Today the sky was grey and overcast all day long. At mid-morning the temperature was only 46 degrees and it didn't get past 60 throughout the day. The wind remained pretty steady all day at 12-15 mph out of the north.
After being up so late the previous night, neither Rick nor I arose early. We pretty much just hung out around the house most of the day, before tackling a few chores later in the afternoon. Rick took a look at some faulty wiring on a trailer of John Newman's. Then we took down two dead trees that were on the Newman's land near our property. Of course we checked with Karen Newman first to make sure she (and John) were OK with us removing the trees. We didn't want a strong wind to bring them down randomly.
At around 7:30 p.m., I got the grill going for the porterhouse steaks Rick bought at the store yesterday. They look like very good cuts of meat and should be tasty.
As the day has moved toward evening the sky has cleared some and there is now some blue to been seen, and the sun is peeking through the clouds. The wind has slowed considerably and is now blowing at 5-8 mph out of the north. The temperature is about 52 degrees.
Tonight is the last night Kathleen will be in St. Cloud visiting her mother. Tomorrow Kathleen flies to San Francisco and will be in our house in San Jose by 7:00 p.m. How weird that someone can go from one environment and setting to another so completely different is such a short amount of time.
At 9:15 p.m. we went fishing. Like last night, I used the bluegill colored Lindy Shadling and Rick used a purpledescent Rapala Minnow Rap. About an hour into our fishing, I had caught two northerns and had to deal with at least two tangles with the Lindy Shadling. The design of the Shadling is such that if you use a locking swivel (which I do to reduce line twist) the action of the lure ends up catching the line in the lead treble hook. On two occasions tonight, and two more last night, my lure got tangled up in the line. Not a great design for a lure that is meant to be used for trolling. After it happened the second time tonight I changed from the Shadling to my old reliable Rapala Minnow Rap, in the Tennessee shad color. No problems with the Minnow Rap. Live and learn.
On our last pass by Second Duck Point on our way back to the cabin, Rick hooked into a nice 20-inch walleye; which was immediately released back into the lake. The wind was still blowing out of the north at about 10 mph, the water temperature was right around 60 degrees, the moon was 50% waning and was scheduled to rise at 1:32 a.m. CDT, and the air temperature was a very cool 40 degrees.
We came ashore around 10:45 p.m. and caught the end of the Sharks vs. Canucks Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. The Canucks won 3-2 in OT and won the series 4 games to 1. Another disappointing end to the Sharks season. No more hockey for me this year.
I've got a number of business and home related calls and projects to attend to tomorrow, so I'll sign off for now.
sj: 2 pike
rs: 20" walleye
Showing posts with label rapala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rapala. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Friday, June 12, 2009
June 12, 2009 -- At Leech Lake
At 10 a.m. today the sun was shining, but the sky was a bit hazy, the wind was out of the SW at 8-12 mph and the temperature was 62 degrees. I heard on the radio last night that the high temperature today was going to be 72 degrees. If that were the case, today would be the warmest it's been in more than two weeks. Maybe summer is finally arriving in the Northwoods.
Today is Rick's last full day at Leech Lake. Tomorrow I take him to the airport where he flies from Bemidji to Minneapolis to Washington D.C. After his conference ends in D.C., he's flying to Colorado to visit his sister before making the long trip home to Brisbane, Australia. I hope it's been a good visit/vacation for him.
After the pot of coffee was brewed the morning, I poured a cup and made my way out onto the dock to survey the lake. I was greeted by a flotilla of 24 fishing boats. Apparently the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tournament is being held on Leech Lake from June 10-13 and a number of the professional anglers decided that the stretch in front of my cabin is productive water (which of course it is).
I see that the leader of the tournament, a Chevy pro from Wisconsin, has a two-day weight of more than 34 lbs. for his 10 fish. That's not a bad weight at all for 10 fish. The tournament runs through Saturday afternoon, so I'm sure I'll have a number of boats in front of my house again tomorrow morning.
At 1:20 p.m. Rick and I took the boat out into 12-18 mph SW winds that created a decent chop on the lake. We started in 9-11 feet of water off Second Duck Point using jigs and shiners. Both Rick and I were using 1/4 oz. Bass Pro Shops XPS Walleye Angler Jig Heads in lime green and lime green/black tipped with spot-tail shiners (which we purchased at Froggy's Sports in Cass Lake and at Birch Ridge Resort on Leech Lake's Sucker Bay).
During the next two hours, and at least three different bouts with rain, we caught 8 small walleye between us ranging from 10" to 15", and numerous perch. All fish were released. With yet another storm front moving toward us, and this one showing some lightening and thunder, we headed to shore.
