June 24, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

I was originally scheduled to fly back to California today. But plans changed and instead I'm still here at Leech Lake; and for that I am truly grateful.

I spent most of today cleaning -- specifically, I cleaned all of the bathrooms. Not a fun job to say the least, but one that must be done regularly. At about 3:30 p.m. I decided I had cleaned enough for one day and decided to go fishing.

The temperature today was in the mid-80s, the sky was mostly sunny, the air was humid and the wind was out of the WSW at 10-15 mph. The water temperature this afternoon was between 74.5 and 74.9 degrees.

I started fishing from in front of Newman's cabin and let the wind push me north toward Malay's. I was in 10 feet of water using an XPS jig in lime green/black tipped with fathead minnows. I caught numerous perch, but no jumbos or walleyes.

At 5:15 p.m. Lainey Malay called me on my cell phone and invited me over for a beer. Since the fishing was slow, I packed up my gear and took the boat back to the boat lift. The lift, by the way, seems to be working much better since Shore Brothers came out today and replaced the clutch plate.

I had a nice time chatting with Tom and Elaine Malay and finally made my way home around 7:00 p.m. After a quick dinner I decided I'd go out trolling.

I hit the water at 9:15 p.m. just as the sun was getting ready to set. The wind was still blowing out of the WSW but had slowed a bit to 8-12 mph. The sky was clear and the water temperature varied from 73.9 to 74.7 degrees depending on my location and depth.

I trolled from south of Second Duck Point to north of Malay's cabin using my #9 Minnow Rap in hot steel in 8-11 feet of water. I caught one small northern pike, 3 stupid rock bass and a very nice 21 3/4" walleye. Catching the walleye made battling the bugs on the lake worth the trip.

As I was getting ready to come ashore, I watched as the sliver of the 6 percent waxing moon set in the western sky. The sky still had some orange, pale green, blue, and purple color to it and the bright white of the moon really stood out in the darkening sky. In the east and overhead stars were becoming visible.

I pulled onto the boat lift and was met by swarms of mayflies and a host of other flying insects. It seems as if every night now some new insect is hatching in the water and making its way to the surface. I guess that's a sign that Leech Lake is alive and healthy.

Tomorrow I'm driving down to St. Cloud to visit Kathleen's mom. I may be able to report from there, but if not, I'll post again here on Friday night. Until then...

June 23, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The torential rain during the early-afternoon thunderstorm

It was near 80 degrees and the sun was shining at 9:00 a.m. this morning, but as the morning progressed it kept getting darker, and cooler. By noon, the sky was gray, overcast and was actually as dark as it is typically around 9:30 p.m. The temperature had dropped to 70 degrees.

I did a quick check of the weather on the NOAA marine station on my Uniden Atlantis 250 two-way VHF marine radio, and discovered that the National Weather Service had issued severe thunderstorm warning 497 for this part of northern Minnesota.

By 12:40 p.m. it started to rain, the wind out of the SW picked up to more than 20 mph, with gusts exceeding 30 mph according to the NOAA station. The storm was upon us. I could hear the near constant rumbling of thunder over the lake.

A large blue heron flew by with purpose, possibly on her way back to the nest to check on the safety of her chicks. The trees contorted in the wind and the white caps lashed at the rocky shoreline. Another Northwoods thunderstorm was here.

By 2:00 p.m. the sky had cleared, a gentle 8-12 mph wind was blowing from the SW and the temperature had once again warmed to 80 degrees. I heard that in the southern part of Minnesota the temperatures were in the 90s and in some parts of the state the heat index (which is the opposite of wind chill) was 115 degrees. Heat advisories had been issued in many cities in southern Minnesota.

At 3:30 p.m I decided to go fishing. I started in a spot between Duck and Second Duck Points in 8-11 feet of water. I used a jig and a fathead minnow, but caught only a couple of small perch. I relocated to Second Duck Point, but again caught only a couple of small perch.

