Walleye Opener 2011 at Leech Lake

Another grey, overcast day with a temperature of 36 degrees at 9:30 a.m. and winds varying from 10-20 mph, with gusts even stronger. A cold walleye opener in Minnesota.

There have been anywhere from 4 to a dozen boats in front of our house battling choppy water and a stinging mist being blown by the stiff winds The boats we've seen that have caught fish have pulled in nothing more than a couple of small perch. It doesn't appear to be a strong opener; at least not near Second Duck Point on Sucker Bay.

Tim, Jackson and I hung around the house for most of the morning and afternoon, and at 3:00 p.m. we went over to John Newman's cabin for an early BBQ dinner of brined, beer-can chicken and "danger dogs, street style."

After our dinner fare, Tim and Jackson helped me get the canopy on the boat lift; not an easy task with the wind still blowing at a good 10-15 mph clip out of the north. But with some muscle and determination, we got the canopy on the lift. We then loaded the boat with tackle, supplies, the landing net, drift sock and other necessities for walleye fishing, and at just after 7:00 p.m. local time hit the water in my Lund Pro V 1800 for the first time this fishing season.

With nearly 20 boats crammed between our house and Second Duck Point, I made the decision that we would begin fishing in 12 feet of water north of our place, up near the Birches. The 150 hp Mercury Verado got us to our destination quickly, where we deployed the drift sock, tipped our Northland Tackle , eyeball jigs with shiners and began fishing.

Very soon after dropping my line in the water I felt that familar "weight" on the end of my line and went to set the hook. For just a split second I felt the weight of the fish on the line, but then the line snapped. It must have been a northern pike because it bit right through my 8-lb Berkeley Fireline Crystal. Although it is possible it could have been a walleye.

We made several drifts from the Birches to Malay's cabin and Jackson and I caught a few perch each, but unfortunately Tim was skunked. Jackson had the nicest fish of the outing, catching a jumbo perch that measured just a hair over 12 inches. A truly big perch; which we put in the live well.

The water temperature was 52 degrees, surprisingly warm since ice-out was May 1, the wind was still 10-15 mph out of the north, making for some nice swells on the lake, and the moon was 90 waxing (full moon on May 17).

We came in around 8:45 p.m., which is the time the sun officially set at our location, unloaded a few things from the boat, then got a campfire going at the cabin fire pit. About 9:30 p.m. John stopped by to join our conversation, and we stayed outside near the fire until almost midnight.

We all had a great walleye opener at Leech Lake, even though none of us boated a walleye. Well, there's always tomorrow.

May 21, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The winds today were out of the west at 15-20 mph. The high temperature was 61 degrees with a low of just 40 degrees. The sky was sunny and there were white caps on the lake, but I needed to get out on the water.

I awoke early this morning and had my boat on the lake by 6:30 a.m. I drifting using 4" Gulp minnows in smelt color on a Northland Slurp! Jig. I started fishing 8-10 feet of water off Second Duck Point, and gradually worked my way toward our house and eventually motored down to the Birches.

I caught a one jumbo perch, which I put back in the lake, and one FIB walleye (i.e., a rock bass). At 8:00 a.m. I went back to shore because the wind was really starting to pick up and the swells were getting a bit too big for me.

I saw my neighbor John Newman out on the lake, also up early and fishing, and he invited me over for coffee when we both got back on shore. We shared a pot of coffee, caught up on things and then I left to continue a variety of chores back at the house.

The order of business was to take the snow plow off the ATV and move the ATV from the garage attached to house to one of the out buildings we've dubbed the ATV garage. I keep the ATV in the attached garage during the winter, with the plow attached, to make it easier to plow the snow away from the house. But come springtime, I like to move it to the ATV garage so we have more room in the garage at the house.

I went to start the ATV but the battery was completely dead. I keep a trickle charger attached to the battery during the winter to keep the battery fresh, but I guess the battery is so old (7 years by my count) that it could no longer hold a charge. I used the pull cord to get the ATV started, lowered the winch I so could remove the snow plow blade, and then moved the ATV to the out building. I think I'll take the ATV into Bemidji Sports for service and a new battery next week sometime. I do a lot of the service on the ATV myself -- oil and filter change, air filter, grease all the various bearings, etc. -- but I have never had it in for a professional service and it's now due.

My next project was getting the Mosquito Magnet up and running. I had already charged the battery for 24 hours, so I was now ready to clear the hose entry and hook up a propane tank. At first the Magnet didn't work. But when I switched out propane tanks the thing fired up and started running properly.

As the sun set, the wind died down so I decided to go trolling for walleye -- my first such trip of the new season. I tied on a #7 Rapala Minnow Rap in a hot steel color and began trolling from Malays to past Second Duck Point in 8-12 feet of water. The water temperature was 58 degrees.

From 9:00 to 10:15 p.m. I caught a 12", 14 1/2", 17 1/2" and an 18 1/4" walleye. I kept the 17 1/2" fish for a later dinner.

After the various inconveniences of the past few days, it was really nice to settle into my Lund Pro V 1800 IFS boat and do some walleye fishing on Leech Lake!

