A Lakeside Companion by Ted J. Rulseh

Author:Ted J. Rulseh [Rulseh, Ted J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780299320089
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A FEW DAYS MAKE

It’s amazing how fast things change. One day your lake is an ice desert. A few days later the ice is gone, the race is on: the race to life. The loons don’t even wait for full ice-out. As soon as a suitable patch of water opens, they’re back, their wails echoing. The lake, freed from its ice insulation, starts warming rapidly, especially when full sun hits the bottom in the shallows.

As the temperature rises, the fish spawning procession begins. It starts with northern pike, seeking out marshy areas as soon as ice melts along the shorelines. Male walleyes begin staging in rocky, gravelly shallows while the water is just a few degrees above freezing; females follow, and activity peaks as the temperature reaches about 45 degrees F. Yellow perch closely follow the walleyes. Their egg strands may drape over plants or sunken tree branches; early-season canoeists can see them in the shallows.

Meanwhile, every creature—amphibian, reptile, mollusk, insect—gets active. Sit on your deck at night and you’ll hear the frogs and toads sing, the individual sounds like instruments in an orchestra. This is also a time to watch the ducks migrate through. A pair of binoculars and a field guide can help you expand your vocabulary from “ducks” to buffleheads, widgeons, mergansers, teal. There’s a current of urgency to it all: time is fleeting. These first springtime weeks are a great time of year, maybe the best of times to spend with your lake.

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