July 19, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

I happened to wake up at 5:30 a.m. this morning and look outside to see what the weather was like, and was surprised to see the entire sky a cantaloupe orange color. The wind was calm and the temperature was 70 degrees. The humidity, which has been very high the past few days, was already at 87%.

As I lay back in bed I could hear rumbling thunder in the distance, and soon the rain started to fall. "Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morn, sailors take warn." As the old saying goes. With the sky the color it was I wasn't surprised that we had a storm.

By 10:00 a.m. the storm had passed for the most part, with just occasional rumbles of thunder, the wind was 6-10 mph out of the ESE, the temperature in the house registered 77 degrees while outside the thermometer read barely 70 degrees, and the sky was mostly cloudy and still retained a slight glow of red and orange.

Just before noon, the wind shifted and started blowing from the north at 15-20 mph. I always find it interesting to watch the lake when the wind shifts. For hours the wind was blowing out of the ESE so the water in the lake was moving in one direction. Then when the wind shifted to a different direction, and picked up in intensity, the water in the lake, for a short period of time, maybe 10 minutes, was going in all directions at once as it caught the new wind.

At this same time the sky darkened, and actually required me turning on the lights in the house to see. The temperature held steady at 70 degrees as did the humidity, which stood at 90%. But it sure looked and felt like a storm was coming.

Finally at 12:50 p.m. the rain came. A hard, steady rain fell for about 30 minutes. There were a few flashes of lightening directly over head followed by loud claps of thunder. The storm was directly on top of the house. But within an hour the storm passed, although the sky remained overcast and gray.

As the day went on I did some work and some various chores around the house, but the humidity made it unpleasant even if the temperature wasn't all that hot.

By 4:45 p.m., the wind had shifted to the ESE again and was blowing at about 8-15 mph. The wind blew most of the clouds away and the sky was partly sunny. So, I decided that with the temperature not as hot and the water near our shore fairly calm, that I would go fishing.

I motored out to spot not too far from shore right in front of the boat lift because I knew the wind would blow me out into the middle of Sucker Bay. I deployed the drift sock, tipped my jig with a leech and began fishing. The water temperature was 75.8 degrees.

I caught a few rock bass, including one that was actually quite big. Twice I had something pull hard on my line and bite right through the 8-lb test Fireline Crystal, taking my jig and bait. I figured it might have been a pike, but I've seen several boats in the past week fishing for muskie in this location so I wouldn't rule out that a muskie is what took my jig.

With yet another jig tied on and with another leech hooked just below its "sucker," I continued to fish. I hooked into what I thought was either another big rock bass or maybe a small walleye. When I got it to the boat I saw that it was a jumbo perch; and truly a jumbo.

I've often said that in my opinion a jumbo perch is one that is between 11-14 inches. Over 14" a perch becomes a monster and is approaching record size. I decided to keep this 12-inch jumbo perch because I thought it would be the perfect size for a meal for one. A 17-inch or even a 16-inch walleye once filleted is a perfect amount of meat for a meal for two, but for one person there is just too much there. I think a 12-inch perch will provide the right amount of fish for my dinner tomorrow evening.

I finally came ashore around 7:00 p.m., not because the fish stopped biting (they hadn't) or because the bugs were bad (they weren't) but because I ran out of leeches. I fished with a Mimic Minnow for awhile and then a Northland Slurpie Grub, but the fish seemed to be active on live bait, specifically leeches. Tomorrow I'll run up to Birch Ridge Resort and pick up a couple of dozen leeches, if they still have them. Sometimes as the summer progresses leeches are a hard bait to find.

Out on the lake the wind felt good and kept me cool. But once back on shore even in shorts and short-sleeved shirt it felt hot. Even after midnight the temperature was 72 degrees and the humidity was 84%. But if the weather service forecasts are correct, then tomorrow should be the last day of this prolonged heat wave.

Until tomorrow, good night from Leech Lake.

July 15, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

A hot and humid, yet beautiful, sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

There was a bright flash of lightening and the a deafening clap of thunder right over the house this morning at 7:36 a.m. I happened to be laying in bed ready to get up when the thunderstorm that been off in the distance moved directly on top of me here at Leech Lake.

The temperature at the time was 60 degrees, the sky was full of heavy rain clouds, but the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the ESE. The rain, however, fell in sheets and was heavy for about 30 minutes.

