October 20, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

As is typical, the weather report about today's weather have so far been inaccurate. So much for AccuWeather.

Forecasts had called for light winds of 5-7 mph out of the NNW when instead they closer to 8-15 mph out of the north. Temperatures were supposed to be in the low 50s. Well, at 8:30 a.m. the temperature here at Leech Lake was 30 degrees and the ground was covered in a white blanket of frost. The overnight low, according to Minnesota Public Radio, was 19 degrees in Bemidji. I guess it could still warm up to the 50s, but it sure doesn't feel like it. The forecast also predicted sunny skies with no clouds, when the opposite is the case. The sky is completely cloudy and grey without a sliver of blue sky to be seen anywhere.

I had hoped that the forecast would be accurate because I need to take the boat out of the water today and I probably still will. It's just that it will be a more difficult task with windy conditions.

I ate a light breakfast then decided to bite the bullet and get the boat out of the water. I drove the truck next door and hooked the boat trailer to the receiver hitch on the truck. The next step in the process was to remove the canopy from the boat lift. First I removed all the bungie cords that hold the canopy onto the metal frame of the lift, then removed the canopy itself. With the north wind blowing it was a bit tricky but I managed to get the canopy onto the dock where I could then drag it on shore.

I then backed the truck and trailer down the ramp and into the water. With the trailer in position, I donned my wadders, lowered the boat off the lift and into the water, got into the water myself, guided the boat around the dock and lined it up straight to the trailer. I then clipped the hauling strap onto the boat, and began cranking the winch to pull the boat onto the trailer.

With the boat securely on the trailer, I got into the truck, and carefully drove up the ramp with the boat/trailer in tow. I came to rest by the garage where I proceeded to unload everything from the boat which I'll store it for the winter in the garage, and then put on the boat cover for transport into town. Before I left for Bemidji, however, I took the time to fold up the boat lift canopy and store it in the garage.

By the time I was ready to drive the boat into Bemidji, around 3:00 p.m., the wind had died down to nearly calm, the sky was clear and blue, and the temperature had warmed to 52 degrees. The weather report was correct after all, just six hours late!

I'm still very nervous, and cautious, when I tow the boat into town or back from Bemidji to the lake. Ever since I had the trailer hitch come off the ball while driving down Sucker Bay Road I'm always on edge when pulling the boat behind the truck. Luckily, the adjustments I'd made to the hitch were adequate and the trailer remained connected to the truck until I separated them purposely in the side lot of Corner Sports in Bemidji.

I spent about a half an hour inside Corner Sports talking to the woman behind the counter, Rhonda, about the things I wanted done to my boat -- winterize it, check the back running light which had been finicky during most of the season, replace the spark plugs on the Verado, and do a double check on the trailer hitch to make sure my adjustments were done correctly and in a way to ensure safety.

With the boat in safe hands for the winter I left Corner Sports and drove back to the lake, stopping briefly in Cass Lake to get some gas in the truck. Once home I had some dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the night in front of a roaring fire. I listened to some music, read a little and then went to bed. A busy and productive day at Leech Lake. I love it here.

October 19, 2011 -- On Leech Lake -- Happy Birthday Kathleen!

Kathleen at our Leech Lake house this past summer. Happy Birthday!

Today is the birthday of my beautiful wife Kathleen. I'm not going to say how old she is, but I will say she's in great shape! I wish she could be here with me since Fall is her favorite time of the year at Leech Lake.

The wind finally died down a bit today, blowing at 8-12 mph out of the north. The temperature was a cool 34 degrees and the sky was overcast and grey at 9:00 a.m. It wasn't just cold outside, it looked cold outside.

I again spent the morning and into early afternoon doing consulting work, but finally at about 1:15 p.m. I pushed myself away from the PC and decided to go fishing.

I got the remaining fathead minnows, lowered the boat into the water, fired up the Mercury Verado, which had been sitting idle for more than a week, and motored out to a spot in front of Malay's cabin in 9 feet of water. I deployed the drift sock and let the wind push the boat south toward Second Duck Point.

Jigging with a fathead was my presentation and although I made two passes over areas where I was marking fish on the Lowrance I couldn't catch one fish. In fact, I didn't even get a bite. After more than an hour on the water, which was 48 degrees, I made my way to shore.

