June 18, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

Like most of the mornings have been here on Leech Lake recently, today at 9:30 a.m. the sky was grey, the temperature was 65 degrees and the wind was light at 3-8 mph out of the SSW. There were already a half dozens boats out in front of the house this morning; maybe going after my escaped walleye.

As the morning rolled on the temperature continued to rise to just more than 70 degrees, the wind remained calm and the sun started to peak out with patches of blue sky appearing. Kathleen had yet to go on a boat ride and we figured the weather was perfect for it, so after some breakfast and coffee we made our way over to the boat lift.

I lowered the boat into the water, backed it out onto the lake and slowly started heading north along the shoreline of Sucker Bay. We made our way up past Schiebe's cabin before motoring over to the location where Bay Shore Resort once stood. Today, Bay Shore is gone, and in its place are houses and cabins.

From there we motored up the shoreline to Birch Ridge Resort, the new public water access ramp and to the big Robinson house at the very north end of Sucker Bay. I then opened up the motor and started south on Sucker Bay toward Big Hardwood Point. Along the way the wind began to pick up and before we could even reach Big Hardwood the water was getting quite rough. I decided that the boat trip needed to come to an end and we needed to get off the water before the waves got even bigger.

We made it back to the boat lift as the lake was filling with white caps. It was a bit of struggle getting the boat on the lift, but I managed. For the rest of the day, until just before sunset, the wind was strong at 20+ mph out of the WSW and the lake was riled with waves and white caps.

Since we weren't able to get out onto the water, Kathleen and I decided to stay on shore and work on a number of chores. Kathleen got out the blower and cleaned off the porches, driveway and other areas around the house and cabin while I got back on the roof of the cabin and completed the zinc-stripping project. Now the entire roof at the cabin has zinc stripping in place which should help keep moss and mold from growing on it. I need to do the same thing to the garage/game room roof and to the roof at the house.

We wrapped up our chores around 6:30 p.m. and then Kathleen went for a run. Once she was back we sat on the dock and watched the sunset. The weather had evolved yet again, with the temperature at 72 degrees, the skies were mostly clear and the wind had died down to 3-5 mph out of the SSW. And with a new moon, it seemed like a perfect night to troll for walleye.

I got the boat in the water soon after the sun had dropped below the horizon and got the boat set up for trolling at night -- landing net handy, navigation lights on, rod holder in place, etc. I started trolling in 9 feet of water in front of our house and made my way south into the middle of Duck Bay. The water temperature was 70.9 degrees.

During that initial pass I hooked into a northern pike approximately 25" long, which I immediately unhooked and released back into the lake. I continued trolling until 10:45 p.m. but didn't catch another fish. I made my way on shore and back to the house. Kathleen and I ate a very late dinner, watched a movie and then went to bed late.

Although the fishing was not great tonight, it was a wonderful day spent mostly outside on the shores of Leech Lake.