I ended up in front of our house, and while more and bigger perch were biting, I still didn't hook any jumbos or walleyes. At 5:00 p.m. I came ashore to get dinner started.

Evening Fishing Data:

Time -- 9:15 - 10:45 p.m.
Temperature -- 70 degrees
Wind -- 8-15 mph WSW
Water temperature -- 72.9 -73.1 degrees
Locations -- Malay's to south of Second Duck Point
Water depth -- 8-10 feet
Lure -- #9 Rapala Minnow Rap
Ground speed -- 2.15 - 2.55 mph
RPM --570 - 600
Fish caught -- four rock bass, one perch, 15" walleye

Good night from Leech Lake.

June 22, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

Today was hot and humid. Temperature at mid-day was near 80 degrees and the humidity was probably close to 90 percent. There was little to no wind, and the sky was mostly sunny with some big white billowy clouds.

Due to a variety of circumstances, my stay at Leech Lake has been extended. Instead of leaving on Wednesday, June 24, I will now be staying at the lake until the end of July -- very welcome news from my perspective. I only wish Kathleen could join me. But she will be busy with work back in California. I miss her and can't wait until we can be together here at the lake; maybe this Fall.

Since I had planned on leaving in two days, most of my day was spent cleaning the house. I vacuumed throughout the house, did laundry, changed the bed linens, etc., before learning that I would be able to stay longer. As a result of doing my chores, I did not go fishing this afternoon. I may go out trolling later tonight however.

Tom and Lainey Malay invited me to stop by to have a beer this evening, so I did. Ron and Sandy Neustrand were there as well, and the five us had a nice chat.

This evening at 9:15 p.m. I did go fishing. The air was heavy with 95 percent humidity, there was no wind and the temperature was a muggy 69 degrees. The bugs were out in full force led by swarms of mosquitoes. The water temperature varied from 72.7 to 73 degrees.

I was joined on the water by four other boats. Two were camped out in front of our house and the other two were using their electric trolling motors to maneuver between our cabin and Newman's cabin. I opted to troll The Alley at 570 rpm, or roughly 2.35 mph ground speed, in 8-9.5 feet of water. I was using my favorite #9 Minnow Rap in hot steel.

At 9:45 p.m. I caught a 3-4 lb. northern pike, which I immediately released. Then between 10:05 and 10:30 p.m. I caught an 18 1/2" walleye and a 21" walleye. Even if they hadn't been in the slot I would have released them. I had a nice walleye dinner last night and I'm not a FIB meat-hunter who keeps every fish he catches.

I made one last pass from Second Duck Point to our house with no fish on. At that point I'd had enough of the mosquitoes and other flying and biting bugs so I decided to come ashore.

I had a very nice day at Leech Lake, and best of all, I learned I will be able to stay here a little longer.

June 21, 2009 -- Father's Day and Summer Solstice

Happy Father's Day dad, and to all you fathers out there.

Today is also the summer solstice. Officially summer arrived at 12:45 a.m. CDT (5:45 a.m. UTC). Solstice is from the Latin, the sun stands still. At the solstices the sun's apparent position on the celestial sphere reaches its greatest distance above or below the celestial equator. On the summer solstice, the sun is directly overhead at noon at the Tropic of Cancer.

At 11:00 a.m. here at Leech Lake on Father's Day and the summer solstice the temperature was 80 degrees. The wind was out of the south at 8-12 mph, with gusts up to 15-20 mph. The sky was overcast, gray and threatening to rain.

I ate a quick breakfast of yogurt and coffee, then went out for a long ride on the ATV. I rode all the way to the end of Otter Tail Point Dr., went to the boardwalk at Duck Point Woods, rode out to Two Points, and eventually to the Community Center and home. The entire trip took me about an hour and a half. It was a great ride, and it was the first time I'd made that trip during this visit.

On my way home I stopped in to see the Malays, but Tom was getting ready to up to Birch Ridge Resort to help Frank mow the grass, so it was a short visit. I came home, had a quick bite of lunch, and then went out fishing.

