This morning at 9:00 a.m. the sky was grey, the temperature was a cool 58 degrees and the wind was out of the WSW at 8-12 mph. We haven't had back-to-back sunny, warm days yet since Kathleen's arrival a 8 days ago.
Kathleen made me blueberry pancakes for my Father's Day breakfast, and we took our time eating and enjoying our coffee. After breakfast I made my way next door to the cabin to busy myself with cutting long strips of zinc roofing metal in half. The zinc -- which is used to prevent mold and moss from growing on a roof -- should have been installed when Rick and I put on the new roof in 2010, but we forgot to do so, so now it's time for a retrofit effort. Since the 4" strips are too big to put under the shingles as they are, I have to cut them down to 2" strips which can be more easily installed.
I cut several very long (25+ feet) strips before deciding to take advantage of the weather and go fishing. There had been some reports of a storm in the late morning or early afternoon, but at 12:30 p.m. the weather seemed fine so I put the roofing project on hold and got the boat out onto the water.
I started by motoring south to Second Duck Point and setting up in 12 feet of water. With a 8-12 mph south wind, the boat was pushed north up the middle of Sucker Bay at about .50 mph ground speed. I had absolutely no luck, so after 30 minutes I repositioned the boat in front of Newman's house and let the wind push the boat north and out into the bay.
I was using a gold Northland "Vegas" jig tipped with a fathead minnow. The water temperature was 69.9 degrees in the 12 feet of water in which I was fishing.
In this spot I caught several perch and had a couple of minnows bitten off, leaving only the head still on the jig. This is usually a sign of walleye in the area, since they will often bite (very lightly) the minnow, but not even touch the jig.
After 30 minutes or so I repositioned the boat again, this time closer to our house in 12 feet of water. Again the boat drifted out into the middle of the bay and again I caught several perch. Then I felt that familiar "walleye tick" and set the hook. I brought a very nice 16 1/4" walleye into the boat. Kathleen and I had talked about going to the Big Fish Supper Club in Bena tonight for dinner, but with a walleye in the live well the plans changed and called for a Father's Day walleye dinner at home.
I continued to fish and caught several more perch, including a couple of 11- and 12-inch jumbos, but they all went back into the lake since the one walleye would be enough for tonight's dinner. At 2:30 p.m. I motored the boat back to the lift, stowed the gear, put the walleye in the basket which went into the lake and set about my roofing work.
I worked for a couple of hours getting the zinc stripping up underneath the cap shingles on the peak of the roof before taking a break for a late lunch. After my lunch, Kathleen went for a run while I went to clean the walleye, or so I thought.
When I catch walleye I put them in a holding basket made out of wire mesh with a floating top. I put the fish into the basket, lower the basket into the lake, the floating lid seals the top and the fish stays secure and alive. That's how it always worked until today. Somehow, maybe from a wave from a passing boat, the mesh basket got hooked up on the underside of the dock and in that position the floating lid opened and the fish escaped. When I arrived to clean the walleye for dinner, I found nothing but an open basket. In all the years I've used that basket I've never had something like this happen before. So the Big Fish Supper Club in Bena was back on the agenda.
The drive to the Big Fish is pleasant and relatively short. We drive 8 miles up Sucker Bay Road before heading east on Hwy. 2 to Bena, no more than about 5 or 6 miles. The Big Fish is a bit of a northern Minnesota landmark, and even had a brief cameo appearance in the movie National Lampoon's Vacation starring Chevy Chase.
The food is good enough for a supper club and the people are always friendly. We enjoyed our meal and then drove home. We had heard on the weather station that most of the state of Minnesota was getting bombarded with severe thunderstorms, and that there was even a tornado warning for several counties down around Minneapolis. But most of the really bad weather was south of us, and other than a little rain and a few flashes of lightening, we missed the storms completely.
We arrived back at Leech Lake just in time to see the sunset. To the north, the sky looked yellowish and non-threatening. But to the south, the northern edge of the statewide storms could be seen.
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| Relatively clear skies looking north on Sucker Bay |
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| The storms that hit the state are visible looking south on Sucker Bay |
Good night from the northwoods.
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