How Do Loons Know When the Ice is Off the Lake?

This is borrowed from blogger Dan Baughman who writes from Bow Narrows Camp on Red Lake in northern Ontario, Canada.




"Although total ice-out is still days away on Red Lake, loons will have already landed in all the open patches of water around the edges.

In fact, as soon as you notice the ice is gone from a small bay or narrows, you will see the familiar profile of a loon. But you never see loons flying around the frozen lake looking for open water.How they know there is some place to land is a mystery. Loons cannot land on anything but water. Their legs are placed far back on their body making it impossible for them to even stand up on land.

In fact, except for pushing themselves on their bellies a foot or two onto and off of their nests, loons never touch land.Their leg placement -- sort of like propellers at the rear of their bodies -- makes them take off from the water just as a floatplane does. They always head into the wind for the added lift and both churn their powerful feet as well as flap their wings against the water. It can take them a hundred yards to get airborne. Once free of the water, they are powerful fliers and fly faster than most other waterfowl.

They also land like a plane. They set their wings and come gliding in like the Space Shuttle. Final touchdown is done on their bellies. Sometimes they will dip a wing into the water to make a fast turn. And, also like a float plane, it takes far less room for them to land than take off.So when they slide into a little patch of open water around the edge of a frozen lake, it is very likely they cannot take off again, until the ice melts some more.

I've often wondered if some of them ever get frozen-in when the temperature dips below freezing and the lake refreezes. If it happens, I've never seen it, or found their bodies in the spring.Loons are the world's oldest bird. They've been doing this for tens of millions of years. I guess they know what they are doing by now."

June 14, 2011 -- Flag Day -- On Leech Lake

Once again I awoke this morning with the hope that Peterson Excavating would be here working on the harbor restoration and once again they were a no-show. I called Butch the lead guy on the project and he told me he was on the side of the road because his truck broke down. When I pressed him if he thought he'd be able to finish the harbor this week his response was, "I hope so." Not exactly the kind of answer that instills confidence.

It would have been a perfect day to work on the harbor too. The temperature at 10:00 a.m. was 62 degrees, the wind was light at 8-10 mph out of the south, and the sky was mostly cloudy, with a few patches of blue here and there. With the warmth this morning, it's actually starting to feel like we might get summer after all.

Most of today I spent doing chores around the properties, including lots of cleaning and tending to the trees and plants I planted a couple of weeks ago.

As the day wore on the temperature climbed to the mid-70s, the sky cleared to almost no clouds at all and the wind remained steady at about 10-12 mph out of the south.

By 3:45 p.m. I was ready to go fishing. I pushed the boat off the lift and positioned the boat for a drift in front of the house. Using a 1/8 Gumball jig tipped with fatheads I caught several perch and a couple of rock bass. But I was on a mission to catch at least two more eater-sized walleyes; so I moved to a new position.

I took up in front of Norm's cabin and let the southerly wind push me north toward Schiebe's and out into deeper water.

I also made the decision about half way through the drift to switch from a fathead to a leech, after all, I caught the 17-inch walleye yesterday on a leech. I continued to catch perch and rock bass. Then I felt that familiar weight of a walleye. I set the hook, reeled the fish to the boat, slipped the net underneath the fish and brought a very solid 16 1/2-inch walleye into the boat. As soon as the fish was measured it went into the livewell where it will join the walleye I caught yesterday in an eventual meal for my parents and Kathleen.

Apparently the walleye are biting on leeches; at least the last two I've caught have been on leeches. But I used the last of the leeches today, so tomorrow I may drive into Cass Lake and pick up a couple of containers of the large leeches from Froggy's Sports.

With another walleye in the basket, I decided not to go fishing tonight.

June 13, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

I was up at 7:15 a.m. this morning in anticipation of Peterson Excavating arriving to work on the harbor restoration. At that time of the morning the temperature was 50 degrees, the wind was out of the SSE at 15-20 mph, with gusts up to 30 mph, the sky was overcast and grey, and the forecast was calling for some rain this morning with a possible thunderstorm this afternoon.

