A cold October morning, looking north from our dock on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake
This morning was beautiful, calm, clear and cold. The temperature at 8:15 a.m. was 26 degrees, the water was so calm it looked like glass reflecting the clear, pale blue and yellow sky, and the wind was nearly nonexistent. This is the most calm and peaceful Leech Lake has looked since my arrival on October 6.
As I cleaned up the kitchen and made coffee I spotted John Newman in his boat directly in front of our house. I could see he was using a slip-bobber rig most likely tipped with a fathead. Last night when we parted ways he said his plan was to "putter" around the house before joining up with me for a mid-morning fishing trip. I guess part of his puttering included some fishing.
I saw John pull his boat into his harbor around 10:30 a.m. Shortly thereafter I received a call from John asking if I wanted to go fishing at 11:15 a.m. I said yes, and met John at his boat lift at the appointed time. In hand I had a spinning rod/reel set up with a slip-bobber and another spinning rod/reel for jigging.
We made our way out to 9-10 feet of water in front of our cabins and joined six other boats fishing the same area. With little to no wind, the conditions were perfect for using a slip-bobber rig tipped with a fathead. We fished in this general area for nearly an hour and the only fish we saw was a northern that chased my minnow all the way to the boat while I was reeling in. The northern, by the way, snapped at the minnow and bit it off just as I was lifting the hook from the water.
Eventually we made our way north to The Birches, but again had no luck. I hooked a small perch that got off, and I don't believe John had a single bite. Finally at 1:15 p.m. we came ashore. We vowed to try again and decided to reconvene at John's boat lift at 2:30 p.m.
During the break in fishing I came home and made Cole slaw for tonight's dinner at John's cabin. I'm also slow-cooking a rack of pork ribs and I've got some chicken wings marinating. The dinner will be rounded out with a bag of crinkle-cut French fries and a cold, malted beverage or two.
At 2:30 p.m. I made my way back to John's boat lift. I didn't see him right away as he was coming down his driveway returning from a walk in the woods with his new puppy Bernard. Eventually the dog was put in the house and we motored our way out to 10 feet of water off Second Duck Point. The water temperature was 47 degrees, while the air temperature was a very pleasant 55 degrees. The wind, more like a light breeze, was out of the SSE at maybe 5 mph. Just enough to push the boat on a slow drift northward out into Sucker Bay.
We tipped our jigs with fathead minnows and set about our business of catching some jumbo perch. The bite was slow and it took us more than two hours to boat four very nice jumbo perch which went into the live well in John's boat; we each caught two.
Just before 5:00 p.m. we came ashore and agreed to meet for our dinner feast sometime after 6:00 p.m.
While I was making some final dinner preparations I turned on A Prairie Home Companion which I love to listen to on Saturday evenings when I'm in northern Minnesota. And for some odd reason, Garrison Keillor read The News From Lake Wobegon before 6:00 p.m. (he usually reads it around 6:40 p.m.) which enabled me to hear my favorite part of the program and still make it to Newman's shortly after 6:00 p.m.
John already had the coals started so it was only a short time before the marinated chicken wings went onto the grill. The Cole slaw was already prepared, so all that was left to do is start the French fries and put the already cooked ribs on the grill for just a little bit of that BBQ flavor.
We had a very pleasant dinner, then retired out the to garage for a little music and conversation. During our time in John's "man cave," I followed the Michigan State (#16) vs. Wisconsin (#6) football game on my Droid X2 smartphone.
Michigan State had a 31-17 lead in the fourth quarter, but Wisconsin rallied for two TDs to tie the game with under two minutes to go. The Spartans managed to drive to the Badgers' 44-yard line with just 4 seconds to go in regulation. MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a Hail Mary pass to the end zone where it bounced off a Michigan State receiver and was caught by another MSU receiver right at the goal line. The on-the-field call was no TD, that the receiver had been stopped just shy of the goal line. But on further review by instant replay it was determined the ball had "crossed the plane" and MSU was awarded six points and the win -- 37-31! It is the second straight year Michigan State has defeated the undefeated and ranked in the Top Ten Badgers. So far this year the Spartans have beaten Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin. No easy feat! [Note: One other oddity of the game, Michigan State committed NO penalties during the entire game.]
After the game, and a good time with John, I made my way home. I wasn't really tired so I stayed up and watched The Wolfman, the old Universal Studios classic with Lon Chaney Jr. Finally I called it a night and got ready for bed.
If the weather permits, John and I will go out fishing one last time before he pulls his boat out of the water for the season. In addition, I'll spend some time blowing leaves off the yard at the cabin. Then the remainder of my stay on Sunday and Monday will be devoted to cleaning up the house before I go back to California on Tuesday.
Good night from Leech Lake...
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