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| Looking south on Sucker Bay at 6:30 p.m. |
Today is the traditional date of Memorial Day. So if you know someone who died in war, or may have a relative in harm's way (as I do), then remember them today.
At 9:30 a.m. the sky was grey and nearly completely filled with clouds, the temperature was a brisk 46 degrees and the wind was 5-8 mph out of the north.
After a leisurely breakfast and some time online, Rick and I decided to go fishing just before 1:00 p.m. I got the boat off the lift and motored out to 14 feet of water directly in front of the cabin. The water temperature was 62 degrees, and with the wind coming out of the north, we moved toward Second Duck Point at about .50 mph ground speed with the drift sock in the water.
Rick tried a number of tackle combinations -- Lindy rig, Kastmaster spoon, jig and minnow -- while I stuck to my usual method of using a jig tipped with a minnow. Today I was using a Northland Tackle "Vegas" jig in sparkle red.
I caught numerous small- to medium-sized perch and a small 9-inch walleye, while Rick hooked a couple of small perch. During our drift the wind began to shift and started blowing out of the south, which meant when had completed our drift to Second Duck Point wind simply pushed us back in the direction from which we had just come.
When we had come to a spot directly between our house and cabin in 14-feet of water I hooked into a beautiful 19-inch walleye; still using my red Vegas jig and fathead minnow. I love catching walleye while jigging because on light tackle a good-sized walleye really puts up a good battle, unlike when trolling where the walleye basically gives up and let you reel them to the boat.
After releasing the walleye back into the lake I put on a fresh minnow and started fishing again. Within 10 minutes I'd hooked another nice walleye, this one measuring 20 inches. Again, it went back into the lake per Leech Lake slot limits.
From that point on all we caught were a number of small perch. At 3:00 p.m. we came ashore where I had a fish sandwich with the last of the leftover beer-battered walleye from the other night. A very tasty meal after an afternoon on the water.
With lunch attended to, I got on the ATV and rode up to Birch Ridge Resort to buy another scoop of fathead minnows and a container of leeches. I've yet to fish with leeches and thought I'd give it a try.
At 7:30 p.m., Rick and I decided to go fishing. Our strategy for this evening was to jig with minnows and leeches until the sun set, then switch to trolling crankbaits.
We started by jigging in 10-14 feet of water in a spot between our house and cabin, the same spot I'd caught two nice walleye earlier in the day. During the next two hours I caught four small walleyes measuring from 10-14 inches. Rick caught only one walleye while jigging, but it was a nice 17-inch "eater" fish that went into the live well for a future dinner.
At 9:30 p.m. we stowed our jigging rods and took our our trolling rods. I continued to fish with a Berkley Flicker Shad while Rick used a Rapala Minnow Rap in a purpledescent color. I had a nice hit almost immediately, but about half way to the boat the fish got off.
During the next hour, I didn't hook another fish, but Rick had 4 hits, three of which got off almost immediately and the other came unbuttoned right at the edge of the boat. We estimate it was roughly a 19-inch walleye.
At 10:45 p.m. we came ashore, stowed the gear, got the 17-inch walleye into the basket in the lake and went inside. It was another good day of fishing on Leech Lake; Rick boated a keeper walleye and I caught a total of seven walleye.
Good night from Leech Lake.
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