July 27, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

2 Days and Counting...

At 9:00 a.m. the temperature was just a hair under 70 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny with several large, white billowy clouds here and there, and the wind was out of the WNW at 12-18 mph, with gusts up over 20 mph.

By 11:00 a.m., the lake was covered in white caps and I could see only one boat out on Sucker Bay. I did a quick check of the boat's license number by looking through the binoculars, and sure enough, they were from Illinois; FIB's. Obviously they are up here on vacation and will go out fishing regardless of the wind conditions.

I had a business call that kept me busy until around noon, then I spent the next couple of hours cleaning -- bathrooms, washing sheets, making beds, cleaning up the kitchen, etc. I don't want to leave everything until tomorrow or early Wednesday. I'd like to get as much cleaned up today as possible so I have some time to fish and enjoy the lake before my departure.

The entire day ended up being very windy; too windy to go fishing today. So instead I decided to go for a walk on our dirt road. I got as far as Norm's when swarms of horse flies, the biting kind, descended on me.

I had to swat at flies and wave my hands over my head all the way home just to keep from being bit. I must have looked like a lunatic waving my arms over my head as I trotted home. There is always a bug-related adventure in the northwoods during the summer.

When I got home I got out the ATV and went for another ride. I like to see the peninsula and on the ATV I’m able to move fast enough to where the flies and mosquitoes can’t bother me.

At 9:00 p.m. it was still very windy, and it started to lightly rain, so I didn’t go out trolling for walleye tonight. Instead I stayed in and enjoyed listening to music from my vast vinyl LP collection. A pleasant evening on the shores of Leech Lake.

July 26, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

3 Days and Counting...

This morning at 9:00 a.m. it was nearly 70 degrees on its way to a high of 78 degrees, the sky was sunny, but it was windy. The wind was out of the WNW at 12-18 mph creating nice swells on the lake and the occasional white cap.

While I was enjoying my third cup of coffee on the back deck of our house watching the beauty of a Leech Lake morning, Tom Malay stopped by with the Sunday papers from Minneapolis and Bemidji. We spoke for a few minutes, and then he had to leave. He is working at Birch Ridge Resort again today.

After I finished reading the Sunday papers and had had some breakfast I went out onto the lake to do some fishing. I started in 14 feet of water in front of Malay's cabin using a jig tipped with a leech. I had numerous bites, but caught only a couple of small perch.

Once I had exhausted my supply of leeches, I switched to Northland Slurpie Grubs in an Alabama Craw color. Instantly, the number of bites I was getting increased and I started hooking many more fish. I guess plastics really are the future!

From 12:15 p.m. to just before 4:00 p.m. I caught dozens of perch, a few rock bass and a small northern pike. I kept one of the jumbo perch that I caught for a future fish fry. I fly back to California on Wednesday and I'd like one last Leech Lake fish fry before I leave. A walleye, even a 16" fish, is more fish than I can eat in one meal. A nice 12" jumbo perch is the perfect size for my one-person dinner table.

By 8:00 p.m. tonight the wind had died down to completely calm; there was barely a ripple on the lake. I decided that I'd go out early and try jigging with my Northland Slurpie Grub before switching to trolling a crankbait for walleye.

I caught a couple of small perch with the jig and plastic combo, but had no where near the action I had had earlier in the day. At 9:15 p.m. I put away my spinning rod and reel and switched to my baitcasting rig with the #9 Minnow Rap.

I trolled The Alley from 9:15 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. but caught only one northern pike and a couple of rock bass; no walleye. The water temperature tonight varied from 71.6 to 72.3 degrees depending on my location and depth.

With no wind at all on the lake tonight, the big Minnesota mosquitoes were out in full force. Even with my Deet-laden spray I was covered in mosquitoes the entire evening. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful night on Leech Lake.