Usually, Butch and his Peterson Excavating crew are here by 8:00 a.m. so I was surprised to have him call me at 8:45 a.m. Apparently the guy who supplies Peterson Excavating with cable didn't show up and without cable to tie the wall they weren't coming out to my place. So that pushed the operation back a day or two, maybe longer.

The other appointment I had scheduled today was with Merle's Carpet Cleaners out of Bemidji. The guy showed up on time and did a great job thoroughly steam cleaning the carpet. They look fantastic. I just hope I can keep them clean for the next 10 days until Kathleen arrives.

Later in the afternoon I hit the water for a couple of hours. The wind was strong out of the south at 15-20 mph, with gusts up to 30 mph, but the way we're situated on Ottertail Peninsula a south wind has no affect along our shoreline. As a result, the water around the boat lift was totally calm; like glass. But once out a few hundreds yards from shore, the chop was at least 18 inches to 2 feet.

The water temperature had cooled to 65.8 degrees, the sky was overcast and it looked like it might rain; although it didn't while I was on the water.

I fished several locations, beginning in front of our house in 9 feet of water and drifting north toward the Malay's and out into the bay. I caught numerous small perch and a couple of rock bass on a 1/8 ounce Gumball jig tipped with fatheads. My goal was to catch a couple of nice eater-sized walleyes because my parents are coming to visit next week and my mother has specifically asked for a walleye dinner.

The pressure was on so I moved to a spot I know in front of Norm's cabin. I drifted there alternating between the Gumball jig and fatheads and a Mimic Minnow Spin. Again, I caught numerous small- to medium-sized perch.

I motored a little further north to the "Birches," and this time changed up the presentation to the Gumball jig tipped with a leech. In 11 feet of water I felt that familiar "weight" of a walleye and set the hook. I reeled to the boat a nice walleye, but it wasn't until I netted it and got it into the boat that I could measure it. Sure enough, a perfect 17 inches; a perfect eater! Into the livewell went the walleye and my search for another 17-incher continued.

Unfortunately all I could catch after that was more perch; although they were starting to get bigger. At last I decided to head home.

Once on shore I took a ride on the ATV, but my ride was cut short when it started to rain. I raced home but as typically happens, as soon as I got inside the rain stopped.

Although the weather seemed to be pretty stable this evening, I decided not to go out trolling. I already have a walleye in the basket and I'll try for another two tomorrow and the days to follow. Ideally I'd like three nice walleye so I can prepare a walleye dinner for my parents and Kathleen when we're all here at the lake together.

Nature Update: Crying fowl! The birds continue to be the center of attention here at Leech Lake. In addition to the many cedar waxwings, various woodpeckers, robins, redwing blackbirds and the like that feed on the suet in the yard, I often see ruby-throated humming birds, orioles, gold finches, belted kingfishers, terns, seagulls, pelicans, loons, a whole host of different kinds of ducks, Canadian geese, turkey vultures, ruffed grouse, crows, purple martins, swallows and bald eagles. And while they're not birds, there are also a lot of bats in the air at dusk eating mosquitoes.

June 12, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

This morning at 10:00 a.m. the wind was calm, the lake was like a mirror reflecting the mostly grey and white sky, and the temperature was 56 degrees. There were a handful of boats clustered together in front of our house in search of walleye or jumbo perch.

I needed a new phone, since I washed mine in the washing machine yesterday (no, not intentionally), so I drove into Bemidji this morning to the Verizon Wireless store. I ended up getting a new Motorola Droid X2. It's a lot like the original Droid but does not have the slide out keyboard, which I rarely used and only added extra weight.

I got home around 3:00 p.m. The temperature at that time was 69 degrees, it was still grey and overcast, and the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the south.

I decided to do a little fishing, so I grabbed the bucket of fatheads and backed the boat off the lift and onto Leech Lake. I motored out to 10 feet of water directly in front of our house and dropped the drift sock into the 66.6 degree water. The wind was out of the ESE at maybe 5-8 mph.

I caught numerous perch, although no jumbos, a rock bass and a northern; no walleye. After an hour on the water it started to sprinkle and because I was not wearing any rain gear I decided to go ashore because I didn't want to get caught on the water in a downpour. As it turns out, all it did was sprinkle for about 30 minutes then stop.

