August 6, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

This morning was warmer than it's been in previous mornings. At 9:00 a.m. the temperature was already 74 degrees on its way to a high of 84 degrees. The wind was variable at 8-15 mph out of the WSW, but was blowing hard enough throughout most of the day as to create some white caps on the lake. The sky was sunny and blue, with hardly a cloud in site.

At 9:30 a.m. this morning Lainy Malay called me and asked if I'd seen a dog wandering around the neighborhood. It appears I'm not the only who's seen "Buck." In fact, it seems that everyone on the peninsula has seen the "German Sheppard-looking" dog. According to Lainy, the consensus from people as far south as Moose Lane off of Ottertail Point Dr. to those of us on West Shores Rd. is that the dog has been abandoned. Many people are keeping an eye out for the dog in hopes of corralling it and either keeping it themselves (as a couple of people have stated) or taking him into Bemidji to the SPCA Rescue Center. Either way, it seems unlikely that "Buck" and I will cross paths again.

After some PR work this morning, I decided to get out on the water for a little fishing even though the wind was still creating rolling waves and the occasional white cap. I managed to get the boat off the lift with no trouble and motored out past Second Duck Point where I put the drift sock in the water to slow the boat's drift northward. The wind was blowing out of the WSW at near 15 mph so even with the drift sock in the water the boat was moving between .83 and .92 mph ground speed. I noted that the water temperature had dropped to 78 degrees.

I used a Bass Pro Shops XPS jig in cherry-red color tipped with Northland grub. I caught a couple of medium-sized perch which I threw back into the lake. As I drifted in front of the cabin, something big grabbed my jig. I could feel the distinct motion of a big fish shaking its head before the line snapped. I quickly retied, using the same type and color of jig, and within a minute or two was fishing again.

No sooner had I lowered my jig into the water when I again hooked into something big. And again, a couple of heads shakes later my line was snapped and my jig and bait gone. It is entirely possible that a northern pike, or maybe a walleye, has two red jigs stuck in its mouth.

I retied a second time, but caught only a couple of small perch the rest of the trip. I made way back to shore around 5:30 p.m. and got dinner started. After eating I enjoyed watching the sunset and then did some cleaning around the house in preparation for Joe's arrival.

The August 6 sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

Joe gets into the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport late tomorrow evening. Rather than drive all the way up to Leech Lake, we'll spend Tuesday night and all day Wednesday in St. Cloud so Joe can see his grandma, as well as his aunt and uncle and cousins. More than likely we'll head up to the lake on Thursday morning.

It'll be nice to have Joe here, not only to help me stain the house and do other chores around the property, but to hang out with him, listen to music with him, have a fire in the fire pit, go fishing and of course watch The Big Lebowski.

At midnight, the temperature was still 72 degrees, and with a dew point of 65 degrees, the humidity is hovering around 80%. Plus the wind has died down, so it's a still, muggy night. But I can hear the loons calling across the lake. I never get tired of that sound.

Good night from Leech Lake.