August 11, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

It was a beautiful morning in the northwoods of Minnesota on the shores of Leech Lake. The temperature was 65 degrees at 8:30 a.m., the sky was sunny and blue with some high, hazy cloud cover and the wind was light at 8-10 mph out of the WSW. The temperature hit a high of 75 degrees, a bit cooler than the rest of the country is experiencing.

Joe is feeling better today, but is still not back to 100%. I spent the morning reading the news online, checking on the perch to make sure it was still in good health (it appears stronger than yesterday after I first caught it) and enjoying a couple of cups of coffee.

Duane Paulson stopped by at about 9:30 a.m. to see if Joe and I had started on our house-staining project; which we have not. I think it's the first time in a couple years Duane has stopped by to see me. Usually I stop and talk to him when I see him outside at his place. And speaking of the staining the house, the plan is to start the power-washing of the house on Monday, and if we're lucky, we'll be able to finish washing the house in one day. Then we'll let the house dry thoroughly all day on Tuesday and then we'll begin the staining process on Wednesday. That's the plan as of Saturday at any rate.

After lunch Joe and I went fishing. I noted that the water temperature had fallen to an even 76 degrees. With the wind blowing out of the south at 8-10 mph I set the boat out in front of Giza's cabin and let the wind push  us north on Sucker Bay. Joe was using a chartreuse green Northland Mimic Minnow Spin and I was using a Northland Gumball jig tipped with a 4-inch plastic worm.

When we were directly in front of our house Joe hooked into a good-sized perch, maybe an 11-inch jumbo. As he was lifting it into the boat it came off the hook and it fell back into the lake, which is too bad because it would have been the good second keeper for our fish-fry dinner.

For the rest of the afternoon we caught several more perch, but none big enough to keep. I also hooked into a small pike and a bigger one which snapped off my jig. We came back ashore about 4:30 p.m. in time for me to listen to A Prairie Home Companion, which was a compilation of all his baseball skits, songs and a 30-minute "News" about Babe Ruth's visit to Lake Wobegon in 1934.

We grilled pork steaks for dinner accompanied with baked potato and broccoli; very tasty. After dinner we cleaned up and the watched The Godfather on DVD. As many times as I've seen it, it's still a great movie. Maybe tomorrow, or later this week, we'll watch part Two.

We'll have to go fishing again tomorrow to see if we could catch that second jumbo perch. Both Joe and I want a fish-fry for dinner.

Good night from Leech Lake.

August 7-10, 2012 -- In Minnesota

Here's a quick recap of the past few days to get caught up on my posts.

August 7
The weather today was warm, with high temperatures up near 80 degrees. The sky was sunny with just some big fluffy clouds, and a wind out of the north at 8-12 mph. It felt muggy as I did some cleaning around the house, took the garbage and recycling down to the community center, locked up the cabin, out-buildings and house, and then started on my drive to St. Cloud. I made a stop in Walker to pick up a case for my Stihl MS 290 chainsaw, but other than that, and a quick stop in Pine River for gas and something to eat, I drove straight through to St. Cloud. I spent the late-afternoon and evening at Kathleen's mom's house before heading down to the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport to pick up Joe. His flight arrived at 11:15 p.m. and we arrived back in St. Cloud around 1:30 a.m., where we spent the night at Marge Coyle's house.

August 8
The weather in St.Cloud was relatively cool at 74 degrees in the morning, and it was overcast and looked like it could rain; although it never did. Joe and I had breakfast at Perkin's near Marge's house and the highlight was just as we were being seated the table next to us was leaving. It was then I noticed that the man at the next table was none other than fishing-legend, Fishing Hall of Fame member, Al Lindner, founder of the In-Fisherman empire and Lindy/Little Joe tackle company. I've been a fan of Al's since the early-1980s when my interest in fishing was renewed with trips to local bass lakes near San Luis Obispo, California. And at last, my path had crossed with the greatest fisherman of our era.

After breakfast Joe and I went to visit Marge at St. Benedict's and took her to see her sister and her husband had recently moved into the nursing home section of St. Ben's. We spent a couple of hours visiting with them before heading back to Marge's house. Later in the evening, Joe and I met Tim, Sandy, their boys, Marge and Tom S. and his daughter for dinner at Bravo Burritos, a favorite dining establishment of ours. We had a nice meal and had plenty of time to talk and catch up before parting ways. Joe and I, along with Tim and his boys continued the evening by taking in the movie, The Dark Knight Rises, the third of the new Batman trilogy.