Nature Update: Yesterday the first of the mayfly hatches occurred and with it came the return of the cedar waxwings. Cedar waxwings are one of my favorite northwoods birds and they always arrive in flocks when the mayflies are around to eat. I'm sure with mayfly hatches taking place over the next week or so, the cedar waxwings will be around for awhile too.

This evening at 8:30 p.m. I lowered the boat into the water, fired up the Mercury Verado and started trolling. I pulled a Minnow Rap in 9-12 feet of water, in "the Alley" and out into "Duck Bay," but only had three "hit and misses."

The western sky stayed light until well after 10:00 p.m., which is when I came ashore, and with the moon at 88% waxing, there was a lot of light on the water tonight. The moonlight, coupled with a nice chop on the water due to the 8-12 mph wind from the south, should have made conditions ideal for walleye fishing. And who knows, the conditions might have been perfect. But I was unable to catch a single walleye, or any fish for that matter. I think that's the first time since I've been here that I haven't caught a single fish while out on the water.

Once on shore I read the Sunday paper, listened to music and decided to go to bed early. I'm expecting Peterson Excavating to be here first thing in the morning to continue work on the harbor restoration project. More on that tomorrow.

June 11, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

This morning at 10:00 a.m. the temperature was 50 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny with some big billowy clouds and there was virtually no wind. The flag is hanging limp and the lake looks like glass.

Within an hour, the wind had picked up and it was blowing about 10-15 mph out of the north. The temperature had also gone up to near 60 degrees. I did some work around the yard and while I was outside Tom Malay pulled his truck into the driveway.

Tom wanted to know if today would be a good day to help him and Ron Newstrand take down one of the dead elm trees on my property. Both Tom and Ron use wood to heat their houses during the winter and I was happy to contribute some wood to their stockpile.

We spent several hours using chain saws to cut the large tree into smaller sections, splitting the wood into even smaller, fireplace-sized pieces and the cleaning up all the smaller limbs and branches; many of which littered the road in front of the cabin. But at last we had the operation at a point where we could call it a day.

Tom went back to his place to stack a full trailer load of firewood, while I decided to go fishing and cool off. I only fished for an hour, and only caught a few perch, but it was nice to be on the water where the 10-mph north wind cooled me off. The water temperature had risen to 67.7 as a result of the air temperature being near 70 all day.

The FLW Walleye Tournament ended today with the winner bringing in more than 41 pounds of walleye over the three-day event and winning $63,000. Not a bad weekend's pay.

I came ashore at about 4:45 p.m. to get cleaned up, and accidentially ran my Motorola Droid smartphone through the wash. No amount of air drying could get it to even turn on again, so I'm going to have to go into Bemidji tomorrow to the Verizon Wireless store to get a replacement. Most of the calls I get are on my mobile phone and I can't afford to be without it.

I listened to A Prairire Home Companion, had some dinner, but did not go fishing in the evening. Instead, I stayed in, listened to music and read.

June 10, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

The morning I awoke to the sound of the furnace running. Yep, June 10 and the furnace is required. The temperature this morning was 42 degrees, the sky was mostly cloudy with some blue patches, and the wind was out of the north at 7-12 mph.

There is no work today on the harbor. The plan is that Peterson Excavating will be out on Monday with the big hoe to align the harbor wall. With no jackhammering I was able to enjoy my coffee on the back deck.

After a series of work calls, I decided to go fishing.

The wind on the lake seemed to be swirling. With the drift sock deployed I at first observed the wind to be coming out of west blowing the boat toward shore. Later, the wind came out of the NE and blew me south toward Second Duck Point. And just before I came in the wind was blowing out of the south pushing back toward the cabin. In all cases the wind was light at no more than 5-8 mph, regardless of direction.

The water temperature was 65.8 degrees, and I fished in water ranging from 9-12 feet deep. I used a Gumball jig, 1/8 ounce, tipped with a fathead. I caught numerous perch, a rock bass, a 13-inch walleye and the strangest catch of my current stay at Leech Lake, a 11-inch bullhead. I've only caught maybe 3 or 4 bullhead in the 10 years I've been fishing Leech Lake, so this was a surprise.