July 25, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

A female common merganser, like the one I saw off our dock this afternoon

Juvenile common mergansers, like the five I saw off our dock today

4 Days and Counting...

This morning was once again more akin to a mid-September morning than one at the end of July. The temperature at 9:00 a.m. was 62 degrees, the wind was very strong at 15-18 mph out of the NNW with gusts up over 20 mph, the sky was gray and overcast, and the ground was wet from an early-morning rain.

The lake this morning is a gray color as well, with the exception of the white caps that top the waves. The weather report calls for a mostly cloudy and windy day until around 9:00 p.m. this evening when the wind is supposed to drop to below 10 mph. If that is indeed the case, then I'll try to get out to do some late-evening trolling for walleye.

By 2:00 p.m. this afternoon the sky had cleared and it was mostly sunny, but the wind hadn't let up. It was still blowing at close to 20 mph out of the NNW as I pulled the ATV out of the garage to go for a ride around Ottertail Peninsula.

When I returned home from my ride, I saw a common merganser mother and her five juvenile chicks off the end of our dock. The mother flapped her wings and basically jumped up onto our dock, while the five smaller birds paddled around in the water below her.

I watched them for 15 minutes or more before the mother finally jumped back into the water and the entire family paddled away. The chicks are getting big and should soon strike out on their own.

At 4:30 p.m. I went for a walk down West Shores Rd. to the Paulsen's and back, a nice 2-mile walk. Along the way I did a "stop and chat" with Noel Hancock who was out riding his ATV on his way to visit the Schiebe brothers.

I ate dinner a little before 7:00 p.m. and within an hour after finishing, the wind began to die down. I decided not to waste any time, and got out on the water at 8:15 p.m. The temperature was 66 degrees, the water temperature was 70.2 degrees, the sky was mostly clear and the wind was down to 8-10 mph out of the WNW.

I started by motoring out to 14 feet of water in front of the Malay's cabin and fished with a Lindy Max Gap jig tipped with a leech. I caught a couple of perch, including a nice jumbo (which I released) and lost numerous leeches to good bites. I'm guessing most of the bites were perch, but at least a couple were walleye or pike because the leech was bitten clean through.

Just before sunset, which came at exactly 9:00 p.m. tonight, I hooked something big. I got it close enough to the boat to see that it was either a good-sized pike or a big walleye, when it turned, headed for deep water and snapped my line like unwaxed dental floss in between back molars.

I figured that was a sign to switch tactics so I put away my spinning reel and took out my baitcasting rod and reel complete with my favorite hot-steel colored #9 Minnow Rap. I started trolling The Alley in 8-10 feet of water.

I caught a couple of rock bass (and thought of you Rick; by the way, Skylar was again the DJ on Z99 tonight, ugh) before hooking into a nice 20 1/2" walleye. I got the walleye close to the boat, put the landing net underneath the fish and scooped it up and into the boat.

As always, I released the reel to let out some line and as often happens, the walleye unhooked itself. However, when I reached into the net to pick up the unhooked fish it flopped just as I was putting my hand around it and my middle finger must have hit a tooth, a fin or a gill plate, because something cut the tip of my finger.

After measuring and releasing the fish, I had to mop up the blood that I was dripping all over the boat. Another fish, another cut. That must make at least 20 nice fish cuts on my left hand these past couple of months.

With the walleye back in the water and blood cleaned up, mostly, I began trolling again and looked up to see the golden crescent moon (18 percent waxing) setting into the western sky. It looked like an overly ripe slice of cantalope being dipped into a pool of black paint. A beautiful moonset.

With the light of the sun and moon now both gone from the sky, the stars came out in full force. Even the white glow of the Milky Way was clearly visible.

I didn't catch any more fish, so at 10:45 p.m. I came ashore after enjoying another wonderful night of fishing on Leech Lake.

July 24, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

5 Days and Counting...

We awoke this morning to very strong winds of 15-25 mph out of the WNW. The lake was churning and covered in white caps. The sky was mostly sunny, the temperature was 68 degrees (although it felt much cooler than that because of the wind), and the water temperature was 70.2 degrees.

