May 23, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

At 8:00 a.m. this morning the sky was overcast and grey, the wind was 8-12 mph out of the southwest and the temperature was 62 degrees. It was once again clear that it had rained over night because the ground, porch and driveway were wet and spotted with puddles.

Rick and I took our time having breakfast and coffee before making our way outside to tackle some chores. We took down the storm windows at the cabin and replaced them with the summer screens. We then cleaned up the garage a bit and put a new seat and cover on the toilet at the cabin. It was then time for some fishing.

We hit the water at just about 11:30 a.m. to medium winds of 12-15 mph out of the southwest, temperatures just under 70 degrees and water temperatures at 64.5 degrees. The sky was grey and cloudy and was threatening rain.

We got the minnows into the boat, got the boat into the water, and then motored north toward Norm's cabin, rather than heading south to Second Duck Point the way we did yesterday.

The wind was such that even with the drift sock in the water the boat was being pushed north at nearly 1 mph. With our jigs tipped with fathead minnows, we set to work. During three drifts between Norm's to just north of Schiebe's cabin, I caught three small pike, a rock bass, and a dozen or so perch, but only one worth keeping, an 11-inch jumbo. Neither Rick nor I hooked a walleye. In fact, Rick struggled today catching only one small perch.

The grey threatening skies dropped a few sprinkles on us, but no rain of any consequence. We came ashore just before 2:00 p.m.

I took the afternoon to rearrange some of the book/record case in the living room, while Rick went down to the old Hancock place to do some reconnaissance. Rick has been interested in that property for nearly a year now and was curious to its current state.

The Newmans had invited both Rick and me, as well as the Malays, over for an early dinner, so just after 4:00 p.m. we made our way next door for a BBQ of brats, burgers and beans.We stayed at Newman's until close to 7:30 p.m. and then made our way home.

At 8:45 p.m. Rick and I made our way to the boat under dark skies, a light rain and a temperature of 53 degrees. The wind was very light at 3-5 mph out of the southwest. The water temperature was 64 degrees.

Rick was trolling with a purpledescent Minnow Rap, while I used the same lure in a yellow perch color. We made several passes between the middle of Duck Bay to the south and the Malay's cabin to the north in water depths ranging from 7.5 to 12 feet.

Rick caught a rock bass so quickly that I hadn't even had a chance to put my lure into the water. A short time later I hooked into a small northern pike. Then we didn't catch a thing for nearly an hour before Rick caught a 16 3/8 inch walleye. We contemplated keeping it, but since it was the first fish of the season, it was released back into the lake.

The rain continued to fall, at sometimes quite hard, but most of the time steady and light. At sunset, which occurred just after 9:00 p.m., the western sky was a rosy pink color while the rest of the sky, in all directions, was a dark grey. Truly the land of grey and pink.

During the next 45 minutes -- between 9:45 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. -- Rick caught three more walleyes, a 14-inch, a 15-inch and a 19-inch, and I caught a 14-inch walleye. At 10:30 p.m. we decided to come ashore. We had five walleyes in the boat on our first night out fishing, so it wasn't a bad start to the season.

Weather permitting, we'll be out on the water again tomorrow so stay tuned. Good night from Leech Lake.