I fished both in front of our house in 8-12 feet of water and off Second Duck Point, and while the perch were biting, the walleye weren't. I was using fathead minnows on a jig in the 69 degree water of Sucker Bay.

I came in at 3:30 p.m. because it started to rain. It wasn't raining hard, but I wasn't wearing any rain gear and I didn't feel like getting soaked. Later this evening I'll clean that 17" walleye I caught last night and enjoy it for my Father's Day dinner. Depending on the weather I may go fishing later tonight.

I did in fact clean and eat the 17" walleye. Well, I ate one of the two fillets. I have the other fillet tomorrow for lunch.

At 9:00 p.m., with a steady rain falling, I decided to go fishing. I leave for California on Wednesday, so I'm trying to get in as much fishing at possible, regardless of the weather.

I started trolling in front of Malay's cabin in 9.5 feet of water. The water temperature had cooled to 68 degrees. The air temperature was 60 degrees, but it felt cooler because of the 12 mph SSE wind.

I pulled my hot steel colored #9 Minnow Rap to Second Duck Point, then back to Malay's. I then did one additional pass through The Alley, but tonight, I caught no fish at all. No rock bass. No northern pike. And no walleye.

I was also the only boat on the water. I guess most people would rather sit at home in front of the TV on a Sunday night than get pelted by a cold rain on a charcoal colored lake. For me, however, being rocked back and forth by the waves on the dark water was a perfect way to wrap up Father's Day at Leech Lake.

June 20, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

By 10:00 a.m. this morning it was already 70 degrees with the expected high by 2:00 p.m. to be in the low 80s. The wind was out of the north at 8-12 mph, with gusts up near 20 mph. The sky at 10:00 a.m. was clear, but by noon big white billowy clouds had blown in making the sky partly cloudy.

I went up to Birch Ridge Resort this morning to pick up a couple of scoops of fathead minnows. I've fished exclusively with spot-tail shiners since my arrival back on May 19, but at $5.99 a scoop I decided to try a live bait that was less "spendy." I've heard that the walleye are biting on fatheads too, but I'll have to find out for myself if that's the case.

By late morning I had once again filled in the cracks in our asphalt driveway and once again battled squadrons of mosquitoes during the process. I hope it doesn't rain for at least 24 hours giving the sealant time to set.

I discussed my driveway, and the shoddy workmanship of Anderson Brothers Construction, with my neighbor Tom Malay. He told me that the reason our driveways are so poorly constructed is that the asphalt was not hot enough when Anderson Brothers applied it.

Both Tom and I had our driveways repaved a couple of years ago by Anderson Brothers and at the time neither of us were happy with the work. Anderson Brothers did give me a discount on the work, but never came back out to fix my driveway or Tom's.

Here's my advice: NEVER USE ANDERSON BROTHERS CONSTURCTION (out of Brainerd, MN) FOR ANY ASPHALT JOB. VERY POOR WORK AND VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Just before 2:00 p.m. I went fishing with the guy who has a cabin next to our cabin, Don Poage. While I've known Don ever since we first came to Leech Lake in 2001, this is the first time he and I have gone fishing together.

Usually when Don is up here at the lake he has lots of family with him and he takes them out in his boat. This visit, however, he is here with just his wife Terry, and his boat is in the shop for repairs. That made it the ideal time to ask if he wanted to go fishing.

We started in about 12 feet of water in front our his place, with the wind out of the north, we drifted toward my house and shore. We used fathead minnows on our jigs and caught a few small perch. Don couldn't stay out long because had a number of things to take care of before he and Terry head home later this evening. At 3:15 p.m. we came ashore.

I stayed close to home for the rest of the afternoon and evening, opting to do laundry, make dinner and listen to "A Prairie Home Companion." Today, Garrison was broadcasting from just outside of Chicago and had as musical guests Elvin Bishop, Norton Buffalo, and Sarah Watkins; a fantastic line up.