Once on shore I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then set about clearing off all of the leaves on the lake side of the house with the Toro leaf blower. As always, this particular chore takes longer than I expect, although I do have some fondness for it since I'm outside near the lake.

At 5:00 p.m. I switched off the leaf blower and went inside. I did a little more consulting work, then realized that the sun has been setting before 6:30 p.m. so it might be a good time to get in some early evening trolling.

I pulled on my heavy-duty Cabela's Guidewear rain gear, which also works great against the wind and cold, and made my way over to the boat lift at roughly 6:15 p.m. Once out on the lake I got the boat ready for some evening trolling -- I got the running lights on, put the rod holder in place, extended the landing net and set the motor on cruise control and set off south toward Second Duck Point.

I trolled out to the middle of Bass Bay without as much as a tap so I did a slow turn and headed back toward our house. I was trolling in 8-10 feet of water using a Rapala Minnow Rap in a yellow perch color.

Just off of Second Duck Point I hooked a fish. It turned out to be a northern pike so I unhooked it over the side of the boat and got it back into the water quickly. I continued trolling north to our cabin then turned the boat and began trolling south again. Once again I went past Second Duck Point without so much as a tap.

Then on my way north again I hooked into a fish. I got it up to the boat and saw that it was a walleye so I quickly grabbed the landing net and scooped the fish out of the lake and into the boat. I unhooked the fish and took a quick measurement. The walleye taped out at 22 inches. And it was a stout fish too, with shoulders, as they say. I released the beautiful walleye back into the lake.

During the time it took to unhook and measure the fish the wind had blown the boat in toward shore and south toward Second Duck Point. I engaged the motor and went back out into 8 feet of water and repositioned the boat so I was once again heading north; into the wind.

No sooner had I started trolling than I hooked another fish. This fish didn't put up as much a fight as the first fish so I could tell right away it was a smaller fish, but I still wasn't sure if it was a walleye. By this time it was dark outside so I had to get the fish right up next to the boat to see that it was walleye.

Again I unhooked the fish and took a quick measurement. This walleye was a perfect eating sized fish at 16 1/2 inches. I thought about keeping it for a minute, but then decided to put it back into the lake. I have lots of food I need to eat before my Tuesday departure so I figured that this fish would live to fight another day.

I finally came in at just before 8:00 p.m. I didn't realize how cold I was until I was inside the warm house and my hands and fingers began to tingle as they warmed up. I made some dinner, watched a DVD and called Kathleen to wish her happy birthday and to say goodnight.

If the weather reports are to be believed, it is supposed to be in the low 50s tomorrow, sunny, with a light wind of 5-10 mph from the north. If those are indeed the conditions, then I'm pulling the boat out of the water tomorrow morning. With the way the weather is here in northern Minnesota, I may not get another good day to remove the boat lift canopy and get the boat out of the water before I have to go back to California.

Stay tuned...

October 18, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was 32 degrees, the sky was dark and overcast and the wind was strong at 17-22 mph out of the NNW. Today is the fifth straight day of windy conditions.

All morning and into early afternoon I spent doing consulting work. I took a break just after 1:00 p.m. when Henry came by to fix the Anderson Windows in our living room. Over the years the latches to lock the windows had become worn and weren't working properly and the cranks that open and close the window were also worn out. Henry had come by in August when I was here and determined what the problem was and ordered the necessary parts. The problem was I was already back in California when the parts came in. Today was the first day Henry had free on his calendar to come out and repair the windows.

Later today, just before sunset, I took a walk in our woods.


One of the many trails in our woods on Ottertail Peninsula

After dinner I got a fire going, listened to music and read the paper. I stayed up rather late before finally calling it a night. Another day of no fishing on Leech Lake.

October 17, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

For the fourth day in a row I awoke to strong winds and cool temperatures. The wind by 9:30 a.m. was blowing at 18-25 mph out of the WNW with gusts up over 30 mph. The sky, for the first time in days, was a clear pale blue and the temperature (according to our thermometer on the back porch) was 32 degrees. A beautiful, if not breezy, mid-Autumn day at Leech Lake.