Hunger brought me ashore at 3:00 p.m.

Nature Update: For the past 3 or 4 days there has been an ongoing dragonfly hatch. There are literally millions of dragonflies on Ottertail Peninsula. On my regular ATV rides around the peninsula I've been hit in the throat, eye (thank goodness I was wearing sunglasses), shoulder, hand, leg and just about any other body part a flying insect fortress could hit. Now other than there being a million of them, dragonflies are not a nuisance. In fact, not only are they food for many species of birds, they are predators of mosquitoes, which makes them very valuable in my book.

At 8:45 p.m. I went fishing. The wind was 12-15 mph out of the north, creating a good chop to the lake. The moon was 69% waxing, the sun set at 9:14 p.m. the temperature was 48 degrees and the water temperature was a good deal warmer at 65 degrees.

I decided to fish a little bit further south than usual and spent most of my time trolling the flats of "Duck Bay" in 9-11 feet of water. I was using this year's favorite crankbait the Minnow Rap in Tennessee Shad color, fitted with a brand new front treble hook.

While trolling north into the wind at a ground speed at just under 2 mph, I hooked into two nice walleyes, the first 19 inches and the second a sturdy 23-inch, 4 1/2 pound eyeball. After those two fish I decided to head home.

I came ashore at 10:00 p.m. and spent the remainder of my waking hours reading newspapers and listening to music. Another great day at Leech Lake.

June 9, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

It was another cool morning with the temperature of only 42 degees at 8:00 a.m. The sky was mostly cloudy, with only a spot of blue here and there, and a wind of 8-12 mph out of the NW.

Today is the first day of the FLW walleye tournament, but unlike the Leech Lake Walleye Tournament last week, when there were more than 35 boats in front of the house, there was surprisingly only one boat out front today.

The guys from Peterson Excavating showed up at 8:45 a.m. and were done removing the last portion of the walkway by 10:00 a.m. Butch showed up just as they were completing the demolition and after surveying the situation carefully informed me that he's going to need to bring in the big front hoe to pull back the harbor walls and to pound in big metal beams to which the harbor walls will be tied. When we first talked, Butch thought he could simply use cable jacks (known as come-alongs locally), but with all of the walkway removed he doesn't think that approach will be effective.

Butch promises that the project will be minimally invasive -- that is, no trees will be removed or damaged -- but bringing such a big piece of construction machinery to the harbor will leave tracks on the lawn. Of course with rain, the grass growing and being cut, all evidence of the operation should be gone by later in the summer or early fall.

After breakfast and some work, I went fishing for a couple of hours. With the wind out of the NE at 8-15 mph I stopped the boat in front of Malay's in 9 feet of water, deployed the drift sock, and let the wind push me along at 1/2 mph south toward Second Duck Point and out into 12 feet of water. I noted the water temperature to be 65.8 degrees.

Using a 1/8 ounce Northland Gumball jig tipped with fathead minnow I caught several perch, including one nice 10-incher (although that falls an inch short of qualifying for a jumbo by my definition) and a nice 15 1/2-inch walleye, which I put back into the lake. After three drifts I decided to come ashore and take of some work here.

After a light dinner I decided to go fishing again. I hit the water at 7:00 p.m. and drifted from right in front of the house out toward the middle of Sucker Bay being gently pushed along by a 10 mph NE breeze.

The water temperature this evening was slightly lower than this afternoon at 65.4 degrees, the moon was 50% waxing and the sunset was 9:12 p.m. CDT.

During my three drifts I caught several perch and a couple of rock bass using an 1/8 ounce Northland Gumball jig tipped alternately with fatheads and leeches.

At 8:45 p.m. I put turned on the boat lights, stowed my jigging rig and took out my Abu Garcia Ambassador baitcasting reel that I use for trolling crankbaits. As always during this current stay I used the Rapala Minnow Rap in Tennessee Shad color.

As I began to troll I noticed the wind was shifting from the NE to the SE and was increasing in speed to roughly 10-15 mph, creating a nice chop to the lake. I trolled in the usual "Alley" location in 9-11 feet of water.

