May 29, 2008

The temperture today hovered around 55 degrees all day, the winds were calm, it was overcast and the water temperature was 58 degrees. Since we were having our best luck walleye fishing when trolling crankbaits at night, Rick and I decided that today we would hang out around the cabin and concentrate our fishing efforts near sunset.

We left the dock around 6:30 p.m. and immediately started catching fish. With the sun sinking lower in the sky, the perch and pike were both biting. I caught numerous perch and a couple of medium-sized pike. Likewise, Rick caught several perch, including a "pygmy" perch that topped out at just barely 4". The perch was the same size as the Minnow Rap with which Rick was trolling.

At just after 8:00 p.m. a steady rain began to fall, and that's when the walleye turned on. Rick caught a small 'eye of about 12", and others at 17", 19" and 22". I caught a personal one-day best 10 walleye: four approximately 12", then six others at 16", 16 1/2", 17", 20", 21" and 22". As usual for us, all fish were released. In fact, if I don't mention that a fish was kept, you can rest assured that it was released unharmed.

Here's a photo of Rick (in yellow) and me (in green), each with a walleye taken this night.

May 28, 2008

We worked on the cabin deck most of the day (see May 26 entry for photos), so our fishing was limited to trolling in the evening. We left the dock at 9:00 p.m. to light winds from the south, air temperatures of 56 degrees, and water temps of 60 degrees.

Rick was using his bleeding copper Minnow Rap, while I stuck to my hot color, hot steel. I caught three walleyes, a 16", a 19" and a 23 1/2". After catching a couple of small walleyes on the bleeding copper color -- a 16" and a 16 1/2" -- Rick switched to a purpledescent colored Minnow Rap and caught a couple of larger walleyes -- 17" and 23". We were back on shore by 11:00 p.m. Another great night of walleye fishing on Leech Lake.

May 27, 2008

The winds today were out of NNW at 10-15 mph. The air temperature varied between 55-65 degrees throughout the day and the water temp was 56 degrees. It was a perfect day to drift for some walleye.

We worked on the cabin deck early in the day, so we didn't hit the water until nearly 2 p.m. It didn't long for us to get onto the fish at Second Duck Point. Using an 1/8 oz., Lindy Techni-Glo Fuzz-E-Grub in a silver flash color tipped with a 3" Gulp Alive! black leech, Rick caught and kept a beautiful 17" walleye.

A little over an hour later, we had switched to trolling crankbaits, and using a MR09 Rapala Minnow Rap in "bleeding copper," Rick caught another nice walleye, this one 16 1/2", and again, we kept it. Two nice 'eyes in the box which would become dinner in a day or two.

At 9:00 p.m. we went out again. The winds had died down to nearly calm, and the water temp had warmed slightly to 57 degrees. Trolling Minnow Raps (Rick using his bleeding copper color, while I opted for the hot steel) we had great success. In less than two hours Rick boated walleyes of 10", and two at 22". I caught three fish as well, a 10", a 16" and a 20". Since we already had a couple of walleye in the basket from earlier in the day, all six 'eyes were released. Heck, we're not meat hunters from the resorts.

Here I am lowering the boat into the water.

May 26, 2008

The weather today kept us on shore. It was roughly 55 degrees, winds 25+ mph from the NNW with rain off and on throughout the day. The bay was churning with whitecaps. Since we couldn't go fishing, Rick decided he'd rip out the old deck at the cabin and replace the rotted boards. Over the next few days, Rick would wake up early and work on the deck. Here are a few photos from the restoration project. Thank Rick, the deck looks great!!

Later in the evening, around 9:30 p.m., we did try casting crankbaits off of the dock, but had no success. Several years ago, my son Joe and I did the same thing, and caught numerous large walleye right off the dock. But with the late spring this year, the fish were probably still spawning and not in the mood to eat.

May 25, 2008

Since it was day three of Rick's visit to Leech Lake, we decided to go fishing three different times during the day.

We started at 1 p.m. and were met with light winds at 10 mph out of the south. The water temperature was 58 degrees. Our first stop was "Bass Bay, " a nickname for a cove near Third Duck Point on Sucker Bay. At this time of year the vegetation in Bass Bay is more fully developed than other parts of Sucker Bay since it is relatively shallow, about 3-5 feet, and on the north end of Sucker Bay, thus getting more sunlight throughout the day than other parts of the Bay. With warmer water and plenty of emerging weeds, bass, pike, bowfin, sunfish, bluegills, and crappie all migrate to the area to spawn and feed.