I spent all morning and into the afternoon doing consulting work. That had me glued to the PC and the phone for a good portion of the day. Shortly after 1:00 p.m., I drove into Cass Lake to pick up a couple of grocery items. That will probably be my last grocery run during my stay here at Leech Lake this Fall, since next Tuesday, October, 25, I fly back to San Jose.

I did a little more consulting work when I returned from Cass Lake, but finally shut things down around 4:00 p.m. I took a walk in the woods, and during my walk I thought I should check the hitch on the boat trailor since it had given me problems this Spring when I picked up the boat from Corner Sports in Bemidji.

When I got back from my walk in the woods I got out the ATV and drove it over to the cabin where the boat trailor is stored. I tried attaching the trailor to the 2" ball on the ATV but the hitch just wouldn't fit on the ball securely. I got out my socket wrench set and adjusted a nut on the underside of the trailor hitch, and after several tries got the hitch to fit snuggly and securely onto the ball on ATV.

I then pulled the trailor from its summer resting spot and positioned it at the top of the boat ramp. There was no way I could remove the boat lift canopy and trailor the boat today, however, because the wind was howling at near 30 mph out of the west. I am feeling better about the trailor hitch. If it fit well on the 2" ball on the ATV it should fit securely on the receiver hitch on the truck since the ball is the same size.

After decoupling the trailor from the ATV I took a little ride on the four-wheeler. I was making my way past Dick Schiebe's house when I spotted him standing outside, so I quickly turned around and drove up his driveway. Dick was there with his youngest daughter Lynne. While we were talking Ken Lichttennegger stopped by. Ken and his wife Terry own the property between the two Schiebe brothers, Jerry and Dick. The four of us caught up on the gossip around the peninsula and Dick's plans for the upcoming deer hunting season. Dick also showed me the remodeling he's doing in his cabin -- new oak cabinets and panelling in the kitchen and new black ash panelling on the walls and ceiling of the living room. It looked very good.

After my brief visit with my neighbors I got on the ATV and rode home. The sun is setting before 6:30 p.m. now so by 5:30 or 5:45 p.m. it's starting to get dark. Today was even darker than usual because of the dark clouds that had gathered throughout the day in the western sky. It wasn't raining, but it sure looked like it could. The temperature was hovering around 40 degrees and the wind was still strong at 22-30 mph out of the WNW.

I ate an early dinner, and then got a fire going in the fireplace. I really enjoy watching the fire. It would be infinitely better, however, if Kathleen were here to enjoy the fire with me.

I listened to some music, and followed the Sharks losing effort against the Ducks on my smartphone, before calling it a night and going to bed. Yet another windy day with no fishing. I may not have a chance to fish again before I am forced to pull the boat out of the water. Goodnight from Leech Lake.

October 16, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

It was one week ago today that I was last out on the water at Leech Lake. Between the weather and my brief trip to St. Cloud, it's not been possible for me to go fishing. And today will be another day spent on shore.

The wind, for the third straight day, is howling at 22-30 mph out of the WNW creating large waves and white caps on the lake. I did not see a single boat on the water all morning long. The official temperature as posted in Federal Dam was 40 degrees at 11:00 a.m., but the thermometer on the back porch read 33 degrees at the same time. The sky was mostly sunny with a large number of billowy white clouds being blown across the sky by the high winds.

My was to finish the job of cleaning out the gutters on the house, but I managed to keep putting it off until 2:15 p.m. I took a break from following the Lions vs. 49ers football game on the PC and started where I'd left off yesterday, on the lake-side of the house.

I climbed up onto the roof and cleaned the gutters from up high rather than trying to move the ladder every 15 feet. I worked my way over the living room, around the south side of the house and finishe up at the back of the garage. By this time my hands were wet, cold and numb from the 42 degree air temperature and the 30+mph WNW wind. I made my way down the ladder, moved the ladder to the front of the house, then came inside to warm up and check on the Lions.

The Lions eventually lost their first game of the season to the San Francisco 49ers (the one time I want the Niners to lose) 25-19. Both teams are now 5-1 on the season.

With the "big" game of the day over, I went back outside and spent the better part of an hour to finish cleaning out the gutters on the house. All done, for this season. When I came back inside I immediately went straight to the crawl space under the house and put up all the insulation into the vent holes and blocked them up for the season. No need to have cold air blowing underneath the floor of the house.