At my usual time, 9:00 p.m., I went fishing. The temperature was a muggy 72 degrees, the wind was non-existent, and the mosquitoes and other flying insects were out in full force. I sprayed my hands, neck and ears with Ultra Muskol, which is basically 40% Deet, and yet the mosquitoes still swarmed all over me.

Despite the pesky little blood-suckers, I pressed on, enjoying the sunset, the calls of the loons and the fishing. I trolled The Alley using my #9 Rapala Minnow Rap in the hot steel color. I fished in 8-9.5 feet of water. Just after sunset a caught a medium-sized northern pike and two very big rock bass.

During my next pass, however, I felt the familar pull of a big walleye. I set the hook and kept constant pressure on the line as I reeled the fish closer to the boat. I reached over for the net, grabbed in my left hand and put it underneath the fish as it got close to the boat. In one quick motion I netted the fish and brought it into the boat.

The Grateful Dead's "Touch of Gray" was playing on the radio as I unhooked a very sturdy 22" walleye. I took the entire event as a good omen of things to come in the next few minutes, hours, days, weeks and months. Grateful Dead + catching walleye = good luck.

No sooner had I released the 22" walleye and put my Minnow Rap back in the water than I hooked another fish. I could tell right away it was smaller than the previous fish, but maybe it'd be the perfect size to keep and eat. It was indeed. I netted a very nice 17" walleye which went into the boat's live well.

I trolled one more pass through The Alley with no other fish caught. I did record that the water temperature in 9 feet of water off Second Duck Point was 71.2 degrees and in 8.5 feet of water in front of our house it was a half degree warmer.

At 10:45 p.m. I guided my boat toward the boat lift. As I approached I noticed something sitting on one of the rails of the lift. When I got a little bit closer I could see it was a Common Goldeneye (duck) female. When she realized the boat was headed straight for her, she jumped off the lift, started quacking and was immediately followed by a number of ducklings away from the lift. I could hear her still quacking off in the distance as I raised the boat on the lift.

If a person were squeamish or otherwise bothered by great numbers of insects and bugs, then being on my boat as I secured it on my boat lift would have been a place to avoid. I glanced over at my Mercury Verado motor and it looked as if the entire thing was moving because it was literally covered in a vast quanity, and variety, of insects.

I transfered the 17" walleye from the boat's live well to a wire fish basket, put the basket into the lake, gathered up my few items and hustled back to the house, leaving the millions of flying and crawling bugs to themselves.

Despite the insects, tonight was another fantastic night on Leech Lake.

Cottonwood Tree

The leaves of the cottonwood tree

I drove up to Birch Ridge Resort this morning to pick up a couple of scoops of fathead minnows. On my way there and back, I noticed that the air was full of the white cottony hairs of the cottonwood tree. As I drove home this verse popped into my head.

Cottonwood Tree

Floating through air like a light summer snow
Drifting in the breeze with no one place to go
In the Leech Lake woods they’re everywhere to see
The white fluffy spawn of the cottonwood tree

June 19, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

An approaching storm on the south end of Sucker Bay

All of my work filling in the cracks in our asphalt driveway was washed away with the torrential rains we had last night. Since there is a very good chance of more thunderstorms later tonight, I'm going to wait until Saturday to refill the cracks -- and battle the humongous mosquitoes.

The temperature at noon today is 68 degrees, the wind is light at 5-8 mph out of the SW and the sky is gray and overcast. It looks as if it might rain, and there is indeed rain in the forecast.

Noel Hancock stopped by this morning for coffee and we had a nice visit. He's a great guy and a good neighbor. And speaking of good neighbors, Tom Malay and I are going to go fishing here in about a half an hour.

Tom and I first fished in front of our house in 10-12 feet of water. The water temperature today has warmed 67.5 degrees. With the slight SW wind, we drifted toward Tom's house. We caught a few perch, but no jumbos. I caught a small 12" walleye. After a couple of passes we decided to relocate to a spot Tom knows between Duck and Second Duck Points.