In about 30 minutes I'm going to go over to the cabin to clean the 17" walleye that's been in the basket for the past several days. I'm going to make pan-fried walleye for Rick's last dinner at Leech Lake during this visit.
As of 5:00 p.m., the wind has calmed somewhat to maybe 10 mph out of the SW and the temperature is 70 degrees. The water temperature was 62 degrees.
After our walleye dinner, Rick and I went out for one last troll for walleye before Rick leaves for Washington D.C. We got on the water around 8:45 p.m. and watched a beautiful sunset. The wind picked up during the next hour or so, and ended up at about 15 mph out of the SW. The water temperature had warmed just slightly to 62.5 degrees and the air temperature was 60 degrees.
In the north there was a very large thunderstorm system that kept us entertained all evening with spectacular lightening shows. There was a smaller thunderstorm system to the west that was also producing lightening. But directly overhead the sky was clear and stars were visible.
Unfortunately, the fishing wasn't nearly as entertaining as the lightening. We trolled #9 Minnow Raps in 8-10 feet of water from Malay's to Second Duck Point (newly dubbed "The Alley") but caught only 3 rock bass and one 16 3/4" walleye that hit Rick's purpledescent lure. At 10:45 p.m. we called it a night.
Despite the lack of walleye action, it was another beautiful night on Leech Lake.
Today is Rick's last full day at Leech Lake. Tomorrow I take him to the airport where he flies from Bemidji to Minneapolis to Washington D.C. After his conference ends in D.C., he's flying to Colorado to visit his sister before making the long trip home to Brisbane, Australia. I hope it's been a good visit/vacation for him.
After the pot of coffee was brewed the morning, I poured a cup and made my way out onto the dock to survey the lake. I was greeted by a flotilla of 24 fishing boats. Apparently the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tournament is being held on Leech Lake from June 10-13 and a number of the professional anglers decided that the stretch in front of my cabin is productive water (which of course it is).
I see that the leader of the tournament, a Chevy pro from Wisconsin, has a two-day weight of more than 34 lbs. for his 10 fish. That's not a bad weight at all for 10 fish. The tournament runs through Saturday afternoon, so I'm sure I'll have a number of boats in front of my house again tomorrow morning.
At 1:20 p.m. Rick and I took the boat out into 12-18 mph SW winds that created a decent chop on the lake. We started in 9-11 feet of water off Second Duck Point using jigs and shiners. Both Rick and I were using 1/4 oz. Bass Pro Shops XPS Walleye Angler Jig Heads in lime green and lime green/black tipped with spot-tail shiners (which we purchased at Froggy's Sports in Cass Lake and at Birch Ridge Resort on Leech Lake's Sucker Bay).
During the next two hours, and at least three different bouts with rain, we caught 8 small walleye between us ranging from 10" to 15", and numerous perch. All fish were released. With yet another storm front moving toward us, and this one showing some lightening and thunder, we headed to shore.
In about 30 minutes I'm going to go over to the cabin to clean the 17" walleye that's been in the basket for the past several days. I'm going to make pan-fried walleye for Rick's last dinner at Leech Lake during this visit.
As of 5:00 p.m., the wind has calmed somewhat to maybe 10 mph out of the SW and the temperature is 70 degrees. The water temperature was 62 degrees.
After our walleye dinner, Rick and I went out for one last troll for walleye before Rick leaves for Washington D.C. We got on the water around 8:45 p.m. and watched a beautiful sunset. The wind picked up during the next hour or so, and ended up at about 15 mph out of the SW. The water temperature had warmed just slightly to 62.5 degrees and the air temperature was 60 degrees.
In the north there was a very large thunderstorm system that kept us entertained all evening with spectacular lightening shows. There was a smaller thunderstorm system to the west that was also producing lightening. But directly overhead the sky was clear and stars were visible.
Unfortunately, the fishing wasn't nearly as entertaining as the lightening. We trolled #9 Minnow Raps in 8-10 feet of water from Malay's to Second Duck Point (newly dubbed "The Alley") but caught only 3 rock bass and one 16 3/4" walleye that hit Rick's purpledescent lure. At 10:45 p.m. we called it a night.
Despite the lack of walleye action, it was another beautiful night on Leech Lake.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
May 29, 2009 -- At Leech Lake
Rick with a 23 1/2-inch Leech Lake walleye; off Second Duck Point.
Today was Rick's first day on Leech Lake since September 2008 and he was happy to be back on it. We started fishing today jigging with shiners at the Birches. We caught a couple of small perch but no walleye. Then we motored across Sucker Bay to Big Hardwood Point where we joined about 8 other boats. We again jigged for walleyes with shiners and again were skunked.
We then motored back across the bay to Second Duck Point where we decided to fore go jigging and start trolling crankbaits. That was the ticket.