With the dirty chores of cleaning out the gutters and closing up the vents under the house out of the way, I took a shower and got cleaned up myself.

I made dinner and had finished eating before 7:00 p.m., that's early for dinner here at the lake. After dinner I made a small fire in the fireplace, listened to some music and eventually decided to watch an old Hammer Productions horror movie -- The Curse of the Werewolf. Not nearly as good as the old Universal classic, but appropriate for this Halloween season.

When I went to bed 'round midnight, the wind was still blowing at more than 20 mph and the temperature was 38 degrees. Apparently, according to the weather report, there more windy conditions and cool weather in store for the next two days.

Again no fishing on Leech Lake today, although other tasks were completed. Good night.

October 15, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

At 9:30 a.m. this morning the sky was mostly clear, with some big white billowy clouds hovering above, the wind was again strong at 18-22 mph out of the west, the lake was very choppy with some occasional white caps and the temperature was brisk 35degrees.

Unlike yesterday when no boats were on the water, I saw four boats out on Sucker Bay today. Three are clumped closely together in front of the Newman's and the fourth was in front of our house. With the wind blowing from the west, that means it's coming directly across the bay and straight onto shore. The boats appeared to be drifting from the middle of the bay toward shore, and then when they would get into 8 feet of water or less, they would motor back out into the bay for another drift. It's the same style of fishing I prefer -- drifting with a jig and minnow.

The fishermen out today are most likely staying at the resort, or came up specifically this weekend for some Fall walleye fishing on Leech Lake. With the weather conditions the way they are today, I would bet that not many of the residents of Leech Lake are out on the water. But I suppose if you made a long drive up here to fish, you are probably willing to brave the cold and rough conditions to spend some time fishing. For me, the conditions will have to improve significantly throughout the day if I'm to take my boat out fishing.

At 11:15 a.m. I walked out to the end of the dock at our house to get a better feel for the wind and a closer look at the boats out fishing. During my entire time outdoors yesterday I wore nothing heavier than a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt. Today that was not enough. It is pretty cold and the wind quickly striped the heat from me. I'll need to wear a sweatshirt when I work on cleaning out the gutters on the house. While standing at the end of the dock surveying the situation on the lake, two of the four boats left the area and headed back toward the resort.

By 11:30 a.m., the wind had picked up even more and was coming out of the WNW at 20-25 mph with gusts again over 30 mph. The sky was still partly sunny and the temperature had warmed a bit to 42 degrees.

After eating a sandwich for lunch I went outside with every intention of cleaning out the gutters on the house. But then I noticed several logs -- about 2 feet long and 8-10 inches in diameter -- stacked up along the outbuilding where I store the ATV and log splitter. The logs were left there by my neighbor John Newman who had cut up a tree a couple of days ago after it came down during some high winds. John had stacked about 20 logs with the request that if I had some time could I split them up with my log splitter into kindling for him. Figuring I should probably get to the splitting sooner than later, I put the gutter cleaning on hold and pulled out my Swisher, 26-tons of power, log splitter.

It took more than three dozen pulls of the cord to finally fire up the splitter which had sat inactively in storage for probably a year or more. But eventually I got it going and I started in on splitting wood. I spent more than an hour splitting about 10 logs into a pile of kindling wood. I figure John can take a good portion of it, but I'll keep some of it for my use as well.

With the wood split and stacked, I put away the log splitter and moved onto my next chore; no, not cleaning the gutters, but pruning the red- and yellow-stem dogwood plants that ring my harbor and provide erosion control. Left alone, the red- and yellow-stem dogwoods will grow to be 12-15 feet tall and very bushy. I keep them pruned to where they never get more than 3-5 feet tall.

I began my pruning on the south side of the harbor where the larger of the two groups of dogwood grow and trimmed them back significantly. I then move to the north side of the harbor and began pruning the smaller plot of dogwood. While reaching out to trim a branch, the clippers slipped out of my hand and dropped into the water of the harbor. With the wind blowing so strongly today the harbor is filled with white foam and locating the clippers visually was impossible, so I was done pruning for this year, or until I get a new set of clippers.