We motored there at 30 mph, and apparently my motor is back to working properly. Upon arriving at the designated spot we baited our jigs with shiners and dropped them into 8.5 feet of water. Again, the SW wind pushed us north, this time toward Second Duck Point. We caught a few perch but no walleye.

We repositioned ourselves yet again in 10 feet of water off Second Duck Point. As was the order of the day, we caught nothing but small perch.

Finally, we went back to where we started, in front of my house, for a couple last drifts. We caught a few more perch, but still no walleye. We decided to head home when we finally used up the last of our shiners. I dropped Tom off on the end of his dock and came home myself.

I did a quick pass around the cabin property to check on the evergreen trees and lilac bushes I planted week or two ago. I couldn't believe how much new growth there was on the Colorado spruce trees. The lilacs looked healthy and strong too. I guess all of this rain the past week has really helped them establish a foot hold. I hope they do well throughout the summer and live to be big, strong trees and bushes.

At 8:00 p.m., the wind picked up to about 10 mph out of the west and it looked as if a storm that had been off in the distance was rapidly heading my way. But as time passed, so did the storm. The primary force of the storm passed to the south and east of Sucker Bay, but we did get a tiny bit of rain from the trailing edge of the storm. The sky is now clear at 9:00 p.m., and I think I'll go out trolling.

I got out onto the lake about a quarter past 9:00 p.m. Once on the lake I could see another storm front approaching from the south, but this one looked to be even further east than the one that preceded it so I figured it would miss Sucker Bay. The wind was out of the west at 8 mph, the air temperature was 70 degrees and the water temperature had warmed again to 68.7 degrees. As the evening wore on, the storm did move to the east and missed Sucker Bay.

I started trolling The Alley in 10 feet of water, and on my first pass, right in front of our house, I caught a 15” walleye. The fish was too small for me to keep for a meal (I will only keep fish between 16” and 17 1/2”) so I put it back into the lake.

During the next hour I watched the western sky turn from a brilliant orange to a pale cantaloupe color to finally a burnt sienna. Above the orange band was a very faint yellow streak and above it pale green line that quickly turned into a light blue. Above the light blue was bright blue band and finally a deep indigo, almost purple color, up above. I was struck by how easily I could make out every color in the rainbow. Another beautiful sunset over Leech Lake

Just as the stars were starting to show themselves in the fading light, the last of the five other boats sharing this section of Sucker Bay with me headed for home; leaving my boat as the only one in sight.

I decided to make one last past through The Alley and made a large arcing turn off Second Duck Point. About half way through my turn I felt a large pull on my line and immediately I set the hook. I could tell this fish was bigger by the way it pulled back as I reeled it to the boat.

With my St. Croix fishing rod in my right hand, I reached for my Frabill net with my left. I lowered the net into the water and underneath the fish and raised the rod bringing the fish into the net. I scooped up the fish and brought it into the boat. After removing the treble hook from its lip, I did a quick measurement – a beautiful 22” walleye. Like the 15” walleye before it, this one too went back into Leech Lake.

At 11:15 p.m. I put the boat onto the lift and came ashore. As I was walking from the boat lift back to the house I felt the breeze pick up. I think there may be another storm on the way. It would be nice to fall asleep tonight listening to the rain and far away thunder.

June 18, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

Looking south on Sucker Bay toward Second Duck Point


A view from the inside of my boat toward our cabin and house

At 10 a.m. this morning the sky was gray and hazy, it looked as if it might rain, the wind a slight wind out of the SSE at maybe 5-8 mph and the temperature was 66 degrees. According to the weather reports, it might hit 79 degrees today, although there is a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms.

One of the many chores I need to complete before I leave for San Jose is filling the various cracks in our asphalt driveway. The harsh -30 degree winters and humid, hot 90 degree summers really do a number on asphalt. I filled one of the cracks as a test, and it seems to be acceptable, so I'm going to fill other cracks later this afternoon. But first, some fishing.