By 9:30 a.m. the rain had stopped, the temperature had risen slightly to 64 degrees and the wind was still very slight. The lake, in fact, had barely a ripple on it.

At noon, the wind had shifted and was blowing out of the south at 5-10 mph, the sky was mostly cloudy, but there was some sun starting to peek through and the temperature was steady at 65 degrees.

I hit the water at 12:30 p.m. and realized the wind was stronger than I had originally thought. It was probably blowing at 12-15 mph from the south. The air temperature was 68 degrees, the water temperature was 73.5 degrees, and the sky was mostly cloudy.

My fishing began at Second Duck Point in 11 feet of water using a VMC jig tipped with a leech. I immediately caught a medium-sized northern pike which I released back into the lake. For the next two plus hours I made several drifts in various parts of Sucker Bay from Second Duck Point to in front of our house north to Malays. I caught a few small perch, another northern and numerous rock bass but no walleye.

By 2:00 p.m. the clouds had disappeared and the sky was clear blue. The temperature started to climb and eventually hit 83 degrees. When I got back on shore at just after 3:00 p.m., it felt like I was walking into a sauna as I left the dock and stepped on land. The humidity had risen to an uncomfortable 85% and I was literally dripping wet by the time I got back to the house.

The rest of the afternoon and evening remained hot and humid. The wind died down to maybe 5-8 mph out of the south, making it feel even hotter. As I write this at just after 8:00 p.m. it is still unbearably humid at 90% or more; the air is hot and damp.

I ate my grilled marinated pork chop dinner and it was awesome. I'm going to have to remember this recipe and use it again.

The sunset was beautiful tonight as usual, but the humidity took away some of the enjoyment because it's just so hot and sticky.

I stayed up listening to music, reading the newspapers from the past couple of days that the Malays gave me, and tried to stay cool. All in all, despite the humidity, I'd rather be here than anywhere else I can imagine.

Good night to all, and a pleasant tomorrow.

July 7, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

At 10:00 a.m. the temperature was 70 degrees, it already felt humid, the wind was 8-12 mph out of the SSW and sky was alternately cloudy or partly sunny.

Unfortunately, Ashley needs to go back to St. Cloud today because she has some plans to meet up with friends for dinner tonight before heading to Minneapolis on Friday. On Friday Ashley will stay with her aunt and uncle in Eden Prairie and then go to the airport very early Saturday morning so she can catch her 6:00 a.m. flight back to the West Coast.

I thought about going with Kathleen and Ashley to St. Cloud, but decided against it. This will allow Kathleen to focus her attention on her Mom, while Ashley can hang out with her friends and cousins. Plus, I just don't like St. Cloud all that much. I'd rather be at Leech Lake.

At 1:20 p.m. Ashley and Kathleen left Leech Lake bound for St. Cloud, with a stop in Walker because both of them like walking around the little downtown. Ashley was behind the wheel of the truck for the first time ever, and it was strange watching her drive the big Chevy Silverado 2500 HD down the driveway and onto West Shores Road.

Kathleen called me just before 6:00 p.m. to say she was in St. Cloud, had dropped off Ashley at dinner and was now on her way to see her mother. The way it looks, Kathleen will drive Ashley to the airport on Friday sometime, see her off first thing Saturday morning, then return to the lake either late Saturday or sometime on Sunday. Given that she wants to spend as much time with her Mom as is possible, I'm guessing I won't see Kathleen at Leech Lake again until mid- to late-Sunday.

At 7:30 p.m., with the temperature still 73 degrees, I decided to go fishing. The wind was relatively light at 5-8 mph out of the west. The water temperature was a very warm 78 degrees.

I motored out to a spot just past Second Duck Point in 13 feet of water and deployed the drift sock. I tipped my 1/8 VMC jig with a leech and started jigging for walleye. I made a couple of passes near Second Duck Point, but gradually moved north toward our properties. My final drift was made just north of Poage's cabin. During my several drifts, I caught only one rock bass. I did, however, hook a crayfish, which I hadn't done in years. And the thing was almost a mini-lobster at 4-inches long.

With the temperature cooling off as the sun dropped to just above the horizon, I pulled in the drift sock for the final time tonight, stowed it and my jigging rod/reel, and got ready to do some trolling. I got the lights on, got the rod holder in place, and set the SmartCraft controls to troll at a steady 560 rpm.