Using #9 Rapala Minnow Raps -- Rick's in purpledescent color and me with a bleeding hot olive colored lure -- we started to catch fish.
I caught several perch, a rock bass and a small northern (generally disappointing), but Rick did much better. He caught a perch, a small 9" walleye, as well as a 22" and 23 1/2" walleye.
The temperature today was a pleasant 66 degrees as a high, with a low of 42. The water temperature was 61 degrees. The wind while we were out fishing was 6 mph from the south, but by evening it had picked up to 15-25 mph from the NW so we didn't go out trolling tonight. The wind finally died down to around 5-10 mph from the west around 10 p.m.
A very good day on Leech Lake.
May 24, 2009 -- At Leech Lake
The high temperature today was 70 degrees and the low was 44. It was partly cloudy and the winds varied from calm to 8 mph out of the south. The water temperature had warmed to 62 degrees.
At noon, I took my sister-in-law Barb and her son Sean out fishing. We decided to use jigs and live emerald shiners as we drifted around Second Duck Point. As I reported in past posts on this blog, newspapers in Minnesota, and elsewhere in the Midwest, have been writing stories about how "Leech Lake is back," and that if you want great walleye fishing "go to Leech Lake."
Obviously lots of people read those stories and acted upon them because as I piloted my boat to Second Duck Point we were surrounding by no less than 30 other boats. Undeterred, Barb, Sean and I put shiners on our jigs and got down to some walleye fishing.
We all caught a few perch, but no walleye. By 1:30 p.m. we decided to leave the crowded point and go back to the cabin for some lunch.
At 3:15 p.m. in the afternoon, we decided to once again try our luck drifting Second Duck Point with jigs and shiners. This time we were more successful. Or to be more specific, Barb was more successful. She caught a 12" and 14" walleye, both of which were released. Barb couldn't remember the last time she'd caught a walleye, so she was very satisfied with the outing. At 4:45 p.m. we headed to shore to get dinner going.
Later in the evening, just around 9:00 p.m., under a new moon, I took Sean out trolling for walleye -- our third fishing trip of the day. I used a #9 Minnow Rap in "bleeding hot olive" color and Sean used a perch colored Wally Diver. During the next two hours we trolled from a spot between Duck Point and Second Duck Point to the south, north to past the Malay's cabin in 8-12 feet of water.
Sean caught a 14" and a 15" walleye, and I caught five walleyes measuring 14", 16", 17", 18" and 20". All but the 17" walleye were released. I added the 17" walleye to the 17 1/2" walleye I'd caught a few days ago in the fish basket (which is kept off the end of the dock in the lake). I'll clean the two fish tomorrow and make sure that Barb and Sean leave here with enough walleye fillets for a nice dinner.
Another great day of fishing on Leech Lake.
At noon, I took my sister-in-law Barb and her son Sean out fishing. We decided to use jigs and live emerald shiners as we drifted around Second Duck Point. As I reported in past posts on this blog, newspapers in Minnesota, and elsewhere in the Midwest, have been writing stories about how "Leech Lake is back," and that if you want great walleye fishing "go to Leech Lake."
Obviously lots of people read those stories and acted upon them because as I piloted my boat to Second Duck Point we were surrounding by no less than 30 other boats. Undeterred, Barb, Sean and I put shiners on our jigs and got down to some walleye fishing.
We all caught a few perch, but no walleye. By 1:30 p.m. we decided to leave the crowded point and go back to the cabin for some lunch.
At 3:15 p.m. in the afternoon, we decided to once again try our luck drifting Second Duck Point with jigs and shiners. This time we were more successful. Or to be more specific, Barb was more successful. She caught a 12" and 14" walleye, both of which were released. Barb couldn't remember the last time she'd caught a walleye, so she was very satisfied with the outing. At 4:45 p.m. we headed to shore to get dinner going.
Later in the evening, just around 9:00 p.m., under a new moon, I took Sean out trolling for walleye -- our third fishing trip of the day. I used a #9 Minnow Rap in "bleeding hot olive" color and Sean used a perch colored Wally Diver. During the next two hours we trolled from a spot between Duck Point and Second Duck Point to the south, north to past the Malay's cabin in 8-12 feet of water.
Sean caught a 14" and a 15" walleye, and I caught five walleyes measuring 14", 16", 17", 18" and 20". All but the 17" walleye were released. I added the 17" walleye to the 17 1/2" walleye I'd caught a few days ago in the fish basket (which is kept off the end of the dock in the lake). I'll clean the two fish tomorrow and make sure that Barb and Sean leave here with enough walleye fillets for a nice dinner.
Another great day of fishing on Leech Lake.
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