July 16, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

Heavy morning fog on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

This morning at 8:30 a.m. the fog was very heavy over the bay, the temperature was 72 degrees, the air was still and the entire sky -- from horizon to directly overhead -- was a grayish-white color. The humidity was over 90% and there were no boats on the lake; I'm hoping because visibility is so low.

Many fishermen, however, have been kept off the lake the past two weeks because the Minnesota state government shutdown has prevented them from purchasing fishing licenses and the DNR has stated that it will ticket any fisherman without a licence, despite the shutdown.

The National Weather Service has issued heat and humidity warnings for most of Minnesota, but apparently Cass County, home of Leech Lake, is not among those areas under the warning. It will be hot today, in the high 80s to low 90s, and the humidity will be at or above 90%, but I guess that's not as bad as it's going to be elsewhere around the state.

By 11:15 a.m. the temperature had risen to 74 degrees, it was still densely humid, the wind was at 5-8 mph out of the SSW and the fog had begun to burn off a bit. Within a couple of hours it is supposed to be sunny.

Just past 12:30 p.m. I got so hot I couldn't take it any more so I took a plunge in the lake. I'm guessing the water temperature to be around 75 degrees, so it's much cooler than the air temp and as a result it felt really refreshing. I swam around a bit before getting out and walking up to the house. I'm sure I'll have to do it again later today if the heat and humidity persist.

Nature Update: This evening I noticed a female merganser duck with five little chicks swimming near the mouth of our harbor. I don't know if this duck bred late or if this may be a second brood for her. Either way, it was nice to see the little ducklings swimming around.

By 4:45 p.m., before I listened to A Prairie Home Companion on Minnesota Public Radio, I had jumped in the lake an additional three times; making four total so far. The temperature is 83 degrees and the humidity has climbed to 92%, which makes cooling off the lake very refreshing.

Nature Update Two: I saw two bald eagles perched in a tree just behind the fish-cleaning house on our property. Seeing bald eagles so close, so up and personal is a blessing.

The evening didn't cool off much but it did sap my energy. Rather than stay up late and fight the heat and humidity I decided to call it a night early and go to bed. The state-wide heat advisory is to continue for the next four days.

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.

Odyssey

Many millions of people throughout the ages have marveled at the poetic masterpiece Odyssey, by the ancient Greek Homer. But for all of my reading, I had never consumed this treasure before finishing it today.

What a wondrous tale of war, separation, determination and finally redemption. It is as beautiful and passionate as any modern love story, as exciting and thrilling as any Spielberg spectacle and as brutal and violent as anything Hollywood could conjure. No doubt its these very merits that have kept it in our human conscientiousness for so many millennia.

I was fortunate enough to read a fantastic translation by Stanley Lombardo, who is a professor of Classics at the University of Kansas. His treatment of the Odyssey retained the poetic cadence that I would imagine the original Greek verse to possess while using language that is consistent with the modern vernacular.

That I read it while at the shores of Leech Lake make it all that much more memorable for me.

July 14, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

It must have rained last night because at 8:00 a.m. this morning everything outside was wet. The sky was still grey and overcast, the wind light at 5-8 mph out of the ENE and the temperature was 54 degrees.

As the morning moved along the wind shifted a bit and seemed to be coming from the ESE, still at only 5-8 mph. The sky in the south looked like it might contain a storm but one wasn't predicted until sometime after 5:00 p.m.

Nature Update: I was sitting in the living room quietly reading when I spotted a large bald eagle swoop across our yard and land in a tree just behind the fishing-cleaning house. I quickly grabbed the binoculars and as quietly as possible crept out onto the back porch. I was unable to spot the enormous raptor so I stealthily walked across the yard toward the dock, the whole while scanning the trees for the big bird. Eagles, despite their size, have a way of using leaves and branches to conceal themselves quite effectively. Slowly and quietly I tread onto the dock. I moved my field glasses from tree to tree trying to spy the eagle. As if it could feel my gaze coming closer, the gigantic national bird sprung from its hiding place and with a couple of loud flaps of its wings soared over the lake, not more than 25 yards from me, took a quick right turn and landed in another tree near Poage's cabin. A magnificent sight on a cool July morning.

By noon the temperature has risen to a paltry 58 degrees. The wind was still at 5-8 mph out of the east, but seemed to be swirling a bit between ESE and ENE. The sky was grey and overcast and there was a light mist in the air. This is mid-July in the northwoods of Minnesota.

At 2:00 p.m., I thought about going fishing, but the heavy mist still embraced the air and I knew that sitting on a boat for very long would require rain gear to guard against the damp. I just didn't feel like putting on rain gear, so instead I remained inside. The temperature had fallen a couple of degrees to 56 and the wind still couldn't decide which way to blow, and at times seemed to blow from all directions at once; although not very hard at 5-10 mph.

The light, grey mist permeated the air still at 3:30 p.m. All day the air itself has seemed sad. The temperature clung to 56 degrees as the wind picked up to 10-12 mph as if to finally bring with it the rain. But at 4:00 p.m., still no rain fell.