I trolled deep into Duck Bay and out into Sucker Bay. I watched as big anvil-shaped thunderstorm clouds gathered in the northeast. To the northwest there were dark clouds and I could see rain falling along the western shore of Sucker Bay. I kept an eye on the two storm fronts in case either started threatening the area where I was fishing.

The thunderhead at the northeast end of Sucker Bay

One by one the seven other boats in the area left, leaving just two or three of us still fishing. Unfortunately, I wasn't having any better luck trolling than I'd had jigging; just one rock bass hooked.

With the northeastern storm front flashing lightening and the northwestern front dropping rain on the north end of Sucker Bay, and with the onslaught of blood-thirsty mosquitoes, I decided to head ashore just before 10:00 p.m.

Once on shore I settled into a comfortable chair, picked up the book I'm reading, and had a quiet peaceful rest of the night on Leech Lake.

June 21, 2011 -- Summer Solstice -- On Leech Lake

Despite going to bed at midnight last night, I was wide awake at 4:45 a.m. When it became clear that sleep was not going to come easy, I decided to get up. And since I was up, I figured I might as well go fishing, so at 5:30 a.m., just 8 minutes after sunrise, I was on Leech Lake.

The wind was stiff at 12-15 mph out of the NNE creating some decent sized swells and a classic walleye chop. The temperature was 50 degrees, the water temperature was 65.5 degrees, and the sky was cloudy and grey.

The wonderful thing about being on the lake so early is there are no other boats to contend with. In fact, I could not see another boat in any direction on Sucker Bay.

With the water to myself, I motored out to 10 feet of water in front of Poage's cabin, put in the drift sock, and drifted south and out into the bay at a ground speed of roughly .60 mph. I tipped my parrot colored Northland Gumball jig with a leech and began fishing.

About halfway through my drift I caught a rock bass. But as I got closer to Second Duck Point I started marking a lot of fish on my Lowrance electronics. As if on cue, something bit my jig quickly and took the leech. It felt like the "tap" of a walleye.

Within 5 minutes of dropping a new leech into the choppy waters off Second Duck Point, I felt that familiar weight of a walleye and quickly set the hook. I could tell right away it was a good fish, most likely in the slot (which on Leech Lake is 18-26 inches; any fish in that "slot" has to go back into the lake).

I had forgotten to get the landing net ready, so while fighting the fish with one hand I extended the shaft on the landing net with the other. Soon I had the net under the fish and into the boat. The walleye measured 21 inches, and was a very solid, almost fat, fish. I gently released the fish back into the water.

At that point my lack of sleep was creeping up on me so I decided to go ashore. By 6:30 a.m. I was back in the house wondering if I should give sleep another shot.

Here on the shores of Leech Lake, the Summer Solstice officially arrived at 12:16 p.m., although you wouldn't know it was summer by the weather. The temperature was 55 degrees and there was light rain was falling as summer arrived in the Northwoods,. Within an hour a larger storm moved in and with it heavier rain. The color-weather radar on weather.com's site shows the strongest part of the storm to move over Ottertail Peninsula around 2:30 p.m.

By 3:30 p.m., with heavy rains still falling, the part of the yard that had been torn up by the harbor repairs by Peterson Excavating, looked like a swamp, with standing water atop the mud. At least this should help the grass seed I spread soak into the ground and hasten the recovery of the lawn.

My parents called me from Grand Rapids at around 2:15 p.m. as they were about to go into the grocery store. I figure after shopping and the drive to the lake, that they should arrive sometime around 4:00 p.m.

Sure enough, just after 4:00 p.m. my parents arrived. We spent an hour or so talking and catching up, and then I got the grill going for some dinner. At 8:00 p.m. I came back to the house and just as I got inside it started raining again. It was raining at 9:30 p.m. as I closed down the PC for the night.

Obviously no fishing tonight. But if there's a break in the weather tomorrow, I will try to get out and catch some more Leech Lake walleye.

May 17, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

Kathleen and I woke to a beautiful morning at Leech Lake. The temperature was almost 50 degrees, on its way to a high of 70, the sky was bright, sunny, blue and clear, and the wind was a gentle 5-8 mph out of the ESE.

After enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee and some breakfast, we went outside for the day. Our first activity was a boat ride. The surface of Sucker Bay was nearly calm, not good for walleye fishing, but perfect for a relaxing boat ride. We headed south past Second Duck Point toward Duck Point and went as far as the old "Al Capone" house (yes, the gangster himself is rumored to have spent quite a bit of time on Leech Lake escaping the heat in Chicago). We then headed back home.

Once on shore, we decided to go for a bike ride. A couple of years ago Kathleen's mom gave us two old Schwinn bikes, a boys and a girls model. The elder Coyles bought the bikes in the late 1960s or early 70s, and were in need of a little maintenance. I took them to a bike shop in Bemidji and a couple of days late they were like new. It pays to buy quality. Here are two bikes that are more than 40 years old and they are in fantastic condition.

Kathleen and I rode those old Schwinns down W. Shores Rd., to 26th to Ottertail Point Rd. to Sucker Bay Rd. and then past the community center and back down W. Shores Rd. A total of 6 wonderful miles. The sky was incredibly blue today, and the pale yellow-green leaves of the just budding trees looked amazing against the azure sky.

After our bike ride Kathleen and I did several hours of yard work. It is great to be outside working together. We cleaned out all of the flower beds, trimmed back some plants, pulled weeds, planted some blueberry bushes, watered and other lawn/plant maintenance.

I also took a little time to put together the hammock and pull out the chaise lounge chairs, which are now situated on the lakeside lawn facing Sucker Bay. Maybe we'll watch the sunset outside today, since it's warm and there still no bugs (especially no mosquitoes).

With the sun having set, Kathleen and I enjoyed some quiet time talking and listening to classical music in our living room. It was a perfect ending to a great day.

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.

On Leech Lake -- May 11, 2011

Well I'm finally here at Leech Lake. And it sure is wonderful.

I arrived in Bemidji yesterday around 4:30 p.m. CDT and went directly to Corner Sports to pick up my boat. Unfortunately, it wasn't ready. They hadn't yet fired it up to make sure it was running properly, nor had they installed new trolling motor batteries and a new starter battery. They told me they'd move it to the top of the list and get to it first thing on Wednesday (today).

So off I drove to the grocery store with no boat in tow. After loading up on supplies I headed to Leech Lake.

After unloading the groceries, turning on the well pump, and a few other "start up" activities, I opened a cold beer and started to make my way to the end of the dock to watch the sunset. As I walked out onto the dock, my neighbor John Newman called out for me to join him on his dock. I walked next door and chatted with John as the sun sank into the western horizon across Sucker Bay.

This morning, I called Corner Sports to see if my boat was ready. They told me it would be around noon before all work was complete. I decided to give them a little extra time so I didn't leave the lake until 12:30 p.m.

Once at Corner Sports I hitched the boat trailer to my truck and made the 50 minute drive back to Ottertail Peninsula. I positioned the boat at the top of my boat ramp and then walked to the end of the dock to lower the boat lift into the water so once the boat was launched, I could maneuver it onto the lift.

I hit the down switch on the lift motor and was met with a rough, grinding sound followed by a snap. The chain had come off the gears that raises the lift and in the process the clip that holds the main link of the chain to the rest of the chain snapped. There you go. Something always has to go wrong at the start of the season, it's tradition!

I called Mark at Shore Brothers, the outfit that I bought the lift from, and they'll be out either Thursday or Friday to fix it. Until then, my boat remains trailered at the top of the boat ramp.

After putting that business behind me, I went fishing with John. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 60s, a steady stiff breeze out of the north at about 10 mph and mostly clear skies, with just wisps of clouds here and there.

We made several drifts at the Birches, starting in about 12 feet of water and then drifting to about 6 feet of water. We used jigs with plastic grubs, and then added a fathead for additional attractant. Since walleye opener in Minnesota isn't until Saturday, May 14, we were targeting jumbo perch. John already had about a dozen jumbos in the basket at his cabin and we were looking to add a couple more.

We each caught a few small perch, and I caught a nice jumbo which we kept. I added it John's stash.

It was my first day on the water this year and it felt great. I'm looking forward to getting my boat lift fixed so I can get my boat in the water and have the luxary of being able to fish when and where I choose. For now, however, I'm grateful that John is letting me fish with him.

The plan is to do some more perch fishing with John tomorrow afternoon after 2 p.m., weather permitting.