Liz and Ashley spent most of the late-morning and early-afternoon packing and getting ready for the drive down to St. Cloud. Ashley was able to take a break from her work to go on an ATV ride with me. I took her to the south end of Ottertail Peninsula.

At 3:45 p.m., Liz and Ashley, along with Sandy and Jackson, left Leech Lake to drive to St. Cloud. Later tonight Liz and Ashley will go to Minneapolis with Kathleen's sister Mary where they will spend the night. Then tomorrow, Ashley leaves for California. Liz will go back to St. Cloud where she will stay with her grandma for another week.

After everyone left I contacted Tom Malay. Earlier in the day he had gone into Cass Lake and picked up one of the bake-at-home pizzas for me. He stopped by to drop it off and when he did, I invited him in for a beer. We sat out on the back deck and shared a cold one.

When Tom went home I decided to go fishing for a little while before it got dark. Usually I go out trolling at night, but I heard that the wind -- which had died down to about 10 mph out of the west at 5:30 p.m. -- was supposed to pick up again around 9:30 p.m.

I motored out to 14 feet of water in front of the cabin, put a leech on my jig and began fishing. I made a couple of drifts toward shore, but caught only one fish, a bluegill. Oddly enough, it was the first bluegill I've caught all summer long (of course, they haven't been one of the fish I've targeted either).

As predicted, at just before 10:00 p.m. this evening the wind began to pick up and is currently blowing very hard out of the west. It is not a night I'd want to be out trolling for walleye on Leech Lake.

[NOTE: I will not be posting any new pictures to this blog during my current stay. In her haste, Liz packed the USB cord for my camera in her things and took it with her. I probably won't get it from her until we're both back in California.]

July 23, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

6 Days and Counting...

Believe it or not, the temperature hit 78 degrees this afternoon! That's the warmest it's been here at Leech Lake in a number of weeks. The water temperature has warmed to 70 degrees.

The wind today was light at 5-8 mph out of the SSE, but the sky was mostly cloudy. As the day progressed, the cloud cover increased until it the sky was completely overcast by 4:30 p.m. There is a chance of a late-afternoon or early-evening thunderstorm.

My nephew Jackson and I went fishing from 1:15 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and tried numerous locations on Sucker Bay from Second Duck Point to in front of our house to The Birches. Jackson caught numerous perch, including some very nice-sized ones, some rock bass and a 22" northern pike. Jackson was using a jig, a small Colorado blade spinner and a chartreuse plastic trailer.

I used a variety of jigs and plastic and a jig tipped with a leech. I caught a few perch and rock bass, but no northerns or walleye.

This evening I made BBQ chicken and roasted corn-on-the-cob for dinner. Afterward we sat around the camp fire and made s'mores. Ashley and Jackson played ping pong while Sandy, Liz and I sat around the fire and talked.

As of 10:00 p.m. we still haven't had any thunderstorms, or even any rain.

After we doused the fire, we went back to the house to watch a movie. Liz and Ashley leave for St. Cloud tomorrow. I hope they enjoyed their time at Leech Lake.

July 22, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The approaching storm at 5:05 p.m.

7 Days and Counting...

One week from today I'll be on a plane jetting my way back to San Jose, California and away from the peace, serenity and beauty of Leech Lake. I have many things that require my attention in California so it is necessary for me to be there, but if given the choice, I'd remain here in the northwoods.

Today we awoke to a day much like yesterday -- sunny, but with a good amount of billowy white clouds in the sky, a light wind of 5-8 mph out of the SSW, and a humid 68 degree temperature. As the day progressed, the cloud cover increased, the rumble of faraway thunder could be heard and the threat of thunderstorms hung in the heavy air.

At 1:00 p.m. I took Ashley for a long ATV ride around the Ottertail Peninsula. While we were south of Moose Lane, we started to get pelted with very large rain drops. I turned the ATV around and headed for home. But within a minute, the rain stopped, the sky cleared, so we decided to continue our tour of the peninsula.

