August 12, 2008 on Leech Lake

Above is a picture taken this evening from the edge of the harbor at our Leech Lake house. You wouldn't know it from this picture, but earlier in the day it was very windy. Under overcast skies and a temperature of only 68 degrees, the winds were relatively strong at 10-20 mph from the SW.

Despite the wind, I decided to do some more drifting for panfish since the bite had been so good the previous two days. I used a 1/16 oz. Northland Neon-tone Gum-Ball jig and a gold Colorado spinner blade, tipped with either a Gulp 2" orange grub or a Gulp 3" pearl silver minnow. And boy did the fish go after these baits today.

Drifting north from in front of our house to just past Norm's cabin in 7-10 feet of water, I caught dozens of good-sized perch, including some jumbos, a number of good-sized crappie and bluegill, and for good measure, a couple of rock bass (the scourge of Northwoods fishing; although they do put up a good fight).

In the evening I stayed on shore and enjoyed watching the beautiful sunset with Kathleen. Anther great day at Leech Lake.

August 11, 2008 on Leech Lake

Much like yesterday, today was a perfect day to drift for panfish. The sky was overcast, the temperature had cooled to 70 degrees, the water temperature dropped slightly to 74 degrees, but the winds were almost identical to yesterday -- calm to 8 mph out of the south.

I left the boat lift at 1:15 p.m., pulled the boat out to 8 feet of water, put the drift sock in the water and drifted from our cabin to between Norm's and Schiebe's. I used a very similar system that I did yesterday, with one small change. Like yesterday, I used a 1/8 oz. white crappie jig tipped with a Gulp silver pearl minnow. The change was that I added a small, silver-colored Colorado blade spinner to the jig. I have found that using the spinner blade adds a little more flash to the lure and can many times mean more fish in the boat.

I had a good afternoon of fishing, catching numerous perch, crappie and rock bass, before heading to shore for some lunch at 3:30 p.m.

After a quick bite to eat, I was back on the water by 4:15 p.m. I used the same jig/spinner blade set up and again caught a number of perch and crappie. Then right around 6:30 p.m., something big hit my lure, peeled off a good amount of line before biting right through the 6 lb. test Fireline Crystal; no small feat. It was obviously some type of heavy toothy critter on the line, I'm guessing either a big pike or a small muskie. I took this as a sign to call it a day. I'll be back on Leech Lake tomorrow, weather permitting.

August 10, 2008 on Leech Lake

The winds today were relatively calm -- from 2 to 6 mph out of the SSW -- which meant that if I wanted to drift for panfish, all I had to do was pull the boat out of the lift, motor out to about 7 or 8 feet of water, turn the boat sideways, drop in the drift sock (to keep the boat from spinning rather than to slow the speed of the boat) and drop a jig into the water, which is exactly what I did.

I pulled the boat out of the lift at 1:45 p.m., with the temperature 78 degrees and the water temperature at 75.5 degrees. I used a small, 1/8 oz. white crappie jig tipped with a 3" Gulp silver pearl minnow. The slight breeze blew the boat from straight out in front of our house past Norm's on the way toward Schiebe's. Most of the fish I caught, however, came from the stretch of water from in front of our cabin north to Norm's.

I caught numerous perch, rock bass, bluegill and crappie. The highlight of the day was catching a crappie so big it can only be described as humongous. It was by far the largest crappie I've ever put in the boat. I also caught another giant crappie, not quite as big as the first one, but close, and monster bull bluegill. All of the fish were released unharmed.

At 5:00 p.m., after an enjoyable day on Leech Lake, I returned the boat to the lift and called it a day.

August 9, 2008 on Leech Lake

I went fishing twice today. Once in the afternoon by myself, and the second time in the evening with my son Joe.

I left the boat lift at 1:15 p.m. with the temperature right 78 degrees, water temperature at 76 degrees and the winds 5-8 mph out of NW. It was another perfect afternoon to do some drifting along the weed line near the Birches. I stopped the boat in about 10 feet of water straight out from Jerry Schiebe's cabin. From this location I would drift SE directly to the reeds and grass in front of Norm's cabin.

I decided to use a Northland Mimic Minnow Spin lure, which over the past two years has become one of my favorite "confidence" baits. I've caught countless perch and crappie on this bait, and I've also caught a good number of walleyes using it. Today only reinforced my confidence in the Mimic Minnow Spin.