August 9
The weather was again fairly cool in the morning, but warmed throughout the day. We cleaned up Marge's house, did the laundry and then started on our way north to Leech Lake. We made stops in Baxter and Walker for supplies, but managed to be sitting on the dock looking at the beauty of the lake by 5:30 p.m. We spent a fun evening at home listening to music and just hanging out. It's good to have Joe at the lake. I hope he enjoys his time here.

August 10
The temperature this morning at 8:00 a.m. was a cool 63 degrees. The wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the NNW and the sky was sunny with hardly a cloud visible. Joe wasn't feeling too good today so he spent most of the day resting and taking it easy. Travel has never been easy for him. After spending some time cleaning up around the house and doing some laundry, I decided to fishing.

The water temperature has dropped as a result of the cooler weather and is now 76.7 degrees. There is another algae bloom going on right now, about the fifth or sixth one this summer, which is a sign of a healthy lake and strong ecosystem. I decided to start the day by pulling a spinner rig with a nightcrawler at a ground speed of roughly 1 1/2 mph using the kicker motor. I took the boat south well out into Duck Bay before looping out into the bay and heading north. I got a couple of light taps, but didn't hook a fish. When I had gone as far north as Schiebe's cabin I changed tactics and switched to a jig and plastic grub-like bait. I hooked into something big, most likely a pike, but despite playing the fish carefully (with the drag set properly), the bit through the line and escaped. I quickly tied on another jig and tipped it with another artificial plastic bait and set about fishing. A short time late I boated a nice jumbo perch that measured a full 11-inches. I put that fish in the live well. With one more perch like that, Joe and I will have enough for a fish fry dinner.

The night was spent quietly after dinner with Joe going to bed early and me spending some time online. All in all, a very nice day on Leech Lake.

August 6, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

This morning was warmer than it's been in previous mornings. At 9:00 a.m. the temperature was already 74 degrees on its way to a high of 84 degrees. The wind was variable at 8-15 mph out of the WSW, but was blowing hard enough throughout most of the day as to create some white caps on the lake. The sky was sunny and blue, with hardly a cloud in site.

At 9:30 a.m. this morning Lainy Malay called me and asked if I'd seen a dog wandering around the neighborhood. It appears I'm not the only who's seen "Buck." In fact, it seems that everyone on the peninsula has seen the "German Sheppard-looking" dog. According to Lainy, the consensus from people as far south as Moose Lane off of Ottertail Point Dr. to those of us on West Shores Rd. is that the dog has been abandoned. Many people are keeping an eye out for the dog in hopes of corralling it and either keeping it themselves (as a couple of people have stated) or taking him into Bemidji to the SPCA Rescue Center. Either way, it seems unlikely that "Buck" and I will cross paths again.

After some PR work this morning, I decided to get out on the water for a little fishing even though the wind was still creating rolling waves and the occasional white cap. I managed to get the boat off the lift with no trouble and motored out past Second Duck Point where I put the drift sock in the water to slow the boat's drift northward. The wind was blowing out of the WSW at near 15 mph so even with the drift sock in the water the boat was moving between .83 and .92 mph ground speed. I noted that the water temperature had dropped to 78 degrees.

I used a Bass Pro Shops XPS jig in cherry-red color tipped with Northland grub. I caught a couple of medium-sized perch which I threw back into the lake. As I drifted in front of the cabin, something big grabbed my jig. I could feel the distinct motion of a big fish shaking its head before the line snapped. I quickly retied, using the same type and color of jig, and within a minute or two was fishing again.

No sooner had I lowered my jig into the water when I again hooked into something big. And again, a couple of heads shakes later my line was snapped and my jig and bait gone. It is entirely possible that a northern pike, or maybe a walleye, has two red jigs stuck in its mouth.

I retied a second time, but caught only a couple of small perch the rest of the trip. I made way back to shore around 5:30 p.m. and got dinner started. After eating I enjoyed watching the sunset and then did some cleaning around the house in preparation for Joe's arrival.

The August 6 sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

Joe gets into the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport late tomorrow evening. Rather than drive all the way up to Leech Lake, we'll spend Tuesday night and all day Wednesday in St. Cloud so Joe can see his grandma, as well as his aunt and uncle and cousins. More than likely we'll head up to the lake on Thursday morning.

It'll be nice to have Joe here, not only to help me stain the house and do other chores around the property, but to hang out with him, listen to music with him, have a fire in the fire pit, go fishing and of course watch The Big Lebowski.

At midnight, the temperature was still 72 degrees, and with a dew point of 65 degrees, the humidity is hovering around 80%. Plus the wind has died down, so it's a still, muggy night. But I can hear the loons calling across the lake. I never get tired of that sound.

