June 22, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

Today was warm in St. Cloud, mid-70s, as we packed up the truck and got ready to depart for Leech Lake. It took us until nearly noon before we were finally on the road heading north. We made a stop in Brainerd (made famous in the Coen brothers' movie Fargo) for lunch and groceries, then it was on the road again to Leech Lake.

We finally arrived at the lake just after 5:00 p.m. Tim, Kathleen's brother, and his boys Connor and Jackson were already here. They are going to join us for a couple of days at the lake. Jayden was very excited to be at the lake and wanted to go fishing right away.

I got one of my small ice-fishing rod and reel set ups for Jayden, put on 1/16 ounce jig, put on a slip bobber and tipped the jig with a minnow. I helped Jayden cast the jig into the reeds right next to the boat lift. Within 5 minutes he'd hooked a nice little largemouth bass.

Jayden's first fish -- a Leech Lake largemouth bass

Jayden fished for a while longer before he decided to move on and play in the yard. We took that opportunity to bake the pizzas Tim picked up at Great River Pizzeria in Cass Lake. After dinner I got a fire going in the fire pit at the cabin where we hung out for several hours talking, making s'mores and just enjoying the lake. It sure was great being back at Leech Lake.


Good night.

June 21, 2012 -- In St. Cloud

We spent the day in St. Cloud today and most of that time was at St. Benedict's Center visiting with Kathleen's Mom Marge. Marge was very happy to see her great-grandchildren Ashley and Jayden, and her granddaughter Melissa.

Later in the day we took Marge to her house where we had dinner with a number of people from Kathleen's family. Late that night Marge went back to St. Benedict's and we started packing up for a Friday morning departure to Leech Lake.

June 20, 2012 -- At Leech Lake -- First Day of Summer

The first day of summer arrives today at 6:09 p.m. CDT here at Leech Lake. But the weather here looked anything but summer-like. At 9:00 a.m. the sky was grey, a heavy steady rain was falling, the temperature was 60 degrees and the wind was out of NNW at 8-12 mph.

With moderate- to heavy-rainfall for the past 24 hours, most of the northern part of Minnesota is experiencing flooding. Many areas around Duluth have serious flooding, while here at Leech Lake the ground is thoroughly soaked. Of course, Leech Lake is a watershed for the Upper Mississippi Valley and the area is used to filtering runoff water. But the amount of rain we've had here in the past day is unusual; by some accounts as much as 7-10 inches.

Kathleen and I were busy this morning getting ready for our drive south to St. Cloud; which is also experiencing heavy rains and flooding. The plan is for us to see Kathleen's mother today before driving to the airport in Minneapolis to pick up Melissa, Jayden and Ashley later tonight. Then we'll spend Thursday in St. Cloud before heading back to Leech Lake on Friday. The forecast is for much better weather this weekend, which should enable all of us to spend time outside playing, swimming, tubing and fishing.

We arrived in St. Cloud late afternoon and immediately went to Kathleen's Mom's house where we got the beds made in preparation for the arrival of the kids tonight. By the time we get back to St. Cloud from Minneapolis it will be very late.

With the housed prepped, we made our way to St. Benedict's to see Kathleen's Mom. We took her dinner and spent roughly 4 hours hanging out with her before we said good night, and got ready for our drive to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.

We picked up Ashley first, at 11:30 p.m., before racing over to Terminal 2 to pick up Melissa and Jayden at the Sun Country gate. We then made our 2 hour drive back to St. Cloud and finally got to bed at roughly 2:30 a.m. It was a long, tiring day, but now everyone who is planning a trip to MN this summer is now here.

Good night.

June 19, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

I awoke this morning to the loud sound of thunder and the pelting of rain on the roof. Not a bad way to wake up. The sky was grey and a steady rain was falling, the temperature was a cool 59 degrees, but there was no wind. The lake was still and the flag hung limp against the flag pole.

All morning and into the afternoon the sky was dark and a steady rain fell; sometimes coming down quite hard. The temperature hovered around 60 degrees and the wind remained calm. Periodically there were flashes of white lightening followed by loud claps of thunder, but mostly it was the sound of falling rain that provided the only ambient noise throughout the day.

The loons, Canadian geese and Mergansers loved the weather, and all could be seen swimming in the lake off the end of our dock.