I thought again about going out onto the water to fish for walleye, but with an east wind blowing and a cold front moving into the area I figured that the already difficult walleye bite would probably be even worse. So I remained inside and continued reading the classics.

Unable to sit inside any longer, I took a brisk 2-mile walk down past Paulson's and back. The temperature was still a cool 56 degrees, but the humidity was clearly 100% since I could literally see water in the air. I arrived home damp from the experience, but happy to have gotten in some exercise and the opportunity to take in the beauty of Ottertail Peninsula. And yes, the deer, horse or yellow flies, whichever you choose to call them, were as annoying as ever, buzzing around my head and occasionally biting my neck and ears.

Just before 6:00 p.m. I made my way to the cabin to prep the grill. I planned to make BBQed marinaded pork chops tonight with a side of fried potatoes, peppers, garlic and onions and a big bowl of fruit salad, complete with watermelon, cantaloupe, raspberries, and honeydew melon.

But by 7:30 p.m., my enthusiasm for preparing such a feast waned and I decided instead to finish off the beer-battered walleye, Cole slaw and French fries that were left over from last night. I hate to waste good food. I'll prepare my pork-infused meal tomorrow to celebrate the end of the week.

I had a very nice conversation on the phone with my son Joe. He is a great guy and I hope he has a chance to visit Minnesota and Leech Lake before the summer is over.

The evening passed quietly with me doing some reading, writing and watching a bit of TV. The rain never did come, although the ground and everything outside is wet. The mist is as heavy as it's been all day. I'm going to enjoy the cool weather, however, because the forecast is for hot temperatures, in the 90s, and very humid this weekend. So for now, I'll sleep in the coolness of my bed.

Until tomorrow...

Northwoods Proverb

There are two kinds of jobs.

One, you shower before you go to work.

The other, you shower when you come home from work.

July 13, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was a cool 54 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny and the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the NNE.

I think later today I'm finally going to get some wood chips from Tom Malay from the 3 trees he had taken down a couple of weeks back. The outfit that cut down the trees also ground up the stumps creating a good sized pile of small wood chips which I plan to lay on the low spots on the access road at the cabin. With all the rain we've had recently, the low area of the access road has been under water and is very soggy. I'm hoping the wood chips will help fill in the low spots and reduce the mud on the road.

I was just about to settle down to a sandwich I had made for lunch when I was interrupted with an hour-long work call. No sooner than I hung up the phone and Tom was knocking at my door wondering if I was ready to get started on the wood chips. I told him I'd be down right after eating lunch.

I took enough time to enjoy my sandwich -- and Kathleen is right, sandwiches do taste better at the lake -- and then I went down to the Malays. We spent about 45 minutes loading the two piles of wood chips into the back of a trailer that I had hooked to my ATV. Once the chips were all loaded I took them down to the cabin access road and filled in the low spots. That was fun work battling the heat, the mosquitoes and the biting deer flies. But at last the trailer was empty and cleaned out so I returned it to Tom's.

I then took an ATV ride to cool off. On Ottertail Point Road, which is commonly referred to as the "upper road," I spotted an ash tree that was hanging over the road ready to come down at any minute. I went back to Tom's so I could show him the tree. We agreed that it was only a matter of time before it came down and would thus block the road, so we decided that in the next day or two we'd come back with Ron Newstrand and take it down ourselves.

I took the ATV back home, walked over to the cabin and filleted the walleye I caught last night. I'll eat it later for dinner. Once I was done with my various chores I cooled off in the lake with a "camp bath." I was refreshed and ready to tackle some additional business issues.

Since I was going to be enjoying the bounty of Leech Lake for dinner tonight, I decided not to go fishing, opting instead to stay inside, listen to music and read. It was a pleasant evening even if I didn't get out on the water. Maybe tomorrow.

July 12, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

Kathleen leaves for California today.

The weather didn't even seem to try this morning, as if it and Leech Lake knew of Kathleen's impending departure. At 9:00 a.m. the sky was grey and overcast, the temperature was a chilly 54 degrees and the wind was blowing out of the NW at 8-12 mph. The lake was slate grey and looked uninviting. It looked more like a late-October morning than one in mid-July; save for the green of the leaves.

It's strange, the weather was poor, cool, grey and rainy the week leading up to Kathleen's arrival, and then suddenly, as if she brought it with her herself from California, the clouds parted, the sun came out and the temperature warmed by at least 15 degrees as soon as her plane landed in Bemidji. And now that she is preparing to leave, the weather seems to have once again given up.

We tried to make the morning last by savoring our coffee, lingering over breakfast, reading Billy Collins and just enjoying the peace of the northwoods. But time relentlessly moved forward and at last it was time for Kathleen to get ready for her trip.

The drive to Bemidji is always difficult when someone is leaving. Once at the airport, I helped Kathleen get her things inside the terminal and watched her go through security. Then it was time for me and her to go our separate ways.

I took care of a number of errands in Bemidji including getting Kathleen's bike serviced, taking care of some banking issues, getting groceries, etc. I drove back to the lake by 4:30 p.m., where the temperature had warmed to 70 degrees, the wind was still out of the NW but had slowed somewhat to 8-10 mph, and the sky was still full of big white clouds with only small patches of blue.