Drifting from Schiebe's toward Norm's, I cast out the Mimic Minnow Spin and let it fall to the bottom. I then reeled in just enough to keep the lure off the bottom. Within seconds I hooked a nice perch. For the next hour I caught perch after perch, and even hooked a nice 14-inch walleye. All fish were released unharmed. By 5:00 p.m. I was back on shore.

That evening at 9:00 p.m., Joe and I launched the boat for some after-dark trolling for walleye. I piloted the boat into 11 feet of water and we let out our Rapala Minnow Raps a good 40 feet behind the boat. Trolling at roughly 2.5 mph, this gets the lure down about 9 or 10 feet, or just off the bottom where the walleye are feeding.

We only made one round-trip pass from our house past Second Duck point back to the Malay's cabin then back to our cabin. During that short 1 hour and 30 minute run we caught one 19-inch walleye, which is in the slot limit so it was immediately released.

Based on my success earlier in the day, I think tomorrow I'll focus my attention on panfish -- specifically crappie, perch and bluegill.

Here's a picture of my Lund 1800 IFS on the boat lift at the cabin.

August 8, 2008

I went fishing this afternoon under sunny skies, a slight breeze of no more than 2 mph out of the south, and an air temperature of 74 degrees. The water temperature was 76 degrees.

I set out at 2:00 p.m. and decided to do some drifting around the Birches in 7-10 feet of water, just off the weed line. The breeze was just strong enough to push the boat along at about 0.5 mph, a perfect speed to bounce a jig off the bottom. My jig was tipped with a 2" Gulp orange grub. I caught several perch using this method, but all fish were released.

Later I motored over to Norm's cabin and switched tactics entirely. I tied on a 4/0 offset hook and Texas rigged a Senko, with no additional weight. I tossed the Senko into the reeds and grass and managed to catch 3 very nice largemouth bass.

At 5:00 p.m. I fired up the Mercury Verado and headed home. Another nice day of multi-species fishing on Leech Lake.

August 7, 2008

Liz and Ashley left today for St. Cloud so they could visit with Grandma Coyle for a day before heading to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport to fly back to CA. Kathleen made the 2 1/2 hour drive to St. Cloud with them in our truck. Joe, Melissa and I stayed behind at the lake. It was a nice visit with Liz and Ashley, but like always, too short.

The temperature today warmed to 82 degrees, but the wind was still blowing fairly strong at 10-12 mph our of the NW, with gusts up to 18 mph. The kids and I decided to hang out on shore today. No fishing.

August 6, 2008

Today was very windy with a steady 12-18 mph wind out of the NW. The stiff wind covered the lake in white caps. It was warmer today, however, with a high near 75 degrees. We decided to stay on shore today. No fishing.

August 5, 2008 on Leech Lake

Today was much cooler than it's been in weeks; the high today was only 68 degrees. Not exactly a hot August day. The winds were 5-10 mph out of the NW and the skies were partly cloudy. The water temperature was still warm at 75.5 degrees.

From 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. I took Liz and Ashley out on the boat to do some panfishing. Ashley and Liz each caught several small perch and a couple of rock bass. I caught numerous perch and one very large bull bluegill. All the fish were released.

Later in the evening, from 8:30 to 10:50 p.m., Liz and I went trolling for walleyes. We fished in 8-12 feet of water and trolled at a speed of roughly 1.7 to 2.2 mph. I caught one small northern pike and two nice walleyes, 22" and 23", all released. Liz caught a 17" walleye, which we kept for a later fish fry.

August 4, 2008 on Leech Lake

We arrived home around 2 p.m. this afternoon after spending the past four days at the Lake Itasca State Park where we had gathered for the Coyle Family Reunion.

After unloading the truck and grabbing a quick bite to eat, I hustled out to the boat to do a little fishing. It had been several days since I'd been on Leech Lake, and I was anxious to get back at it.

I hit the water at 3:30 p.m. under sunny skies, a temperature right around 80 degrees, winds out of the south at 5-8 mph and a water temperature of 77 degrees. I trolled from the Birches past Second Duck Point using a jointed Shad Rap in a perch color, and caught several perch. I kept none of the perch and didn't hook a walleye. I went to shore at 5:30 p.m.

Great to be back on Leech Lake.