All day long the rain continued to fall. Sometimes steady, other times in torrential sheets. It was as hard a rain as I've seen fall at Leech Lake.

The storm coming in over Sucker Bay

At one point during the middle of the day hail started coming down. First just a little, then harder and harder. Pea-sized hail fell for probably 10 minutes. Throughout the day, and I mean for hour after hour after hour, the rain fell, lightening flashed across the sky, thunder rolled over Ottertail Peninsula as the severe thunderstorms continued.

Hail on our lakeside porch

We got a couple of 30-minute breaks here and there throughout the day, but for the most part the storm raged on. The National Weather Service warned of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, damaging winds and flash flooding for our area, and while I didn't see any tornadoes, we did have all of the rest.

Needless to say, I did not get out on the water today to do any fishing. While the wind wasn't all that strong, for most of the day anyway, the heavy rain, hail and lightening were enough to keep me indoors.

I did collect the garbage at both the house and cabin and ran it down to the community center during one of the brief breaks in the weather. Kathleen used the time inside to do some cleaning in preparation for the guests we'll have later this week.

My daughter Melissa, her son Jayden and our other grandchild, Ashley, arrive in Minneapolis tomorrow. Then on Friday, they, along with Kathleen's brother Tim and his family are all coming up to the lake for a visit. Then next Monday my parents arrive for a 5-day stay. It'll be great to see everyone, even if it'll be quite a change from the peace and quiet of just me and Kathleen at the house.

As I write this just before midnight, the rain has slowed to a slow drizzle; though just minutes ago it was coming down in sheets. Lightening is filling the room with a soft white glow and the rumbling of thunder can be heard in the distance. Basically, the same sounds I heard when I awoke this morning will send me off to sleep.

Good night from Leech Lake.

June 18, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

Like most of the mornings have been here on Leech Lake recently, today at 9:30 a.m. the sky was grey, the temperature was 65 degrees and the wind was light at 3-8 mph out of the SSW. There were already a half dozens boats out in front of the house this morning; maybe going after my escaped walleye.

As the morning rolled on the temperature continued to rise to just more than 70 degrees, the wind remained calm and the sun started to peak out with patches of blue sky appearing. Kathleen had yet to go on a boat ride and we figured the weather was perfect for it, so after some breakfast and coffee we made our way over to the boat lift.

I lowered the boat into the water, backed it out onto the lake and slowly started heading north along the shoreline of Sucker Bay. We made our way up past Schiebe's cabin before motoring over to the location where Bay Shore Resort once stood. Today, Bay Shore is gone, and in its place are houses and cabins.

From there we motored up the shoreline to Birch Ridge Resort, the new public water access ramp and to the big Robinson house at the very north end of Sucker Bay. I then opened up the motor and started south on Sucker Bay toward Big Hardwood Point. Along the way the wind began to pick up and before we could even reach Big Hardwood the water was getting quite rough. I decided that the boat trip needed to come to an end and we needed to get off the water before the waves got even bigger.

We made it back to the boat lift as the lake was filling with white caps. It was a bit of struggle getting the boat on the lift, but I managed. For the rest of the day, until just before sunset, the wind was strong at 20+ mph out of the WSW and the lake was riled with waves and white caps.

Since we weren't able to get out onto the water, Kathleen and I decided to stay on shore and work on a number of chores. Kathleen got out the blower and cleaned off the porches, driveway and other areas around the house and cabin while I got back on the roof of the cabin and completed the zinc-stripping project. Now the entire roof at the cabin has zinc stripping in place which should help keep moss and mold from growing on it. I need to do the same thing to the garage/game room roof and to the roof at the house.

We wrapped up our chores around 6:30 p.m. and then Kathleen went for a run. Once she was back we sat on the dock and watched the sunset. The weather had evolved yet again, with the temperature at 72 degrees, the skies were mostly clear and the wind had died down to 3-5 mph out of the SSW. And with a new moon, it seemed like a perfect night to troll for walleye.

I got the boat in the water soon after the sun had dropped below the horizon and got the boat set up for trolling at night -- landing net handy, navigation lights on, rod holder in place, etc. I started trolling in 9 feet of water in front of our house and made my way south into the middle of Duck Bay. The water temperature was 70.9 degrees.