This evening my sister-in-law Sandy and her son Jackson are going to be coming up to the lake for a visit. Sandy has graciously agreed to take Liz and Ashley back to St. Cloud on Friday (thus saving me a 6-hour round trip) so Ashley can catch her flight back to San Jose on Saturday. Liz is going to stay at Grandma Coyle's for another week.

I knew there is "a-storm-a-brewin'", but I thought it might be fun for Liz, Ashley and I to go fishing for a little while before the storm actually hit. So at 3:30 p.m. we all got in the boat and made our way out to 12 feet of water straight out in front of our house.

With the slight breeze blowing our boat was pushed north toward Malay's. We all were using jigs tipped with leeches. We caught a couple of small perch, but that was all. Since Liz wanted to go for a run, and Ashley was having a hard day and wanted to go back to the house, we cut our stay on the water short, and headed in at 4:30 p.m.

After dropping off the girls on shore, I went back out onto the lake to do a little more fishing. I was only out there for 20 minutes or so when I could tell the storm was getting close. The temperature began to drop, the wind began to pick up, and I saw some bolts of lightening.

I came ashore at 5:00 p.m., and within 15 minutes the storm was upon us. The wind blew like crazy, the rain came down hard, and lightening and thunder abounded. Then just as fast as the storm came up, it passed. By 5:45 p.m. the sky was clearing, the wind had died down, and it looked as if it will be a beautiful evening.

My sister-in-law Sandy and her son Jackson arrived at the lake at 8:15 p.m. After getting their car unloaded and some brief conversation, I took Ashley and Jackson out fishing.

As usual, we trolled The Alley in 8-10 feet of water using #9 Minnow Raps. We caught a couple of perch and rock bass, and then I caught two walleye. The first was only 14” and immediately went back into the lake. The second walleye, however, was 17” and perfect eating size so I kept it. If we catch one more walleye tomorrow, or a couple of nice-sized perch, we’ll have enough for a fish-fry dinner.

The weather tonight couldn't have been nicer. The temperature was 64 degrees (sweatshirt weather), the wind was slight at 5-8 mph out of the SSW, the water temperature was 68.8 degrees and the moon was 1 percent waxing, or basically still a new moon.

The kids and I came ashore at just before 11:00 p.m. after another wonderful night of walleye fishing on Leech Lake.

July 21, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

Today we woke up to the remnants of a late-night/early-morning rain. The ground was wet, the back deck was wet, the dock was wet, yet the sun was shining and there were only a few fluffy white clouds in the sky.

The temperature by 10:00 a.m. was 68 degrees on its way to a high of roughly 74 degrees. The wind was light at 7-10 mph out of the SSW, the water temperature was 67 degrees and today was a new moon.

Elizabeth, Ashley and I went fishing this afternoon at 1:15 p.m. We took advantage of the light wind and drifted in 10-14 feet of water from in front of our house to in front of Norm's cabin. We were using jigs tipped with leeches and caught a few perch and rock bass, and I caught a small walleye, maybe 12" long.

Then about 3:45 p.m., I could tell that the storm we'd been keeping an eye on all afternoon was getting too close for comfort. I told the girls to reel their lines in and get their things put away because we were going to have to make a quick run back to the boat lift if we wanted to avoid getting caught in the storm.

My timing was off by about 1 minute because we were on the lake as the rain came upon us and the wind whipped up. I was, however, able to safely get the boat on the lift and everyone inside before the worst of the storm hit. Within an hour, the storm had passed, the sky cleared, the wind died down and it turned out to be a beautiful late afternoon, evening and night.

After a very tasty BBQ rib dinner, complete with salad, corn-on-the-cob, and french fries, we decided to go fishing. We got out onto the water a little earlier than usual, at 8:45 p.m., so we could watch the sunset while on the lake.