When I came inside I checked the computer for the score of the Michigan State vs. Michigan football game and discovered that for the fourth year in a row the Spartans had defeated the Wolverines, this time by a score of 28-14. Go Green!

After putting off cleaning the gutters all afternoon, I finally got out the 8-foot step ladder set it up on the back porch of the house and climbed up onto the roof at 3:45 p.m. I started on the north end of the house facing the lake and worked my way south toward the sliding door to the kitchen. Just as was the case at the cabin, the gutters here at the house were full of leaves, twigs, maple seed pods and gunk.

I cleaned out the gutter all the way to the point where the roof gets taller above the living room (the great room facing the lake) and called it quits. My hands were wet from the water and sludge in the gutter and the wind was howling so hard that my hands were numb. I suppose I could wear gloves, but when I've tried that in the past I had a hard time getting all of the small pieces of debris removed; so I tackle this chore with my bare hands. But now my hands were too cold to continue so I climbed onto the ladder, made my way onto the back porch, folded up the ladder, and stowed it for use tomorrow. Maybe it won't be so cold.

At 5:00 p.m. I tuned into A Prairie Home Companion on the Bose radio. I have a new Cambridge Audio Azur 650T tuner, but have yet to install a powerful FM antenna, so although I have a great new tuner, it doesn't pull in any signals. Thus the Bose provided more than adequate backup.

It was a particularly good "News from Lake Wobegon" tonight; Garrison Keilior was at the top of his game. By the time A Prairie Home Companion ended, at 7:00 p.m. CDT, it was dark outside. I remember listening to the program this summer and still having 3 hours of sunlight to enjoy after the show ended. Not now.

It was still very windy outside and the temperature was just under 40 degrees, so just as I did last night, I built a fire in the fireplace. For the remainder of the evening I listened to music and watched the fire. Periodically I would check the score of the Sharks game (they would lose to the St. Louis Blues) and the Tigers (who would be eliminated by the Texas Rangers. The Rangers return to the World Series). Eventually I shut everything down and went to bed.

A cold, but productive day at Leech Lake.

October 14, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

At 8:30 a.m. this morning the temperature was a very cool 34 degrees, the sky was most overcast with just a few slivers of blue peeking through here and there and the wind was blowing even harder than it was yesterday, at 20-25 mph out of the NW. With the low temperature and high wind, I bet the wind-chill factor has to be below freezing. Now this is a typical mid-October day on the shores of Leech Lake.

A scan of Sucker Bay finds that no boats are on the water, and that's a good thing. Only a fool, or someone who had to be on the water today (a rescue worker or professional fisherman), would risk it today.




The morning was spent responding to emails and following up on a few consulting items.

Around 1:00 p.m., with the wind still howling and the temperature about 45 degrees, I went over to the cabin, got out the big 8-foot step ladder and began cleaning out the rain gutters. All of the gutters on the cabin, and on the game room/garage, were completely full of leaves and pine needles. I cleaned all of the debris out of the gutters and then used the garden hose to run water down all the gutters to make sure the down spouts were clear as well.

With the cabin gutters clean I went back to the house to clean up a bit myself. I took care of some more consulting work before going outside again. I took a long walk through our woods, clearing off the trails where branches had fallen due to the strong winds, and eventually made it back out to West Shores Rd. From there I walked to the Paulsen's and back. All together about a 4 mile hike. It felt great to be outside with crisp air and smells of the forest and lake.

I ate dinner tonight before the sunset, which is now coming at just after 6:30 p.m. With the sun down, the temperature started to drop, and at 8:00 p.m. it was 39 degrees outside. The wind was still strong at 18-22 mph out of the NW, with gusts up over 30 mph. As a result, the wind chill, or as some weather stations now call it the "feels like" temperature, must have been hovering around freezing. So I built a fire in the fireplace, the first of the season.

I stayed up pretty late watching the fire and listening to music. I checked the weather reports before going to bed and it looks like tomorrow, and even into Monday, the wind is going to remain up over 20 mph. I might not get any fishing in before I have to pull out the boat. If it is windy again tomorrow, I think I'll focus my attention on getting the gutters on the house cleaned out.