During that initial pass I hooked into a northern pike approximately 25" long, which I immediately unhooked and released back into the lake. I continued trolling until 10:45 p.m. but didn't catch another fish. I made my way on shore and back to the house. Kathleen and I ate a very late dinner, watched a movie and then went to bed late.

Although the fishing was not great tonight, it was a wonderful day spent mostly outside on the shores of Leech Lake.

Father's Day: June 17, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

Happy Father's Day to my great Dad, and to all the other fathers out there. Even though it's your day, it's probably best that you still handle the BBQing duties.

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the sky was grey, the temperature was a cool 58 degrees and the wind was out of the WSW at 8-12 mph. We haven't had back-to-back sunny, warm days yet since Kathleen's arrival a 8 days ago.

Kathleen made me blueberry pancakes for my Father's Day breakfast, and we took our time eating and enjoying our coffee. After breakfast I made my way next door to the cabin to busy myself with cutting long strips of zinc roofing metal in half. The zinc -- which is used to prevent mold and moss from growing on a roof -- should have been installed when Rick and I put on the new roof in 2010, but we forgot to do so, so now it's time for a retrofit effort. Since the 4" strips are too big to put under the shingles as they are, I have to cut them down to 2" strips which can be more easily installed.

I cut several very long (25+ feet) strips before deciding to take advantage of the weather and go fishing. There had been some reports of a storm in the late morning or early afternoon, but at 12:30 p.m. the weather  seemed fine so I put the roofing project on hold and got the boat out onto the water.

I started by motoring south to Second Duck Point and setting up in 12 feet of water. With a 8-12 mph south wind, the boat was pushed north up the middle of Sucker Bay at about .50 mph ground speed. I had absolutely no luck, so after 30 minutes I repositioned the boat in front of Newman's house and let the wind push the boat north and out into the bay.

I was using a gold Northland "Vegas" jig tipped with a fathead minnow. The water temperature was 69.9 degrees in the 12 feet of water in which I was fishing.

In this spot I caught several perch and had a couple of minnows bitten off, leaving only the head still on the jig. This is usually a sign of walleye in the area, since they will often bite (very lightly) the minnow, but not even touch the jig.

After 30 minutes or so I repositioned the boat again, this time closer to our house in 12 feet of water. Again the boat drifted out into the middle of the bay and again I caught several perch. Then I felt that familiar "walleye tick" and set the hook. I brought a very nice 16 1/4" walleye into the boat. Kathleen and I had talked about going to the Big Fish Supper Club in Bena tonight for dinner, but with a walleye in the live well the plans changed and called for a Father's Day walleye dinner at home.

I continued to fish and caught several more perch, including a couple of 11- and 12-inch jumbos, but they all went back into the lake since the one walleye would be enough for tonight's dinner. At 2:30 p.m. I motored the boat back to the lift, stowed the gear, put the walleye in the basket which went into the lake and set about my roofing work.

I worked for a couple of hours getting the zinc stripping up underneath the cap shingles on the peak of the roof before taking a break for a late lunch. After my lunch, Kathleen went for a run while I went to clean the walleye, or so I thought.

When I catch walleye I put them in a holding basket made out of wire mesh with a floating top. I put the fish into the basket, lower the basket into the lake, the floating lid seals the top and the fish stays secure and alive. That's how it always worked until today. Somehow, maybe from a wave from a passing boat, the mesh basket got hooked up on the underside of the dock and in that position the floating lid opened and the fish escaped. When I arrived to clean the walleye for dinner, I found nothing but an open basket. In all the years I've used that basket I've never had something like this happen before. So the Big Fish Supper Club in Bena was back on the agenda.

The drive to the Big Fish is pleasant and relatively short. We drive 8 miles up Sucker Bay Road before heading east on Hwy. 2 to Bena, no more than about 5 or 6 miles. The Big Fish is a bit of a northern Minnesota landmark, and even had a brief cameo appearance in the movie National Lampoon's Vacation starring Chevy Chase.

The food is good enough for a supper club and the people are always friendly. We enjoyed our meal and then drove home. We had heard on the weather station that most of the state of Minnesota was getting bombarded with severe thunderstorms, and that there was even a tornado warning for several counties down around Minneapolis. But most of the really bad weather was south of us, and other than a little rain and a few flashes of lightening, we missed the storms completely.