It was a nice sunset, but nothing as spectacular as some of the sunsets we've seen on Leech Lake. Of course we weren't on the water just to enjoy nature, we were also out there trolling for walleye.

We trolled The Alley in 8-10 feet of water using #9 Minnow Raps. Liz and I each caught a couple of rock bass, Liz caught a very nice 22" northern pike, and I caught a 19" and a very hefty 25" walleye.

After I hooked the big 25-incher, I had Ashley reel it in for me. She said it wasn't that hard to do until the big fish got close to the boat and decided to make a run for it. But Ashley played the fish perfectly and I was able to net it.

I have to say it was probably the biggest walleye I've boated this summer. Not only was it all of 25", but it was extremely fat. I bet that fish weighed at least 8 pounds if not more.

We caught that big fish right off Second Duck Point so we decided to troll home from there and call it a night. We didn't catch anything else on our way back to the boat lift.

Maybe it was the new moon or the stable weather after the earlier storm, or maybe it I just put us right on the fish tonight, but whatever it was, tonight was our best night of fishing since the girls arrived. We had a wonderful night on Leech Lake.

July 20, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was 66 degrees, the sky was overcast and gray, a light, but steady, rain was falling and the wind was out of the SSW at 5-8 mph.

The rain finally stopped at about 11:30 a.m. and slowly the clouds began to dissipate and blue sky began to emerge. By early afternoon it was sunny and humid, although the temperature never went beyond 74 degrees.

I had some business to attend to that kept me busy until after 1:00 p.m. Earlier in the day I had made arrangements to go into Bemidji to have the truck serviced, so that's what we did this afternoon.

Liz, Ashley and I left for town around 2:30 p.m. and as we made our way up Sucker Bay Road the sky began to cloud over and by the time we hit Cass Lake the rain had once again begun to fall.

While the truck was being worked on, the three of us walked around down town Bemidji. At 5:00 p.m., the truck was ready to pick up. After getting the truck we made a quick stop at Target and then drove back to the lake.

The entire time we were in Bemidji and the entire trip home the rain continued to fall. Finally around 7:30 p.m. the rain stopped, although the sky remained cloudy. We decided to go fishing at 9:00 p.m., despite the possibility of rain, and made our way over to the boat lift.

Once on the water we trolled The Alley in 8-10 feet of water. The water temperature was 66 degrees, the air temperature was near 60 degrees, the wind was at 5-8 mph out of the SSW and the moon was 3 percent waning; almost a new moon.

We made several passes, but with the exception of one rock bass, we caught nothing. I don't know what's going on, but ever since Liz and Ashley have been here the fishing has shut down completely. I was catching fish regularly until the past few days. The weather should be OK tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll try once again.

Despite the lack of catching fish, we had an enjoyable time on the lake this evening, and I'm sure that tomorrow we'll once again enjoy being out on the waters of Leech Lake.

The White Spot Tradition

The White Spot Tradition

The acrid smoke of the Lucky Strike straight
wafts its way into the backseat of the old car

My sister and I stand on the bench behind him
as he makes the short drive from the store

We get out of the car and make our way past
the heavy door into the dark, smoke-filled room

Music I don’t know plays on the jukebox and competes
with loud talking and the clacking of billiard balls for my attention

Greetings are made, big hands shake, orders are placed
including a cold beer for Grandpa and pops for my sister and me

I sit on a stool high above the sticky floor and watch
as they play pool, smoke cigarettes and drink glasses of yellow beer

Soon our name is called and big white bags are passed over the bar into Grandpa’s hands, money is exchanged and we move outside into the bright sunlight and smokeless air

Again we’re in the car and soon we’re climbing the back stairs of the store,
golden fried fish, crispy French fries, sweet Cole slaw and warm rolls grace our table

Grandma, grandpa, brother, sister start to eat a Friday night Catholic dinner
as the summer sun begins its descent after another memorable visit to Pete’s White Spot