Good night from Leech Lake.

August 5, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

Like yesterday, the wind today is the primary feature of the weather. The wind was blowing at 15-20 mph, with gusts up over 25 mph, out of the west creating a series of rolling white caps across the lake. The temperature at 9:00 a.m. was a cool 60 degrees, and by 1:30 p.m. had warmed only to 67 degrees. The skies today were mostly sunny and blue, with some big, fluffy white clouds moving across the sky due to the high wind.

No sign of my lost dog friend "Buck" this morning or afternoon. With the wind blowing as stiff as it was, I stayed off the lake and focused my attention on on-shore activities. I started with a ATV around the peninsula, with a stop at Norm's for a 30-minute chat. I continued down the to the community center then up Sucker Bay Road and down Ottertail Road. During the entire circuit I kept my eyes peeled for Buck, but I didn't see him.

After my return and a brief bite of lunch, I went next door where I spent some considerable time trimming off dead branches from the red pine trees that are next to the cabin. I now have plenty of kindling to start a good fire in the fire pit once Joe's here.

I also transplanted a small sugar maple tree from a spot near the game room -- where there are literally a hundred or more little sugar maple saplings -- to a spot near the harbor over at the house. I gave it a full bucket of lake water afterward and will keep an eye on it to make sure it adjusts to its new location before Autumn and Winter set in.

A sail boat on Sucker Bay,  Leech Lake

I spent a quiet night at home having dinner, listening to music and surfing the web. The wind continued to blow hard as the light faded from the sky and well into the night. I hope tomorrow it's a bit calmer so I can get out on the lake to do some fishing.

Still no sign of Buck. Good night from Leech Lake.

August 4, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

The primary feature of today's weather was the wind. From the early morning hours throughout the day and into the evening and night, the wind was blowing at 15-20 mph with gusts often up over 25 mph. It was not, however, out of the same direction all day long. It started this morning blowing out of the WSW before gliding northward to a west wind, before it settled in as a NNW wind later in the day and into the night.

The temperature this morning was a cool 61 degrees at 9:00 a.m. and climbed to no more than 72 at its warmest. The sky was filled with clouds most of the day, with only brief periods of blue sky and sun. And by 7:00 p.m. it started to rain. A hard rain fell at least three time between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., but never for more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time.

This afternoon I spent quite a bit of time on the roof of the house putting zinc stripping along the peak of the roof to keep the mold and moss from growing. There is some mold and moss already present, so I may need to spray it with a diluted bleach solution. That should kill what's there and along with the zinc prevent any new mold and moss from growing.

I also took a long ATV ride around the peninsula today; not fast, just a slow, steady pace to enjoy the beauty of the Ottertail Peninsula.

Later in the evening, just after sunset, I spotted a German Sheppard-looking dog wandering on the road and at the end of our driveway. I had seen this dog earlier in the week when I was at the Newman's and their dog Bernard chased it away. I also saw it wandering in the area mid-week. I figured it must be lost. The poor dog was soaking wet from the rain and looked scared. I got some of our old dog food and put some in a bowl. I took it out to the driveway and put the bowl on the pavement. I then called to the dog before retreating to the porch in order to give it some space and not scare it.

The dog, which I've dubbed "Buck" from Jack London's Call of the Wild slowly made its way down the driveway toward the bowl. Cautiously the dog made its way to the bowl and then very quickly devoured the food. I also brought the dog a bowl of water but as I approached, it trotted up the driveway keeping its distance. I left the bowl of water and went to refill the bowl of food.

When I returned with a fresh bowl of food, Buck again moved away, waiting for me to leave the bowl of food. I placed the food on the driveway and again walked up to the porch. Slowly, Buck made his way to the bowl of food and again quickly ate the entire bowl. He was obviously very hungry. I think someone drove him out here and abandoned him. Just to make sure I checked with several neighbors and the resort, and while some people report having seen him, no one knows whose dog it is. It has no collar or tags, and it won't let me get close enough to him to pet him which would enable me to feel for a microchip in his scruff.

I'll keep on feeding Buck as long as he keeps coming back. I hope that over time he'll begin to trust me enough to where I can pet him and try to find out who he is and where he came from. Stay tuned.

"Buck" the abandoned dog I fed tonight.

I didn't get out to do any fishing today because it was too rough for me, but John and Karen Newman were brave enough to make it out and they reported catching a couple of good-sized perch which they kept, and a 22-inch walleye, which they immediately put back into the lake.

A break in the clouds over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

Leech Lake 2012 -- Flashback

I discovered this photo on my phone of my wife Kathleen which I took on the evening of July 13, 2012. That  was the week we spent together alone at Leech Lake before she had to go back to California. With any luck, she'll be able to return to Leech Lake to celebrate the beautiful colors of Autumn.