We arrived back at Leech Lake just in time to see the sunset. To the north, the sky looked yellowish and non-threatening. But to the south, the northern edge of the statewide storms could be seen.

Relatively clear skies looking north on Sucker Bay

The storms that hit the state are visible looking south on Sucker Bay

Kathleen was tried tonight, so we simply climbed onto the couch and watched a movie before heading to bed just after 11:00 p.m. It was another great day on Leech Lake, even if my walleye managed to escape. I'll go after him tomorrow.

Good night from the northwoods.

June 16, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

At 10:00 a.m. this morning the sky was grey, but bright, the temperature was already 75 degrees and the wind was out of the SSW at 8-12 mph. The forecast was for storms to roll in shortly after 12:30 p.m. and for rain for most of the afternoon.

Kathleen and I started the day with coffee on the end of the dock. There were only two boats out in front of our house and near Second Duck Point. Down at Duck Point, however, were more than a half a dozen boats, and I think I know the reason why.

I ran into Sandy Newstrand on the road the other day and she was coming from Birch Ridge Resort where she had picked up two frozen walleye, both 27-inches long, which she was planning to stuff and mount. She took up taxidermy several years back and often does work for guests at the resort. Apparently a guy caught a 27-inch walleye and while he was dealing with it he handed his wife the rod and reel. She took the opportunity to cast out the lure and moments later had hooked herself a second 27-inch walleye. Since the couple will probably never catch two such big fish back-to-back again, they decided to have the mounted. And where did they catch the two prized fish? Duck Point. So now guests at Birch Ridge are hovering around Duck Point trying to get their own trophy fish.

As the morning progressed, the wind began to pick up and the sky began to darken. Forecasts called for a storm to roll through the Leech Lake area sometime between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m. I thought about going fishing before the storm hit, but decided to stay on shore, enjoy a pot of good coffee with Kathleen while sitting on the dock.

From our vantage point at the end of our dock, we could see the storm approaching from the southwest. The wind was picking up -- near 20 mph -- and the rain was clearly falling. Then right at 1:00 p.m., as predicted, the storm hit. The rain came down in heavy sheets while the wind kicked up a notch to near 25 mph out of the southwest.

Kathleen and I sat on the back porch (not the lakeside, but the side of the house facing the road) and watched the heavy rain beat down on the ground. The temperature had dropped from 82 degrees at 12:45 p.m. to just 65 degrees by 1:30 p.m. Since it was now chilly, we went inside to warm up.

Kathleen asked me innocently enough if I'd removed the insulation from the vents under the house; a routine chore that I've done for each of the 11 years we've owned the house. But for some reason, this year I'd forgotten to do so, so I got on some old clothes and made my way under the house to remove the blocked up insulation. Doing so will provide better ventilation under the house reducing the possibility of molds growing down there and keeping our house cooler during the heat of July and August.

Crawling around under the house is a hot and dirty job, so once the job was complete I took a quick shower to clean up. Kathleen and I then spent from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. relaxing and just hanging out in the living room as the storm made its way through the area. By a little after 4:00 p.m. the wind had died down to 8-12 mph out of the WSW, the clouds, while still plentiful, had parted a bit to give way to some blue sky and the temperature began to climb closer toward 70 degrees. It was a perfect time for Kathleen to go running and for me to get some fishing in.

I got the boat onto the lake at 4:20 p.m. and decided to motor south toward Second Duck Point and let the wind push me north toward our house and toward shore. I turned off the motor in 14 feet of water, deployed the drift sock and put a fathead minnow on my jig. I noted that the water temperature was varying from 69.9 degrees to 70.5 degrees depending where I was on Sucker Bay and how deep the water was.

I made several drifts over a wide area of Sucker Bay during the next 100 minutes, but caught only dozens of small- to medium-sized perch. I did catch a couple of perch that were a bit over 10 inches, but no 11-14 inch perch which I consider to be the size of jumbos.

I came ashore just after 6:00 p.m. and no sooner was I comfortably back in the house when the wind began to pick up to 15-20 mph out of the WSW with some gusts up over 25 mph. The lake was quickly churning with white caps and most of the boats that had been out on the lake at the same time as me moved to get off the increasingly rough water.