At 12:40 p.m. I took the boat out into 10 feet of water in front of our house. With the light 5 mph SSE blowing, it pushed the boat toward Malay's and out into deeper water. I made three such drifts and caught 3 big rock bass, a number of perch, including a couple of jumbos, and a 12" walleye. At 2:00 p.m. I came ashore because I needed to eat some lunch, and hadn't taken any food with me out onto the boat.

After I ate lunch I decided to fill in more of the cracks in our asphalt driveway. I managed to fill all of the major cracks, but it took all of my concentration and determination to do so because I was constantly surrounded by a large, buzzing cloud of mosquitoes.

Personally, I have never had so many of the blood-sucking insects around me at one time in my entire life. They were biting my hands, face, ears, neck, and nose and were even trying to get into my eyes. I tried not to let the miniature vampires affect me, but it was hard not to be distracted. It should be interesting to see just how well those cracks are filled in once the mosquitoes retreat.

I went out fishing at 3:30 p.m. Originally I had planned to do some walleye fishing in front of our house in 10-12 feet of water, but I changed my mind and motored down to Norm's to try to catch a "welcome bass." Usually, the first cast into the reeds in front of Norm's cabin produces a nice largemouth bass, thus we dubbed the experience a welcome bass. Unfortunately, my Senko Texas-rigged on a 3/0 hook brought no bass to welcome me.

I moved to Bass Bay right in front of the harbor and began throwing a spinner bait. I moved around for some time and caught only one small rock bass. With my bass fishing not producing fish I decided to go back to "plan A" and fish for walleye in front of our house. I fired up the Mercury Verado and started on my way at 35 mph.

But about half way to our house from Bass Bay the big Verado coughed a couple of times and then stopped altogether. I tried starting it three or four times, but it simply wouldn't turn over. Luckily, I still have "Little E," my trusty Honda 8.8hp kicker motor. I started up the Honda and slowly motored back to the boat lift.

Once the boat was on the lift, I raised the boat just enough so that the boat was secure but the Verado was in the water. I turned off the power to everything, then switched it back on. I then tried to start the Verado and this time it turned over on the first try and sounded like it was running normally.

With the Verado still running, I lowered the boat back in the water and took the boat out for a test drive. The Verado seemed to work fine at slow speeds so I opened it up and got it up to 35-40 mph. Again, the motor seemed to run fine, just as it always has. I was getting ready to take the boat back to the boat lift, when I changed my mind and decided to do a little walleye fishing as I had planned before my motor troubles started.

I put a shiner on my lime green/black XPS jig and dropped it into the 11 feet of 65 degree water. I jigged for about a half an hour with no success, so I decided to go ashore. I was anxious to see if the Verado would start; but no worries, it turned over and started on the first try. I took the boat in and put it on the boat lift.

As I was getting out of the boat I noticed 30-40 largemouth bass swimming under the dock and boat lift. They were joined with some absolutely jumbo perch and monster blue gills. I quickly got back in the boat, got out a light tackle rod and reel set up with a tiny jig, spinner and soft plastic.

I made about 10 short casts just beyond the boat lift, but while scores of bass followed my lure, I could only coax one into biting. So as it turns out, I caught more largemouth bass right off my dock than I did at Norm's (normally a hot bed for largemouth activity) or up in Bass Bay.

Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to go into Bemidji either tomorrow or on Saturday to get my boat trailer, which apparently has been repaired with a new coupling, in case I have additional motor problems and need to take the boat out of the water and into Corner Sports for repairs.

At 9:00 p.m. this evening the temperature was a very muggy 68 degrees, the air was heavy and foreboding with strong thunderstorms looming to the south. I contemplated going fishing, and was even as far as the end of the dock getting into the boat, when those dark threatening skies suggested to me to stay in tonight.

