Life On the Lake 

Dedicated to the Joys of Waterside Living

An untypical three-pound rainbow trout

402

Fishing Report, end of May

Trout fishing continues good, after more than two solid months of pressure, probably because many fishermen now release their trout. And, sure, there is mortality, but let us say it is 20%, each trout then can be caught five times, before it succumbs. That will provide more than the three thousand  hatchery fish planted this year. Which is two or three times more than the former numbers.

Trout are caught all sorts of ways. That is to say, they will take a troll, bite on bait still fishing, and accept a fly, either trolled (the conventional way, for fly fishers are lazy, and often tire of repeatedly casting) or cast from boats into the shallows.

I catch them daily on bait about lunch time, and this gives me an idea of their average size and the odd, exceptional one--see above. But the time I enjoy most is post-sunset, when the trout cruise along the shoreline and feed on emergent insects, which fill the skies about this time of day. Often they are light-colored, and less frequently dark or black, but I've found that a dark fly--a black Hare's Ear Nymph, size twelve or fourteen, and slightly weighted in front and debarbed, will work about as well as anything, and in a very short time will entice a strike from a cruising eleven-inch trout.

From then on it is a grand fight on a three-weight rod and two-pound test leader. Fish often tailwalk and angrily (seemingly) leap a couple of feet into the air, splash a lot, and make ten or fifteen foot runs off the reel, with an exciting screech that make me think of steelhead.

Steelhead on a micro-scale, that is. But excitingly similar in behavior.

And a lot more exciting than Mariner baseball this year.

401

The bluegill (male) is on his nest. All is right with the world. Continuity is guaranteed. Soon the eggs will hatch and there will be thousands of tiny bluegills. And--like fruit on the bough--most of them will not reach bluegill maturity. Sad, sad

Well, in some small matters, continuity may be enough for all of us. Life goes on, even if we someday won't. Nice to know.

With the advent of hot weather, the lake is undergoing a change. The algae in suspension has increased mightily and the water has taken on an uninviting aspect. And there is algal scum along the shore, with some duckweed starts mixed in. But--hey--that's okay, unless you are a swimmer. My two black Labs are, and they don't mind the cloudy water one bit. It is cooler than the air, and Labs are designed for cold weather. It is, after all, Labrador they come from, though admittedly many, many generations ago. Some physical memory must persist.

Because of the roaring sun, people are keeping back in the shade and shadows, which gives a strange aspect to life at the lake. Sounds carry great distances very easily. So normal conversations conducted among quiet people can easily be overheard. There is a murmur that softly circles the lake's edge, and it is not unpleasant. And even if it were, the fact that I am pretty deaf would make it less so.

Meanwhile, an unveiled sun blasts down. The trout fishing continues good, though it is slowing by degrees, as the perch become more and more active. Funny, but the perch that steal my bait usually are lip hooked--when I manage to connect with them. But the perch hooked on my flies at twilight invariably swallow the small nymph and can't be released with any guarantee to live on.

They trout can, though, and fight fiercely, when I am so lucky (or skillful) as to hook them, like last night, about the same time as the Luckless Mariners go down to defeat again, in the late innings.

So I am missing not much of anything.

Spider caught in lens flare

400

Entry 400! Boy, ain't that something? When we started out, three years ago, each entry seemed momentous and difficult.  Still does. Well, one can't be brilliant all the time. Or even halfway intelligent, I've found. Yet one tries.

So, to celebrate, here is an early photo from back then, our early days at the lake. It is a spider at our window, with the lake in smudged, out-of-focus background. It has long been a favorite of mine.

It is downloadable, in case it happens to be one of yours.

Thanks for the visit,
Robert C. Arnold, Editor