As I was putting some cold drinks into my cooler preparation for a warm trip onto the water, I noticed a boat inside my harbor. In the front of the boat was a woman who was leaning over the bow of the boat picking weeds out from around the boat lift. I stepped outside and asked if everything was OK; since boaters are allowed to use any harbor on the lake in times of distress. She replied that all was fine, and that she was a marine biologist working with Bemidji State University and that she and her intern (who was manning the tiller motor in the back of the boat) were looking for samples of Eurasian milfoil, an aquatic invasive species that has been known to grow so thick as to choke the life out of the other native aquatic plants and make it difficult to even motor a boat through it.
As it turns out, she did find some Eurasian milfoil floating in my harbor, but none actually growing there, which was some good news. Of course the bad news was finding some at all. They then made their way next door to the Newman's harbor and again found some of the invasive species floating in his harbor. Their only advice to me was if I see any Eurasian milfoil floating in my harbor, or anywhere else, to take it out of the lake and throw it far enough onto shore where it will be sure to dry out and die. And if I happen to see any growing, to pull it out and again make sure it dries out and dies. At this point, they told me, Eurasian milfoil is in the lake and there is no way to completely eradicate it.
Within 10 minutes of me first spotting the boat in my harbor, the two biologists were speeding their way north on Sucker Bay to pull out the boat at the new boat landing where Maple Leaf Resort used to stand. Now it was time for me to do some fishing.
The water temperature, which has bounced a degree or two above and below 80 degrees for weeks now -- was exactly 80 degrees.
With the wind out of the east, not ideal fishing conditions by the way, I motored out into 9 feet of water between the house and cabin and let the wind push the boat out to the middle of Sucker Bay. I decided to forego the drift sock and just let the wind push me as it may.
I tipped my black Northland Fireball jig with a fathead and within 10 minutes had hooked into a beautiful 11 1/2-inch jumbo perch. I put it in the live well for a future meal. I fished for about another hour and caught several more perch, but no more jumbos, a couple of small pike and a few rock bass. It's been some time since I've hooked into a walleye. And from what I'm hearing from the owners and dock hands at Birch Ridge Resort, the walleye fishing as reported by the guests of the resort is very difficult. Basically no one is catching walleye.
I came back on shore just before 4:00 p.m. The temperature was hovering near 85 degrees and it looked like it might rain. I decided to clean the perch right away to make sure it was fresh, although I ended up not eating it for dinner tonight. Definitely tomorrow night.
It was a quiet night and one that had me missing Kathleen. Even if we weren't in the same room or weren't actively engaged in conversation, just knowing she was here at the lake with me made me happy. Hopefully she'll be able to return sometime soon.
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During the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 25 the had a big thunderstorm. The extremely loud claps of thunder directly overhead shook the house and woke me from a deep sleep. I lay awake in bed and watched a tremendous light show with bright flashes of lightning happening every couple of seconds followed by crashes of thunder. At the same time a torrential rain was falling. The next morning I would learn from a couple of my neighbors, who have rain gauges set up outside, that more than 2 1/2-inches of rain fell during the night.
By 8:30 a.m. the rain had stopped, but the resulting humidity from downfall just hours early, left the dew point at roughly the same as the temperature -- 75 degrees. Just a simply walk down our road left me soaked in sweat. The skies were mostly grey and the light wind was out of the NNW at 5-8 mph.
I spent the morning hours taking care of some personal business issues, but by mid-afternoon I was set to go fishing. I checked on the fatheads, but unfortunately all had perished despite being in a minnow bucket in the lake. I guess the warm water temperatures and the bouncing from the waves during the night were too much for them to handle. The leeches I had purchased at the same time as the fatheads, however, were in fine condition. So once I had motored out to my usual spot on Sucker Bay, I tipped my black Northland Fireball jig with large leech and began fishing.
The water temperature remained at 80 degrees.
I fished for about an hour but caught nothing more than a few medium-sized pike, rock bass and small perch. No jumbos or walleyes. I did enjoy eating my lunch on the water. A good sandwich always tastes a little better when it's eaten on a boat while fishing. And a cold cream soda tastes better when sipped on a boat too.
I came ashore around 3:30 p.m. in preparation for a work call at 4:00 p.m. After my work call and follow-up emails, I went down to visit with Lainy and Tom Malay. With all of the activity at our house during the past few weeks, I've not had much of a chance to visit and catch up with my Peninsula neighbors. We had a good conversation and I'm now up to date on all the happenings on Otter Tail Peninsula.
I did not eat the jumbo perch for dinner last night, but I did enjoy it tonight. I modified my beer-batter recipe by adding some Panko crumbs to the batter which gave the perch fillets a bit of crunchy texture; which I enjoyed. The fish was accompanied by sides of Minnesota wild rice and buttered green beans. A tasty, and somewhat healthy, meal.
After dinner I did a bit of reading, watched a beautiful sunset from the dock and then watched an old Sherlock Holmes movie on DVD. Given my interrupted sleep from the night before -- because of the storm -- I tried out early and went to bed before midnight. If the weather permits, I plan to do some test staining of the house to see if the color I got from Sherwin-Williams in Bemidji matches the current color the cedar siding.
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| Second Duck Point in the foreground, Duck Point in the background at sunset (Notice the moon beginning to set) |
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