September 17-19, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was a cool 47 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny and the wind was again strong at 15-20 mph out of the WNW which created white caps on the lake and rolling waves that were crashing head on into the shoreline in front of our properties.

Although I have the furnace set at an environmentally-friendly 66 degrees, the furnace was running throughout the morning.

After taking care of some work around the house, I drove into Cass Lake to pick up some groceries for the week while Joe stayed at the lake so he could go for a walk and work out. During his walk down West Shores Rd., Joe spotted a small black bear next to the road across from the Malay's. There have been several bear spottings by folks on the Peninsula the past couple of months. As Joe walked toward the bear it turned and dashed into the woods.

When I got home and got the groceries put away, Joe and I decided to go fishing. We got our rain gear on, mainly to keep us warm rather than protect us from rain, of which there wasn't any, and then got the boat into the water. The water temperature has cooled to 63 degrees, which is still warmer than the air temperature.

A windy overcast afternoon at Leech Lake

Joe and I jigged fatheads for about an hour before calling it quits. The water was pretty rough from the 12-18 mph NW wind and the air temperature was cold. Joe's hands were numb from being wet and being in the cold wind, so we came ashore. We only caught a couple of small perch during our time on the water.

Once inside the house, I got a fire going in the fireplace since not only were we cold at the time, but because the temperature was supposed to get down into the mid-30s overnight. We had a quiet evening at home hanging out by the warm fire. Good night from Leech Lake.

The weather on Tuesday was also cool, with the high climbing to no more than 55 degrees. The sky was mostly cloudy and the wind was out of the NW varying from 10-20 mph.

We did get out to do some fishing, again jigging with fatheads, and this time we had a little more success. Both Joe and I caught several perch, including a couple big enough for us to keep but since we have four in the basket for dinner we let them go. We also caught several northern pike and even a couple of rock bass.

Once on shore, Joe got the crayfish out of the trap and cleaned up so we could eat them as an appetizer before our perch fish fry. We also made Cole slaw and fries. A classic northwoods fish dinner.

On Wednesday, our friend Rick's birthday, the weather was cool and very windy. The was varied through out the day, but never stopped blowing at less then 20 mph. Many gusts were up over 30 mph and the lake was covered in white caps.

Joe and I spent our day around the properties and going for a bike ride. Later in the day we got the chain saw out and went back into the woods to clear off some of the four or five fallen trees that are blocking the trail. We spent about an hour cutting up a big maple tree before decided we'd had enough lumberjacking for one day and headed home for dinner.

The temperature during the night was supposed to drop down near 30 degrees, and with the strong wind blowing, it was again cold enough for a fire in the fireplace. Joe and I enjoyed a warm fire, listened to some music and eventually watched a movie on DVD. Another great evening at Leech Lake. Too bad Joe has to catch a plane early Sunday morning to fly back to California. I know he loves it here as much as I do.