May 20, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

2009 Minnesota Walleye Stamp

Tom Malay and Ron Neustrand stopped by this morning to help me put my boat in the water. Ron, a former mechanic on the railroad before he retired, took a look at the coupling on my trailer. I figured who better to look at a coupling and hitch than a former railroad mechanic.

Ron took apart the coupling and found a key component was cracked. After putting the assembly back together, Ron said that the coupling still didn't "ride right" on the 2" ball of the receiver hitch. He suggested I take it into Corner Sports for repairs, or better yet, a replacement coupling.

After we got the boat in the water and onto the boat lift, Tom and Ron helped me get the canopy onto the boat lift. We then shared a noon time beer and the two friends and neighbors departed. I then went back to the house to turn on the computer and begin blogging my experiences of the past day.

Unfortunately, a flaw in the Symantec Norton Antivirus software caused my PC to be stuck in a Windows XP reboot mode. Essentially, my PC was continually rebooting. I turned off the PC, unhooked every cable running to it, and got it ready to take into town on Monday for repairs (along with my boat trailer).

Since I couldn't use the PC, I went back outside and got the water pump primed and running so we can pump water from the lake to water our flowers, garden and trees. I then got in the truck and drove to Birch Ridge Resort where I purchased a 2009 fishing license and the first ever walleye stamp (photo above).

I got home and checked the lake to see if going fishing was an option. The temperature was a very warm 81 degrees, but the winds were strong at 10-15 mph out of the SSE which created quite some big chop on the water by mid-afternoon. I decided to stay on shore and work around the properties instead.

In the evening I went to turn on the furnace, because the temperature had dropped to a cool 44 degrees, only to discover that the furnace was on the blink too. Boat trailer. PC. And now the furnace. I put a call into the Hill's Heating and Plumbing and hopefully they'll call me back in the morning.

A variety of "things" may have gone awry, but one gigantic thing is working in my favor -- I'm at Leech Lake!

October 7, 2008 on Leech Lake

I went fishing twice today. The first time was from noon to 2:00 p.m. I took advantage of the 5-10 mph west wind to push my boat from 12 feet of water off the Birches toward shore. This direction of the drift took me over the edge of the weed line and into the weeds near shore. At this time of year the weeds are starting to dying off, and the few healthy green weeds that remain typically hold bait fish. I figured if I fished the green weeds, this is where the predators, such as walleyes, would be staging.

The sky today was partly cloudy and the temperature was 54 degrees. The water temperature was a bit warmer at 55 degrees.

I used my standard Northland jig, silver spinner blade and Gulp minnow set up. I caught numerous perch, but no real jumbos worth keeping nor any walleyes.

Once back on shore I turned my attention to a 40-foot maple tree that had fallen on our property. I used my Stihl chain saw to cut it into 2-3 foot sections, then used my log splitter to cut it into fire wood. In the Northwoods of Minnesota, a person can never have too much firewood on hand.

Later this evening -- from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. -- I went trolling. Since my favorite hot steel-colored Minnow Rap had been destroyed by a walleye a few nights ago, I had to switch to a purpledescent Minnow Rap; similar in color to the hot steel. I trolled my usual route from Second Duck Point north to the Malay's cabin in 9-12 feet of water. I caught a very hefty 16 1/4" walleye which went into the live well of my Lund Pro-V 1800 IFS. That fish will make a nice dinner for me and Kathleen.

Another fantastic evening on Leech Lake.

August 9, 2008 on Leech Lake

I went fishing twice today. Once in the afternoon by myself, and the second time in the evening with my son Joe.

I left the boat lift at 1:15 p.m. with the temperature right 78 degrees, water temperature at 76 degrees and the winds 5-8 mph out of NW. It was another perfect afternoon to do some drifting along the weed line near the Birches. I stopped the boat in about 10 feet of water straight out from Jerry Schiebe's cabin. From this location I would drift SE directly to the reeds and grass in front of Norm's cabin.

I decided to use a Northland Mimic Minnow Spin lure, which over the past two years has become one of my favorite "confidence" baits. I've caught countless perch and crappie on this bait, and I've also caught a good number of walleyes using it. Today only reinforced my confidence in the Mimic Minnow Spin.

Drifting from Schiebe's toward Norm's, I cast out the Mimic Minnow Spin and let it fall to the bottom. I then reeled in just enough to keep the lure off the bottom. Within seconds I hooked a nice perch. For the next hour I caught perch after perch, and even hooked a nice 14-inch walleye. All fish were released unharmed. By 5:00 p.m. I was back on shore.

That evening at 9:00 p.m., Joe and I launched the boat for some after-dark trolling for walleye. I piloted the boat into 11 feet of water and we let out our Rapala Minnow Raps a good 40 feet behind the boat. Trolling at roughly 2.5 mph, this gets the lure down about 9 or 10 feet, or just off the bottom where the walleye are feeding.

We only made one round-trip pass from our house past Second Duck point back to the Malay's cabin then back to our cabin. During that short 1 hour and 30 minute run we caught one 19-inch walleye, which is in the slot limit so it was immediately released.

Based on my success earlier in the day, I think tomorrow I'll focus my attention on panfish -- specifically crappie, perch and bluegill.

Here's a picture of my Lund 1800 IFS on the boat lift at the cabin.