By the time I went back to the house, put my things away and walked out onto the end of the dock at the house, the storm had moved nearly on top of me. The sky, which is usually light until 10:30 p.m. is now pitch black at 9:15 p.m. The rain is starting to fall. The wind is starting to blow hard. There is lightening and thunder. The storm is upon us!!

I’m going to stay in tonight, watch the storm, listen to classical music on KCRB and maybe watch a movie. I think that will be a nice way to complete another great day at Leech Lake.

June 17, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The spot in front of our house where I caught the 22" walleye this afternoon.

Second Duck Point on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake.

At 9:00 a.m. this morning the sky was overcast and grey, the temperature was 59 degrees, the wind was calm and it looked like rain. By 10:00 a.m. a light rain started to fall. It's not raining as hard as it was most of the day yesterday, but it's once again wet outside.

Yesterday I used the last of my shiners during my second trip out on the water so I'll need to go up to Birch Ridge Resort this morning to buy a couple of scoops. I'll do that as soon as I straighten out my Northwest flight reservation from Minneapolis to San Jose next week.

Originally, I was scheduled to fly direct from MSP to SJC, but apparently that flight was canceled so I now go through Salt Lake City. The problem is is that NWA left me only 30 minutes between arriving in Salt Lake City and departing for San Jose.

Knowing the airlines, there is no way to make a flight with only 30 minutes between flights. So far, I've been dropped from my call after waiting on hold for 15 minutes, talked to a representative who had to transfer me to someone else -- during the transfer I was again dropped from the call. I called back, waited 15 minutes once again, was transferred to some other person and again was dropped from the call. I'm not sure NWA could be more inept.

I guess I'm insane, because I'm trying yet again to get through to someone at NWA and I'm expecting a different result. Finally at 1:30 p.m., I decided to quit dealing with the airline and go fishing.

Earlier in the day I had taken a break from my airline mess and had gone up to Birch Ridge Resort to buy a couple of scoops of shiners. With my bucket of shiners in hand, I got the boat in the water and motored out to depth of 10 feet off Second Duck Point. The wind was out of the south at 10 mph, thus pushing the boat north and progressively further out into Sucker Bay. The water temperature was 64 degrees.

I used a 1/8 oz. lime green/black Bass Pro Shops XPS Walleye Angler jig tipped with a lively shiner. I caught numerous perch on the two or three passes I made from Second Duck Point to in front of our house. I decided to reposition the boat and so rather than starting at Second Duck Point and drifting to our house, I'd start in front of our house and drift to Malay's cabin.

Just as I was repositioning the boat, John Newman called my cell and asked if he could join me on the water. I said sure, and arranged to pick him up at my dock in 10 minutes. After putting away my cell phone, I dropped my jig into the water and immediately hooked into something big. I battled it for a few minutes and eventually netted a very healthy 22", five pound plus, walleye.

After I picked up John we fished in the same location, my house to Malay's, for several passes and we caught lots of medium and large perch. We contemplated keeping some of the jumbo perch, but eventually all of the fish went back into the lake. We came ashore at 4:30 p.m.

John came back over to our lake house at 7:30 p.m. this evening to share a couple of cold malted-beverages and listen to some music. At 9:00 p.m. John and I took my boat out to troll #9 Minnow Raps in 8-11 feet of water in The Alley.

The water temperature this evening was 64.7 degrees, the air temperature was 64 degrees and there was a slight wind out of the south at 5 mph; a perfect night to fish for walleye on Leech Lake. There was an added benefit that we were the only boat in the area.

John had the "hot stick" tonight and caught two northern pike as well as a 15" walleye and a 19 3/4" walleye. I went fishless. Nonetheless, the conversation was lively and the weather was ideal.

John leaves for home tomorrow and I'm not sure when I'll see him again, since I'm not sure when I'll be back at the lake after June 24. But for the next week, I'm going to enjoy every minute here and get out fishing for walleye as much as possible on Leech Lake.