May 28, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

Today is the day America celebrates Memorial Day, although the actual date for Memorial Day is May 30; which this year lands on a Wednesday. I guess at some point in the past our government decided it was better for the country's population to have a three-day weekend -- for camping, fishing, having picnics, watching auto races on TV, etc. -- than it was for them to remember those who have fallen in battle. Oh well, here's to three-day weekends.

The morning started out fairly decent weather-wise, with a temperature of 60 degrees, a partly sunny sky and winds at no more than 8-12 mph out of the WSW. But by 11:30 a.m., the temperature had dropped a few degrees, the sky clouded up and was totally grey and the wind whipped up to 15-25 mph creating rolling white caps that crashed into our shoreline.

A few brave (foolish) boats remained on the lake despite the high winds. The forecast was for a storm to roll in from the west just after noon, with another storm to hit us from the south between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m.

By 12:45 p.m., the clouds had given way to blue skies, with only a few white fluffy clouds hovering overhead. The wind had shifted and was now coming out of the north at 15-20 mph. The lake was not quite as rough as it had been earlier, but it was still quite choppy.

After lunch Rick and I decided to tackle the chore of getting the stairs reattached to the dock. The stairs had broken off the dock a couple of years back during high winds out of the northwest. I happened to be sitting in the living room during that storm watching wave after wave rock the stairs until they finally broke off and disappeared below the slate grey surface of the lake.

It took about an hour and a half to get the stairs attached, including the necessity of me donning the waders and getting into the lake. The water level is at or slightly above normal and during the course of me trying to connect the stairs to the dock, a good amount of cold water crested over the top of the waders soaking everything I was wearing underneath.

During the time we were attaching the stairs, a brief rainstorm of no more than five minutes rolled through dropping quite a bit of rain on us even though the sun never stopped shining. As the rain passed, the wind died down, so with our project complete Rick and I hit the water for some mid-afternoon fishing.

We got the boat in the water and I motored out to about 10 feet of water in front of Giza's cabin. With the light wind, which was now blowing from the SW, we put the drift sock in and slowly made our way toward the cabin.

No sooner than I dropped my fathead-tipped jig into the water than I felt that familiar mushiness of a walleye  bite. I set the hook and could tell it was a good-sized fish. I called to Rick that I had a good fish on and to get the net ready. I played the fish for maybe 30 seconds before POW, the lined snapped and whatever was on the other end made its escape.

I tied on a new jig, but after that could catch no more than a small perch or two. Rick's luck was about the same, a few small perch. The wind started to pick up, and with a forecast for a late-afternoon storm, we decided to head for shore.

Once on shore I got a fire going in the fire pit, while Rick attended to the pork ribs in the oven which we would later grill for dinner. About 45 minutes after we came ashore the wind really started to pick up, with speeds of 25-30 mph out of the SW. The lake was quickly covered in white caps and almost devoid of all boats. I spotted one heading SW, into the waves, heading toward Big Hardwood Point.

We had an early dinner and we done eating by 6:30 p.m., almost a record for us here at the lake; it is our typical habit to eat no earlier than 9:00 p.m. We tended to the fire next door for an hour or so after dinner, then put it out and came home.

At 8:00 p.m. the temperature was holding steady at 60 degrees, the sky was mostly cloudy and the wind was ripping at 25+ mph out of the SW. As the sun set, the wind continued to howl and no boats could be seen on Sucker Bay from the end of our dock.

Rick and I watched an Albert Brooks movie, Defending Your Life, and then I spent a little time reading and listening to classical music on MPR before calling it a night. It was a good day at Leech Lake, even if we only got a little bit of fishing in. More tomorrow.