Musings From The Dock July, 2010
Vol. I, # 1 of an occasional series of news and views from Platte Lake.
Well, here we are with summer almost half over. If you haven’t made it up to the cottage yet, better hurry. Here’s a sampling of what’s been going on around your favorite Up North spot.
WOW! Did you get to see the incredible fireworks display from the Lake St. area July 5? I think it rivaled Frankfort’s show. I realize this can be a controversial subject, not to be argued here, but it sure was spectacular.
Boating activity seems to be a little light this year, but waterskiing seems to be making a comeback, including one barefoot skier who skimmed along on his back with a wet suit until achieving warp speed, then popped up to his feet. Ah, youth!
My experimental transplanting of round-stem bulrushes which I got from a friend’s beach down the way seems to be doing well. Makes great fish cover and unlike the triangle-stemmed ones, they’ll grow in 3-4 feet of water. If you know someone on the lake who wants to give you some, try it.
In the flora and fauna department, it was a bumper mayfly hatch this year (good sign for water quality but a bummer for fishermen trying to entice overstuffed fish or homeowners sweeping them off their porches). Your correspondent did manage to catch several nice surface-sipping smallmouth bass on a mayfly imitation and even one daintily rising 15 pound carp! LONG struggle on a light fly rod I’ll tell you. No reports of any significant walleye action yet, but be patient. The 135,000 the DNR planted last summer should be nearing legal size by next year. Many reports of GIANT rock bass caught, including some trophy specimens by grandson Casey. The most notable fishery observation is the dramatic increase in bluegills caught, including many cleanable size. This is a resident not heretofore seen much in Platte, only in Little Platte. Wonder why? Doesn’t seem to be at the expense of perch, since there were some nice catches along the north shore before the mayfly hatch.
Remarkable number of bear sightings in June (and some pictures) around Birch Point, Cuambeco Bay, and even down to Carter Rd. Kind of neat to know we live in an area where you have to watch out for bears. Keeps you on your toes. The eagles are still around on the east end but they’ve been making forays all along the south shore. It’s definitely startling to have one swoosh by at 10 feet while you’re intently working on your boat! Watched one perched on the neighbor’s dock eyeballing the ducklings which the mother duck had hidden under the dock where he couldn’t get them, while she did her wounded duck act. Molly the dog ran out and chased the eagle off, which brings up two philosophical questions: why is a golden retriever PROTECTING ducks, and is it a federal offense for a dog to harass an eagle?
There seem to be the usual number of swans in Miners Bay this summer, and the coolest interaction was in early June when I was down there in a small boat looking for bass and had two unconcerned otters swimming by me, diving and floating on their backs. What a great place to live!
Gotta’ go, almost time for a sundowner cruise. More news to come toward fall. Until then, good lake times to you. By the way, anyone can post their observations. Just send to the webmaster. We can make this a community discussion.
The Kingfisher
