mph and soon we were again jigging fatheads in search of walleye or perch. We fished in 17 feet of water, and although we saw huge schools of baitfish, most likely shiners, we couldn't produce one bite. So after 30 minutes of unproductive fishing we motored north to Big Hardwood Point.
I've caught several big walleye and perch off Big Hardwood, including a few walleye in the 25-inch range and jumbo perch over 11 inches. But not today. We fished for probably 45 minutes with only a couple of bites and no boated fish. It was time to move again.
This time I motored the boat to the tip of Ottertail Peninsula, which has in the past been home to big walleye, perch and muskie. The three of us again jigged fathead minnows. About 15 minutes into fishing this spot Jackson caught a small perch; our first fish of the day. Unfortunately, it would be the only fish we could coax into the boat in more than a half an hour at the spot.
Off we went toward Sandy Beach, south of Two Points in Portage Bay. Back in June when Rick was visiting from Australia he and I fished this spot and I caught several perch and a very nice walleye so I had high hopes that this spot would produce something today. We fished for about 40 minutes and had only a couple of nibbles, but no hooked fish.
As our last effort of the day we headed back into Sucker Bay and made our way to Second Duck Point, the first spot we'd fished today some 3 hours previous. We gave our "home" spot about 20 minutes and when it produced no fish, or even bites, we finally gave up and went ashore.
While we had been out fishing, Sandy had driven into Cass Lake and had picked up pizzas at Great River Pizzeria. Since we had plenty of food we invited John Newman to join us. During our dinner of pizza and salad, John told us he'd been out fishing all afternoon as well, in spots we didn't fish such as Submarine Island and other spots on the main part of Leech Lake, and didn't have any success either. He didn't catch one fish. The fish must have taken today off.
As the afternoon wore on, those big white billowy clouds darkened and grew more menacing and by 6:30 p.m. a thunderstorm had developed and moved right over us. It rained extremely hard for about 20 minutes and was accompanied by strong winds, lightning and thunder. Within an hour, however, the storm had passed, the skies cleared and all signs of the treacherous weather were gone.
The storm clouds as they moved south over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake
With the lake again relatively calm and the weather stable, we decided to go out trolling in Duck Bay. Tonight, Joe joined Tim, Jackson and I in the boat. Jackson fished the port side of the boat while Joe and I traded off fishing the starboard side. During a southward pass off Second Duck Point I felt that familiar tug of a fish on the line. I quickly gave the rod to Joe who reeled in a very nice 17-inch walleye, which went into the livewell for a future meal.
That one walleye was the only fish we caught during our nighttime troll, and only one of two fish caught all day. Although the fishing wasn't the greatest, we all still had a great time on Leech Lake.
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