I didn't even have a "hit and miss" for the first 45 minutes of trolling. Then at 9:30 p.m., just south of Second Duck Point on my way north, I had a good hit. I could tell it was a decent sized fish. When I got it close to the boat I slipped the net underneath it and hauled in a very sturdy 23-inch walleye that had to weigh close to 5 pounds. I quickly removed the lure from the fish and put it back into the water.

No sooner had I started trolling again, letting about about 60 feet of line, when I felt that familiar "thud" of a big fish. Right away I could tell that this fish was even bigger than the 23-incher that I just boated. I took my time bringing the fish to the boat, and just as it got close, it turned and headed to the bottom of the lake. I let the fish take out line, but continued to apply pressure so the fish wouldn't come unbuttoned.

The next time I got the fish to the surface I was able to slip the net under it and bring it into the boat. I could see this was a big fish. Unlike the first walleye of the night, this one had all three barbs of the front treble hook in its mouth. Rather than risk injuring the fish, I took out my wire cutters and snipped off all three barbs which enabled me to easily remove the hook. I did a quick measurement and found this big walleye to be every bit of 24 inches, a full two feet of fish. I didn't weigh the walleye but I've got to believe it was more than 5 1/2 pounds. I slowly released the big fish into the water to make sure it was in good condition. It got into the water, flipped its tail a couple of times and was quickly out of sight. Wow, what a fun fish to catch!

At that point my Minnow Rap needed a new front treble hook and I didn't feel like switching lures, so I decided to come ashore. After all, I had just caught 47-inches and 10 pounds of walleye with two fish in the span of maybe seven minutes.

Tomorrow should be another great day of fishing on Leech Lake. I'm going to try to get out onto the lake at least twice. Until then...

June 8, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday it was hot, muggy and sunny. Today at 7:15 a.m. the temperature was 48 degrees, the sky was grey and overcast and it was very windy, 15-20 mph out of the west, creating white caps on the lake.

At 8:00 a.m. the two kids from WC Peterson Excavating showed up and immediately fired up the jackhammer and cement saw. Maybe with the cooler weather today, and the experience of working on the walkway yesterday, they'll be able accomplish more of the demolition today than they did yesterday. It would be nice if they could wrap up the demolition today and move on to repairs during the balance of the week.

The FLW walleye tournament starts tomorrow on Leech Lake and runs through Saturday. That means I'll most likely awake tomorrow to dozens, if not more, boats in front of the house. I'm sure many of the pro fishermen are on the lake today pre-fishing in an attempt to identify good fishing spots. Despite the high winds and white caps, I see a couple of boats in front of the house now at 8:15 a.m.

Despite the wind and cool temperatures I decided to go for a little bike ride. My intention was to do the entire "loop" but no sooner than I turned onto Ottertail Point Drive off of 26th than it started to sprinkle. Not wanting to get caught in a rain storm miles from the house, I turned around and rode home. The rain didn't come as I expected, but it did mist heavily for a half hour or more.

Right after I got home T&K Outdoors arrived to mow the lawns at the house and cabin. In addition to the jackhammer and cement saw, the loud roar of the riding lawn mower added to the din. Normally it's so very quiet at the lake, with the exception of the chirping of the many song birds, that today's noise is made that much more obvious.

At 1:15 p.m., Butch, the lead guy on the harbor project, showed up to check the progress the two kids were making. With Butch's help, they chipped away at the concrete almost to the end of the walkway and should be able to have all of the cement removed today. I don't know if they'll get to any other aspect of the project yet, but there is still a lot of daylight left.

I decided to run into Cass Lake for a couple of grocery items and to pick up a fresh scoop of fatheads from Froggy's. When I got back at 4:30 p.m., the guys from Peterson Excavating were gone, and the job of removing the cement walkway was not complete. I would estimate that there is another hour or two of jackhammering still to be done.