No fishing again today on Leech Lake, but it was still great to be here.

October 13, 2011 -- At Leech Lake -- Happy Birthday Melissa!!

I can't believe that my little girl Melissa turned 30 years old today! I remember so well that crisp, cool, clear Autumn morning in Monterey, California when my beautiful wife Kathleen gave birth to our tiny, feisty redhead. What a wonderful day that was. And how quickly 30 years have passed. Happy birthday Melissa!!

This morning at 9:30 a.m. on the shores of Leech Lake the sky was overcast and grey, a light mist was falling, the wind was strong at 18-22 mph out of the WNW and the temperature was 42 degrees. The furnace ran off and on all day today, and is running now as I write this post.

There have been no posts to this blog the past two days because I spent them in St. Cloud visiting Kathleen's mom, Marge. At 87 years old Marge is doing relatively well health wise, but the Alzheimer's disease leaves her confused and with significant short-term memory loss. Nonetheless, we had a very nice visit and I was glad I could see her.

It's good to be back at the lake, despite the cool temperatures and high winds. I was hoping to get out fishing today, but with the lake riled and covered in white caps due to the strong winds, I stayed inside and spent most of the day doing my consulting work for Allison & Partners. I put in about four good hours of work before I stopped for a break and went for a walk down West Shores Rd. for about 2 miles.


West Shores Rd., NW on Ottertail Peninsula, Leech Lake, MN

After my walk I did a few small chores around the house then did another hour of consulting. The wind continued to howl at about 15-20 mph out of the NW. The temperature never got as high as 50 degrees today, but the sun did come out briefly later in the afternoon, as can be seen in the picture I took during my walk.

This evening was restful spent listening to music after dinner. No fishing today, but a good day at Leech Lake regardless.

October 10, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

This morning at 8:30 a.m. the sky was overcast and grey, the wind was out of the SE at 8-12 mph and the temperature was 47 degrees. From the time I arose to sometime after 1:00 p.m. I was doing work for my California job, consulting with a global PR firm called Allison & Partners.

After a quick sandwich for lunch, I went across the street and took a long walk in our woods. The wind was rustling through the trees and every so often it would rain yellow leaves. I love our woods in the Fall. The smells, the beautiful colors, the entire thing. I only wish Kathleen could be here with me because she loves the Fall even more than I do.

When I emerged from the woods I walked down the dirt road to our cabin and began the chore of putting up the storm windows. I took my time and enjoyed the entire process. Just as I had put the last storm window in place and was folding up the ladder the rain came. There had been a forecast of rain throughout the day, but at 2:45 p.m. it really opened up.

Back inside my warm and dry house, I cleaned up and prepared for dinner at the Newman's cabin tonight. John and Karen invited me, as well as Tom and Elaine Malay over for dinner prior to us moving down to the Malay's house to watch Monday Night Football on ESPN. Malays have the Dish Network and get ESPN, where the Newmans don't get it with their basic plan, and we have no TV at all at our house.

I made a salad to bring, while John and Karen provided the Italian meatball sandwiches, chips and veggies. After dinner we cleaned up and then made our way down to the Malays. It was the first time the Detroit Lions had been on MNF in more than a decade, and tonight they were hosting their division rivals the Chicago Bears.

It wasn't a well-played game, but the Lions did manage to win 24-13 to improve to 5-0. It's the first time that Detroit has won five straight games to start a season since 1956, a bit before my time.

I left the Malays just after 11:00 p.m. and came home. The temperature was still a very nice 55 degrees and the sky was clear allowing the light from the 99% waxing moon to bathe the entire peninsula in its soft, white light.

Tomorrow I'm planning to drive down to St. Cloud to see Kathleen's mother, Marge. If all goes well I'll spend some time with her at St. Benedict's and then take her out to dinner. I hope to see my brother- and sister-in-law Tim and Sandy, but Tim said Sandy isn't feeling well and he may have to work tomorrow. I guess I'll have to play it by ear.

I'm planning to be back to the lake sometime later in the day on Wednesday. At that point my only other ventures from Leech Lake will be to go into town to buy groceries.

My next post to this blog will likely be on Thursday, Oct. 13, my beautiful daughter Melissa's 30th birthday. Until then...