As the name Bass Bay suggests, Rick and I were targeting largemouth bass. We were casting Parakeet- and sunfish-colored Northland Reed-Runner spinner baits as close to the shoreline as we could, then reeling them back through the weeds. Rick caught 3 medium-sized largemouths and I caught two, along with a 28-inch northern pike.

Later in the day, around 3:30 p.m., we moved to Second Duck Point for some walleye fishing. I was using a 3/16 oz. Bass Pro Shops XPS Walleye jig in a lime/black hologram color tipped with a 5-inch Gulp Alive! black leech. I caught a very healthy 15 1/2" walleye, which I returned to the lake.

It was at that time that Rick and I decided on our own slot limit. You see, on Leech Lake, all walleyes between 18-26 inches must immediately be returned to the lake. You may keep four walleyes per day, only one of which can be bigger than 26". Many people, especially those who stay at the resorts, will keep a 14- 15- or 16-inch walleye. We decided that for us to keep it, the walleye had to be between 16 1/2" and 17 1/2". Not a big slot limit, to be sure, but a sporting one no doubt.

We went fishing for the third time between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Our target was walleye, and our method of fishing was trolling crankbaits. The wind had picked up some to 15-20 mph out of the southwest creating a good chop on Sucker Bay. Under a quarter moon, Rick caught two small pike and two small walleyes --10" and 12". I caught a 24" pike, but no walleye.

After coming home that night, we heard on the news that there had been a water spout on another part of the lake that afternoon. It was in the vicinity of Battle Point and Sugar Point on the southeast end of Portage Bay. Here's some footage of that bizarre weather event.

2008 Open Water Season in Review, intro

I'm back in California after spending a spectacular six months at Leech Lake. I know the purpose of this blog it to provide real-time reports on fishing news from Leech Lake, but I was too busy on the lake fishing to take the time to sit in front of a computer and enter my day-to-day fishing experiences.

Luckily, I kept a written log of my time on the water -- including air temperature, water temperature, wind speed, and of course fish caught and lures used.

During the next several weeks/months, I will be posting a review of my 2008 open-water fishing experiences on Leech Lake.

Stay tuned.

May 24, 2008

We planned to feast on fresh walleye for dinner on Saturday night, May 24, so Rick and I limited our fishing to the afternoon. The stats:

Time: 1:00-3:30 p.m., CDT
Location/method: Trolling @ Ottertail Peninsula Point (very rough water), Duck Point and Second Duck Point; drifting with jigs and Gulp Alive leeches and minnows at "The Birches."
Winds: South, 10-15 mph, gusting to 25 mph
Water Temp.: 54 degrees

No fish caught. We did enjoy a tasty walleye dinner from the two fish I caught the previous evening. I cleaned the fish just an hour before cooking them for dinner. That's fresh fish!!

After dinner, Kathleen, Rick and I enjoyed a roaring fire in the fire pit at the cabin.

May 23, 2008

Rick and I went trolling on Sucker Bay on Friday, May 23. Our target fish, as always, was the walleye. Here are the vital stats:

Time: 8:15-10:45 p.m., CDT
Location: Second Duck Point to the Malays
Winds: calm
Water Temp.: 54 degrees
Sunset: 8:57 p.m.
Moon: 88% waning
Lure: Rapala Minnow Raps (Rick: Bleeding Copper Flash; SJ: Hot Steel)

Rick caught 3 walleye; 10", 15", 21" (all went back into the lake)
SJ caught 2 walleye; 16", 16 1/4" (both were kept, and made an excellent dinner the following night)

Summer of 2008, Arrival

On May 22, Kathleen and I left San Jose for an extended stay at our cabin on Leech Lake. Our flight left San Jose an hour late due to mechanical problems and we just barely made our connection in Minneapolis for Bemidji.

On the flight to Bemidji we met up with our friend Rick from Australia, (see the Feb. 20, 2005 post for a picture of Rick with a 50 1/2-inch Leech Lake muskie) who was going to stay with us at the lake for 10 days.

Rick and I launched the boat on morning of Friday, May 23 and instantly discovered a malfunction with the toggle switch on the ShoreMaster boat lift. We were able to use the hand-powered crank to raise and lower the boat until a replacement switch could be delivered by Shore Brothers on Saturday.

We also encountered some trouble with the Lowrance LCX-28C HD recording sonar/GPS+WAAS unit. After many discussions with the good folks at Corner Sports in Bemidji, we figured out it was simply a loose connection between the unit and the fuse panel. With the wire firmly connected, the unit was back in business providing our location and showing us if we were on the fish or not.

What follows is a series of fishing reports from my stay at one of Minnesota's premier fishing lakes, and my home waters, Leech Lake.