My beautiful wife Kathleen on our dock at Leech Lake

August 3, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

As was the case yesterday, at 8:00 a.m. there was low rumbling of thunder, a light rain falling, a cool temperature of only 61 degrees and a light breeze out of the north at 3-5 mph. But unlike yesterday, as the morning progressed the weather didn't clear up.

At 10:30 a.m. the rain finally did cease, but the ground was wet, puddles stood in the driveway and sky remained grey and overcast. The temperature was steady at 61 degrees, and with a dew point of 61 degrees, the humidity was pegged at an even 100%.

Just before noon the clouds began to part and the sun came out. By 12:30 p.m. the clouds were nearly gone from the sky, the temperature had warmed to 82 degrees and a good wind of 10-15 mph was blowing out of the south.

It was right around this time that I gathered my wallet, phone and keys and drove the truck into Cass Lake. I had invited John and Karen Newman over for pizza this evening so I needed to go to the Great River Pizzeria to pick up a couple of unbaked pizzas. I'll bake them fresh and hot for dinner.

Once home from "town," I decided to go fishing for an hour so. With the wind coming out of the south, I positioned the boat so that the wind would push it out into the Bay and north to a spot between the house and cabin in 12 feet of water. I noted that the water temperature had dipped a bit to 79.3 degrees.

I jigged with a Northland grub for a full hour but caught only one medium-sized perch. At 4:30 p.m. I came ashore to prepare for the Newmans arrival.

We enjoyed a beer or two while the oven heated, and then had a wonderful pizza dinner -- a classic combo pizza and one with pepperoni, mushrooms and anchovies. It turns out that all three of like anchovies so that pizza took the biggest dent.

The Newmans left by 8:00 p.m. as the sky darken not only with the sun dropping toward the horizon, but with a severe thunderstorm moving into the area. I checked the Weather.com "maps in motion" and saw a band of very heavy storm activity moving toward Leech Lake and scheduled to hit between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Given our experience with the bad storm on July 2, I lowered the flag pole, shut the windows and prepared for the worse. Luckily, it the storm that hit tonight was no where near as bad as the one in early July. Sure, we had lots of lightning and thunder claps directly overhead and tons of rain, but the wind was only 20-30 mph compared to the 80+ mph wind with which last month's storm hit us.

By 11:00 p.m. the storm had passed for the most part, although we did get some rain throughout the night. I kept the stereo unplugged -- due to the close proximity of the lightning -- so I watched a DVD rather than listen to music tonight.

Good night from the shores of Leech Lake.

August 2, 2012 -- On Leech Lake

This morning at 8:00 a.m. there was low rumbling of thunder, some light rain and overcast skies. But by 10:00 a.m., the weather had cleared and it was as nice a day as we've had in a long time. Clear blue skies, a nice breeze blowing out of the NW and a temperature of 74 degrees. It was the perfect day to enjoy a cup of coffee on the back deck. The only downside was that Kathleen wasn't here with me.

After my coffee and some work online and around the house, I took a bike ride down to the Harbor and back. Roughly a 4-mile round trip. It felt good to stretch my legs and move, even if the old bike I was riding -- Kathleen's Dad's old bike -- is much too small for me.

I was just getting ready to go next door to the cabin to cut a roll of zinc tape in half -- in order to retrofit it along the cap of the roof of the garage that is attached to the house -- when I got a call from Lainy. Yep, she had another bat in the house. So I grabbed my net, got on the ATV and drove down to the Malay's cabin.

Unlike the bats that I captured yesterday, this bat was either sick or injured because it had crawled underneath the small refrigerator that the Malay's keep in their back, screened-in porch and wedged itself between a bracket and the cooling coils.

I had to use a yardstick to push the tiny bat out from its hidden spot and then easily scooped it up in the net and deposited it outside. Just as I had rid the Malay's of another bat, Dave Levy, the local carpenter who is does work on everyone's cabin in the area, including ours, stopped by to seal up the chimney grating on the top of the house; a suspected entry point for the bats invading the Malay's house.

Once on top of the house and near the chimney, Dave called out that there were several bats nestled in and around the base of the chimney. I quickly scampered up the ladder and onto the roof to get a look myself. In addition to four or five live bats, there were maybe a dozen more than had died. Using a stick, and later the yardstick, I managed to get all of the living bats to vacate the area so Dave could set about his work.

At that point I left the Malay's and went back to the cabin where I spent an hour or so cutting up strips of zinc which I will later install on the roof of the house-garage.

