July 26, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

This morning the sky was grey, the wind was 10-15 mph out of the NNW but was shifting to the WNW, and the temperature was a much cooler 70 degrees. In fact, with the wind blowing it was actually a bit chilly and I had to put on a long sleeved shirt.

After some work around the house, I decided to apply some of the stain I picked up at Sherwin-Williams on the patch of the house that I power washed a couple of days ago. The house had had time to dry after the power washing and torrential rains, and with the nice breeze blowing I thought it would be a good day to apply a test coat.

Using a small roller, which coincidentally was the same size as the cedar planks that make up the siding of the house, I applied stain to the bottom four boards on the north side of the house. From the very early looks of the stain, it is a good match to the original color and should do fine. But to make sure, I will give it 24 hours to dry thoroughly.

As is often the case when you paint the house, or wash the car, a light rain storm moved in at 2:15 p.m. and dropped a light, but steady, rain for nearly an hour. By 3:30 p.m. the rain had stopped and the sun popped through the still very heavy and dark cloud cover.

Using this brief break in the weather, I decided to go fishing. I got the boat off the lift, motored out to a spot in 12 feet of water directly in front of the Giza's cabin and let the 10 mph WSW wind push me toward shore and north toward the boat lift.

As I have for the past several times on the water, I used a black (with red eye) Northland Fireball jig tipped with a large leech. But unlike my past four or five times on the water I was skunked. I didn't even get a bite. So after 45 minutes or so, and with storm clouds and rain again moving into the area, I headed back to shore.

I wasn't in the house 5 minutes when another light, steady rain began to fall. With the heavy rain we had a couple of nights ago, coupled with the rain off and on today, the grass, the plants and the trees were literally shining a bright emerald green.

By 6:15 p.m. the wind had shifted yet again and was blowing out of the NW and with the change in wind another mild storm front rolled in. At 6:30 p.m. a light, steady rain was falling. While the rest of the nation is baking in unprecedented drought and heat we here at Leech Lake are staring at 113,000 acres of water while a gentle soaking rain falls. Climate change is a bitch.

Tom Malay called me this evening and asked if tomorrow evening he and Brian "Bro" Brosdahl could come by and look at the ice fishing houses that the two of them have been storing in my garage. Bro wants to donate one or two of them to a fundraiser for a friend of his who has a grandson who needs heart surgery and is scheduled to make a trip to California for the required procedure.

I do plan to be around tomorrow evening and look forward to hosting Tom, my friend, and Bro a fishing legend here in the northwoods. Bro has been featured in In-Fisherman magazine and on the magazine's TV show, as well as appearing in/on numerous other TV fishing shows, magazine articles, sports shows, seminars, etc. I once met Bro years ago on the water while fishing on the north end of Sucker Bay, but we were both in boats and just chatted while fishing for largemouth bass. Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, I'll meet him face-to-face.

I went out fishing one last time at 8:15 p.m. I only fished for about 45 minutes, and caught only one measly rock bass. I came in just around 9:00 p.m. and again no sooner did I get inside the house than it started to rain. The shower only lasted a few minutes, but once again everything outside was wet, green and fresh. The level of oxygen in the air is high, and it feels amazing to take a deep breath. I could really get used to the northwoods life.

I spent the rest of the evening online, listening to classical music KCRB out of Bemidji, and reading. A wonderfully soothing evening. Good night.

P.S. One last item. My granddaughter Ashley attended the Yahoo summer picnic in Silicon Valley today -- her stepmother works there -- and she met the new CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer.

Ashley in the middle, Marissa on the left.

On Leech Lake -- July 24/25, 2012

Tuesday, July 24 was a hot day. It reached into the high 80s with mostly sunny skies and an off-shore breeze blowing from the east at 8-15 mph. I had work related things to do for some of the day, but still managed to get out on the water for a bit of fishing.

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.
-----------------

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.

Second Duck Point in the foreground, Duck Point in the background at sunset
(Notice the moon beginning to set)

Good night from Leech Lake.