I'll post more tomorrow. Until then, I'm just glad to be back on Leech Lake!

Leech Lake Walleye

Your host, holding another nice Leech Lake walleye

My anticipation is building for my trip to Leech Lake on May 10. I've started to go through some old photos of fishing trips on Leech Lake and thought I'd post this one, which is of a 20"+ walleye caught while trolling on Sucker Bay.

The photo was taken in late May, 2008, and was most likely taken by my friend and fishing companion, Rick. Rick and I will be fishing Leech Lake again this late May, and hopefully we'll boat plenty of hearty 'eyes like this one.

Ice Breaking Up On Leech Lake

I spoke with my neighbor Tom Malay today and he told me the weather at Sucker Bay on Leech Lake was dreary, with overcast, gray skies, an 8-mile an hour wind from the NW, a light rain falling and temperatures in high 40s to low 50s. Together, this weather pattern is starting to break up the ice on the lake.

Tom said that there was at least one open spot in the ice he could see on Sucker Bay, and that the ice along the shore was breaking up, although it was also piling up -- to about 3 feet -- as the NW wind blew it onto the rocky shoreline.

Tom also mentioned that earlier today he and Lainy drove into Cass Lake and that most of Cass Lake, including Pike Bay, was ice free. It shouldn't be long now, maybe 3 to 5 days, before Sucker Bay is also ice free. And once the ice is clear from Sucker Bay, Mark and his team from Shore Brothers will be visiting Ottertail Peninsula to put in our docks and boat lifts.

Two weeks from today I'll have already been at the lake for 24 hours, and may even have my boat in the water. I am really looking forward to seeing Leech Lake again.

Leech Lake Management Plan 2011-2015

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources just released its 2011-2015 plan for the management of the Leech Lake fishery. The good news is that the MDNR will continue to stock walleye fry into the lake in amounts varying from 7.5 million per year to 22 million, and those fry already stocked seem to be doing well. The natural hatch also has been strong the past 3 years. Good news for walleye fishermen.

You can read the 39-page plan here.

On a related note, I spoke to one of my Ottertail Peninsula neighbors earlier this week and she told me that there was already 9 inches of ice on Sucker Bay and that many of the hard-water angling fanatics in our neighborhood have pulled their fish houses onto the ice.

Early reports from anglers on the south end of Leech Lake, down near Whipholt, sound promising with good catches of keeper sized walleyes.

It's still too early to know if I'll be making a winter visit to Leech Lake or not.

At Leech Lake -- Halloween, 2010 (Last full day at Leech Lake this year)

Happy Halloween from Leech Lake.

This morning at 8:30 a.m. the temperature was 24 degrees, the wind was calm (not even a ripple on the lake), the sky was mostly sunny with just a few clouds gathered in the west on the horizon. The ground, the roofs of the buildings and the truck were covered in frost. It felt and looked like a winter day, albeit with no snow.

Today is my last full day at Leech Lake until, well, I don't know when. Next year Kathleen and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and we hope to spend some time here at the lake, as well as visiting Lake Itasca and maybe Bayfield, Wisconsin (and the Apostle Islands). So maybe my next visit might not be until late June, 2011; which would be my latest visit to the lake in any given year since we bought the place in 2001.

My cleaning has already begun. The sheets have been stripped from the bed and are in the wash. After a cup of coffee I'll clean out the fireplace, then clean and vacuum the living room. From there, I'll go room by room cleaning leaving the kitchen and master bathroom for last.

With the calm waters on the lake, it would be a great day to go fishing, but I don't want to bother Tom Malay by asking him to get his 14-foot aluminum boat into the water. Some day, when we live here year round, I'll have a small boat so I can go fishing on days like today after my big boat has been stored for the winter.

I was out on the dock taking some pictures of the lake, because it's so calm, when Rome Van Rossum stopped by. He'd be threatening a visit since I saw him at the Ottertail Peninsula Association potluck dinner a couple of weeks ago. I was coming up the dock when I spotted him coming around the corner of the house. We stood out in the backyard (lakeside) and talked for about 20 minutes. I invited him in for some coffee (three times, like you're supposed to in MN), but he refused (all three times), saying he knew how much I had to do to get ready to leave tomorrow. It's true, I've got a lot of cleaning yet ahead of me.