I took care of various business issues for a couple of hours before having some dinner. As the hour approached 9:00 p.m., I noticed that the sky had cleared and the wind had calmed to 5-8 mph from the NW. Leech Lake was inviting me to go fishing.

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Fishing Report

I motored my Lund Pro V 1800 Verado Limited Edition out onto the water at just after 9:00 p.m. The water temperature was just under 76 degrees, cooler than it's been the past few days, and the moon had already risen and was 93% waxing. The sunset was at 9:12 p.m., so I put the lights on the boat immediately after getting her off the boat lift. I watched as the cantaloupe colored sky turned darker and finally morphed into a color of concord grapes.

I was the only boat on Sucker Bay as far as I could see. I piloted my Lund out into 10 feet of water and began trolling between the cabin and the middle of Duck Bay. On my first pass south I hooked into a small hammer handle, which I released over the side of the boat.

On my next pass I hooked another fish and this one felt more like a walleye -- an initial hit then no resistance at all. When the fish got up next to the boat I saw it was indeed a walleye so I quickly slid the landing net underneath it and scooped it into the boat. I unhooked the Minnow Rap (Tennessee Shad color) from the fish and measured it on "The Judge." The fish measured a perfect 16 1/2 inches, a fine eating fish, so into the live well it went.

I made one more half-hearted pass, but since I already had tomorrow night's dinner in the box I wasn't too concerned if I caught anything or not. I didn't, by the way.

I put the boat on the lift right around 10:15 p.m., and was back inside the house by 10:30 p.m.

I listened to some music, read the newspaper, said goodnight to Kathleen in California and then called it a night myself. Good night from Leech Lake.

July 11, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

Last night's storm really cooled things off and greatly reduced the humidity. At 10:00 a.m. this morning the temperature was 69 degrees, the sky was partly cloudy and filled with big, white billowy clouds, and the wind was very strong at 15-20 mph out of the WNW.

Kathleen and I took it pretty slow this morning. We had coffee on the back porch, Kathleen spent quite a bit of time on the phone with AT&T trying to sort out some cell phone troubles, while I took the opportunity to read some of the newspapers Kathleen brought back from St. Cloud, make some work calls and send some emails.

At 2:30 p.m. the temperature was a very pleasant 73 degrees, the wind was still strong at 12-17 mph out of the NNW, and the sky was mostly covered with big white billowy clouds so that the sun cast shadows only occasionally.

Kathleen had finished doing yoga so we thought we'd take advantage of the relatively cooler temperatures and go for a bike ride. So it was off to the cabin to get our bikes out of the garage.

Our plan was to ride down to Duck Point Woods and back, about an 8-mile ride. We almost made it to Duck Point but the black and brown biting flies were so bad, especially around Kathleen, that we had to turn tail and ride home as quickly as possible.

Once home we had a late lunch on the back porch and laid in the hammock for a while. Then Kathleen decided to go running, but a series of calls from her work and sister-in-law delayed that until almost 6:30 p.m.

At that point the temperature had dropped to right around 70 degrees, the wind was still stiff at 10-15 mph out of the NNW with gusts up over 20 mph, and the sky was still filled with big billowy clouds that blocked the sun most of the time.

When Kathleen returned from her 6-mile run, and had completed her lunges and stretching, she and I went for a swim in the lake. Even though the air temperature was cool, the water was warm and felt great.

We had a simple, quiet dinner, played some cribbage and dominoes, then called it a night.

Kathleen has to leave for California tomorrow so we need to be on the road to Bemidji by 11:30 a.m. Tomorrow night, Kathleen will be in our San Jose house with Joe, Melissa and Jayden, and our dogs. I'm sure it'll be quite an adjustment from Leech Lake to a city of more than 1 million people, but being with our family will make for a welcome homecoming for her.

No fishing again today. Maybe tomorrow, depending on the weather and how I feel.

500th Post!

According to Blogger.com's dashboard for my blog -- Fishing Leech Lake -- this is my 500th post. That may not be such a huge milestone for many blogs, especially those that have multiple writers cranking out numerous posts per day, or for the blog maintained by some social media guru who churns out posts in his sleep. But for my humble little blog, 500 posts is a milestone worth noting.

I started Fishing Leech Lake back on February 20, 2005 as a way to capture various information about Leech Lake, such as weather conditions, fishing reports, and general news about the area of Leech Lake where my wife Kathleen and I have some property, i.e., Ottertail Peninsula.

True to the original name of "blog", weblog, my blog was a personal web log of my time at Leech Lake. Over the years I've added other components to my blog, and as the subhead of my blog now reads, "Musings, Observations and Fishing Reports from Minnesota's Leech Lake."

On occasion I will post something that has absolutely nothing to do with Leech Lake, other than it somehow reminds me of the time I've spent in the Northwoods of Minnesota.

So this is it. My 500th post. I look forward to the next 500 because that will mean I'll be spending more time at the place I enjoy the most -- Leech Lake.