Kathleen and I spent a quiet and enjoyable evening at home reading, talking, listening to music and eventually watching a movie. We had a wonderful day at our oasis on Leech Lake. Good night.

June 15, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

This morning the sky was mostly sunny and blue, the temperature at 9:30 a.m. was already almost 70 degrees and the wind was at 8-15 mph out of the WSW.

Throughout the morning and into the early afternoon the wind picked up to 12-18 mph out of the SSW and the temperature continued to increase to a high of 82 degrees. Several boats were out in front of the house and cabin in 10-14 feet of water fishing. I contemplated going out just after noon, but decided to hold off because Kathleen was interested in going on a bike ride.

We had been wanting to ride the bikes out to Duck Point Woods to check out if any more of the properties had sold and to see if the eagle's nest, which we'd seen last year, was being used again this year. We got on our bikes just after 1:00 p.m. and rode down West Shores Road to 26th Ave and up to Ottertail Point Road. We made our way past Moose Lane and out to Duck Point Woods.

Sure enough, the eagle's nest was there and we were able to spot two eagles in the nest; most likely the male and female guarding the eggs, or the eaglets. We continued our ride to the end of Ottertail Point Road before  turning around and coming home. We were hot and sweaty so we took a quick camp bath to cool off. The water was cold, but invigorating.

After cooling off in the lake we made lunch. I took my sandwich out onto the lake while I fished while Kathleen ate her lunch on the dock.

I fished with a jig and minnows and caught a dozen or more smallish perch, as well as a couple of northerns, but was unable to catch a walleye. I came ashore around 5:30 p.m. because I'd run out of minnows. I took the truck up to Birch Ridge Resort to buy a scoop of fatheads, while Kathleen used the time to go on her 6-mile run. Unfortunately for her, the deer flies were out in full force and she stopped me on my way back from the resort and asked for a ride home because she could no longer take the buzzing of the biting flies.

We had a late dinner and rather than go out fishing I stayed inside and just hung out. It was an uneventful and  rather unfortunate evening despite being here at the lake. Maybe tomorrow I'll get out fishing earlier in the day.

Good night from Leech Lake.

June 14, 2012 -- On Leech Lake -- Flag Day

This morning the temperature was 62 degrees, the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SSW and the sky was grey and it looked as if it might rain; again. When we awoke, the ground was wet and there were puddles everywhere so it had obviously rained during the night. Kathleen would tell me later that around 5:00 a.m. she woke up to loud thunder, bright flashes of lightening and heavy rain. So even though I didn't hear it, thunderstorms did roll through early this morning.

Kathleen and I took it very slow easing into the day. We just hung around the house, had coffee, and ate some breakfast before Kathleen retreated to the bedroom to read her book. I took the opportunity to go fishing.

Expecting rain, I donned my Frog Togg's, grabbed the minnows and made my way out to the boat. Once the boat was in the water I motored out to a spot between the house and cabin in 13 feet of water, deployed the drift sock, put a minnow on my red "Vegas" jig and started fishing. The wind was coming out of the south at 10-15 mph so at the boat lift the water was fairly calm, but out on Sucker Bay the water was quite choppy.

No sooner than I started fishing than a heavy mist/light rain began to fall. I caught several 6-10 inch perch and small rock bass, but no walleye. I did have that familiar walleye "tick" and when I set the hook I could feel good weight on the other end of the line, but after just a turn or two of my reel the fish came off. Although I couldn't see it, I'm guessing it was a walleye by the way it bit and how quickly came off.

I fished for a little more than an hour before coming ashore for lunch. The sky was still grey, a light rain continued to fall and the wind was a little lighter at 8-12 mph out of the south.

By 5:00 p.m. the clouds finally began to break and blue sky started to shine through. Just before 6:00 p.m. Kathleen decided to do her 6-mile run, while I got on a work call. The temperature was actually going up as the evening progressed. It was 68 degrees at 6:00 p.m. and 74 degrees at 7:30 p.m.

As is typical for us when we're at the lake, Kathleen and I didn't eat dinner until after 9:00 p.m. We then concluded the day by listening to music, talking and just enjoying our time alone at our oasis on Leech Lake.

Good night.