But first, I'm going to finish this pot of coffee, then make myself a cheese, onion and tomato omelet for breakfast. That's about all the food I have left in the fridge.

I cleaned the house throughout the day, but still managed to take a walk down the dirt road to "swamp 1" and later a walk in the woods. I also grabbed a rod and reel and made several casts off the dock using a lipless crankbait trying to scare up a swallow-swimming walleye, perch or nothern, but I didn't hook a thing. Nonetheless, it was still fun to throw a lure into the water.

At 5:45 p.m., with a light wind of 5 mph out of the SSW, a temperature of 38 degrees and clear skies, I went out onto the end of the dock to watch one last sunset this visit and enjoy a Wild Blue Beer. What a peaceful, wonderful way to close out my last evening at Leech Lake for the foreseeable future.


A Halloween sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

From 6:30 to 8:15 p.m. the cleaning continued. I vacuumed the bedrooms and hallway, cleaned the kitchen counters, stove and sink, and cleaned two bathrooms. I also found time for a quick sandwich (my dinner considering all the food is gone) and got on the PC to check the scores of the NFL games and the Giants' progress against the Texas Rangers in Game 4 of the World Series.

Stupid MLB forced the Giants flagship radio station, KNBR, to stop streaming live broadcasts of the games on the Internet. I guess MLB and Bud Selig want to squeeze a few more dollars out of people to get them to subscribe to Gameday radio. This is yet another reason I HATE baseball. I guess it's on to the NHL and the San Jose Sharks. Here's what the lamebrains at MLB had KNBR post:

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT STREAMING:

Please note that some of our broadcast partners have asked KNBR to block the Internet audio streaming of their programming:

ALL MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAMES

This unfortunately Includes ALL SF GIANTS GAMES

For streams of MLB games, please go to MLB.com and subscribe to their Gameday audio service.

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It's now 8:21 p.m. and Aubrey Huff just hit a two-run homer for the Giants. Giants lead 2-0 in the top of the third inning, and 2 games to 1 in the Series. By the way, the first three games of this year's World Series were available on streaming audio on KNBR.com; until today that is.

Since it's Halloween, I decided to watch a classic horror movie, the original 1931 release of Frankenstein. I love this movie, and it was one that always terrified me when I was a kid.

I just checked the score of the Giants game, and they won 4-0 and now lead the Series 3 games to 1. They can win the World Series with a win tomorrow. Of course I'll be traveling, so I won't know the final score of the game -- and if the Giants won the Series or not -- until we land in San Jose.

I'll make one final entry tomorrow before I leave for the airport. Until then, good night from Leech Lake

At Leech Lake -- October 19, 2010 (Happy Birthday Kathleen)

Today is my wife Kathleen's birthday. Happy birthday honey. You're more beautiful today than the day I first met you (and you were pretty cute back then too!). I hope you have a wonderful day and an even better year. I only wish you could be here at Leech Lake with me. I know how much you enjoy the lake, especially in the autumn.

The temperature for most of the day was in the high 40s and low 50s. It was windy all day long, with winds in excess of 15 mph out of the WNW sending white caps rolling across Sucker Bay toward our shore. As a result, Tim and I did not go fishing, but rather turned our attention to the many chores of getting the property ready for the winter.

We took down the tire swing at the cabin, so it would not fill with snow. I cleaned out the gutters at the house, which took me close to three hours to complete. I crawled underneath the house in the cramped crawlspace to put up insulation in the vents, which in the spring and summer provide much needed ventilation to keep moisture and mildew from building up under the house, but in the winter would let in cold Arctic air making the floor of the house even colder than it usually is.

And at about 5:00 p.m. I started dinner. I made oven-fried chicken, stuffing and green beans. It was a tasty and hearty meal after a long day of working outside.

I am by no means done with the winterization chores, however. I still have to blow more leaves off the yard here at the house and at the cabin, put up storm windows at the cabin, and sometime over the weekend or on Monday, take the canopy off the boatlift, pull the boat out of the water and take it into Bemidji to be winterized and stored until next spring.

After dinner I called Kathleen to wish her a happy birthday. She was enjoying dinner with Melissa, Joe, Ashley and Jayden. Apparently, the chocalate cake was a big hit with everyone, but especially Jayden. Kathleen, we'll have to celebrate your birthday in a special way when I get back to California.

Until then, good night from Leech Lake.