As the day progressed, the temperature climbed in to the mid-80s and the wind calmed to just a slight breeze from the SSE. With the zinc cut, and with lunch taken care of, I decided to do some later afternoon fishing.

I fished in the "honey hole" between our house and cabin in 10-12 feet of water using a jig and artificial bait, but didn't catch a thing. I did have a nice "slow pull" on my line and when I set the hook I could tell there was a big fish on the line, but as I started to play the fish it gave one strong yank on the end of my line and broke free. I tied on a new jig, tipped it with an Northland artificial grub and set out fishing again, but still could not boat a fish.

By 6:15 p.m. I was back on shore. I spent the evening doing some work online, reading, listening to music and watching yet another glorious sunset over Sucker Bay. Good night from Leech Lake; more tomorrow.

Another beautiful Leech Lake sunset over Sucker Bay

August 1, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

The first day of August arrived hot and humid. The temperature today topped out at 86 degrees, while the humidity was up near 80%. The dew point was over 70 degrees so it was a muggy day to say the least. The wind was variable throughout the day ranging from just a light breeze to 15+ mph out of the NW.

Rather than eat breakfast at home this morning I drove into Bemidji where I ate at Perkin's. I needed to go into town to pick up 20 gallons of outdoor stain which I will apply to the house once Joe arrives in MN to help me.

I also ran some other errands in town, like going to the UPS Store to send some of the things Jayden left at the lake back to him, and get some groceries to hold me over until Joe arrives.

I didn't get home until just before 3:00 p.m., which is the time John Newman had invited me over to have an late-lunch/early-dinner with him and Clarence (the guy from whom we purchased our beautiful Leech Lake house). While I was hurriedly put away the groceries my phone rang and it was Lainy Malay. She sounded upset and I soon learned why -- she had a bat flying around in her house. She asked if I'd come down and capture it for her.

I put the frozen and cold grocery items away and left the others for later. I went next door and retrieved my live-well net which is the perfect size to capture the flying rodents. Armed with my net I took the ATV down to the Malay's and met Lainy on her back porch. She let me in and pointed through the French doors toward the kitchen, telling me that there were actually two bats in there. On closure inspection I spotted three bats in flight.

I opened the door and made my way in. I spotted one of the little mosquito catchers resting on the wall. I effortlessly covered it with my net and took it outside where I released it. I then propped the front door open hoping I could herd the other two out without having to capture them. Wrong.

The two bats continued to fly around the house, but in an amazing display of hand-eye coordination I snagged one out of midair in a single fluid motion. But as I carried it to the door it escaped my net forcing me to swipe at it with the net. I clipped it with the metal frame of the net knocking it to the floor. Unfazed, the rodent began crawling across the floor while screeching at me. I went to scoop it up with the net but in the ensuing struggle the bat was injured. I finally got the wounded animal outside where I let it loose in the wooded area between the Malay's and their neighbor's house.

Now it was time to find the third little night flyer. But despite a thorough search of the living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom neither Lainy nor I could locate the third bat. I figured it must have flown out the open door while I was preoccupied with the wounded bat so I declared the premises "bat free."

I then went home, cleaned up and went next door to the Newman's. I spent several hours with John and Clarence conversing, eating grilled chicken sandwiches and enjoying the nice breeze that had picked up; cooling things off somewhat.

While I was at Newman's, in fact just before we were getting ready to sit down for our meal, John got a call from Lainy Malay. The third bat, the mystery bat, had appeared and she had it trapped on the back porch. She wanted to know if I'd come down and get it outside for her. I went home and repeated the process from earlier -- get net, ride ATV to the Malay's and hunt bat.

I spotted it on the window as I entered the back porch. Sensing that I was there to do it no good, the flying rat leaped from its spot on the window and took flight. In a repeat of my earlier feat of bat-catching, I captured the bat with just one well-time swipe of the net through the air. With it entangled in the mesh of the net, I opened the door to the porch and let the bat go safely outside.

With the bat situation again under control, I went back to Newman's to enjoy the tasty grilled chicken sandwiches. I came home around 7:30 p.m. and spent a quiet evening at home.

I did make sure to listen to some Grateful Dead music in honor of what would have been Jerry Garcia's 70th birthday. Smile, smile, smile.

Leech Lake sunset, August 1, 2012

There was a nice sunset, and I wish Kathleen could have been here to enjoy it with me. I know she went running at the ranch tonight after work, but it's just not the same as having her run down W. Shores Rd. followed by a series of lunges down the driveway. Hopefully she'll be able to return to Leech Lake soon.

Good night.