Daily Nature Update: Today was juvenile day. While on my daily ATV ride around the peninsula I came across an adult bald eagle and two juvenile eagles flying directly above me, no more than 25 feet up. They must have tracked me for 100 yards or more giving me a great look at these marvelous raptors on a family hunt. Later, on the same ride, I came across a female whitetail deer and her young offspring. It was no longer a fawn with the white spots, but a small deer with the same coloring as the adult. And later, after I was home looking out at the rough waters of Leech Lake, I spotted the Common Merganser pair that have been hanging around our harbor and dock for weeks, but they were now accompanied by 10 little ducklings. The young Mergansers couldn't be more than a week old, if that. I'm guessing their nest must have been on our property between the house and cabin somewhere. Again, another wonderful glimpse into the wildlife of Northern Minnesota.

By 9:00 p.m. the wind had calmed some to maybe 15 mph out of the north, but the lake was still very choppy with some white caps. The temperature was 44 degrees and the sky was dark and overcast. It wasn't a night I felt like venturing out onto the lake, so instead I stayed inside, listened to classical radio KCRB and read Thoreau.

June 7, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

At 9:00 a.m. this morning the guys from WC Peterson Excavating showed up, jackhammer in hand, and began tearing out the old cement walkway around the harbor. The plan is to remove all of the old cement and rebar that makes up the walkway, then put in a tile drain, sewer rock and finally gravel. That way the water from rain and snow melt will be able to drain into the harbor and not cause the walkway and the harbor walls to heave up and move when the water refreezes. It's amazing how much damage ice can do.

The temperature this morning is a cool 59 degrees and the wind is out of the north at 10-15 mph. There are some white caps on the lake, but it is by no means as rough as I've seen it during my stay here. In fact, I wrote about the incredibly strong winds we had a week or so ago, when I was worried that something might happen to the docks or boat lift, and it turns out I did have good cause to worry.

I realized yesterday that a corner section of the dock at our house was missing. After comparing notes with Mark from Shore Brothers, we determined that he and his crew had installed it in early May and that it must have been the storm that tore it free from the rest of the dock. I looked for the missing section along the shoreline from Poage's cabin down Newman's, but it was no where to be found. I'm afraid at this point it is lost somewhere in the lake.

The jackhammering continues as it approaches noon. The temperature has warmed to 65 degrees, and the wind has weakened to 8-12 mph eliminating the white caps that were on the lake earlier. I'd like to go fishing, but I also need to be here as the guys work on the harbor restoration. Maybe if they take a lunch break I can get out onto the lake for a little bit.

At 2:30 p.m. the wind had calmed down to a gentle breeze from the SE, the temperature had climbed to 80 degrees, it was muggy and the sky was hazy. The jackhammering of the harbor walkway continues, and I'd estimate that they aren't even 25% of the way through it. Butch, the lead guy on the project from WC Peterson Excavating, had told me at one point a couple of weeks ago that he thought the entire job would take no more than a day. Well, from the pace they're on, I'd guess it'll take them at least three days to remove the cement. Then they've got to put in a tile drain, straighten out the harbor walls, put in sewer rock and gravel, and rewire the lights. I don't see how this is going to be completed in a week's time.

When 3:30 p.m. rolled around the jackhammering stopped and the two young workers for Peterson Excavating got into their car and left. After taking care of few business issues here at the house, I got out onto the lake at just 4:30 p.m.

I motored out to 10 feet of water in a spot between our house and cabin and let the ENE wind push the boat out away from shore. There was only one other boat on the water at the time, a big sport fishing boat with about 6 guys on board, and to my dismay they shadowed me where ever I went. If I pulled in the drift sock and repositioned the boat, so did they. I don't understand why some fools can't figure out how and where to fish on their own.

The water temperature had cooled slightly to 68 degrees, most likely as a result of the 46 degree temperature we had last night and the rain from the overnight thunderstorm. The wind was at 12-15 mph out of the ENE with gusts up over 20 mph, and the sky was hazy.

I was using an 1/8 ounce Northland Gumball jig tipped with a fathead minnow and drifting. I caught numerous perch, including a couple in the 9-inch range, a northern, and a beautiful 23 1/2-inch walleye. It's so fun to catch a big, sturdy fish like that on 6lb test Fireline Crystal and a 5' 6" St. Croix rod.

As I reeled the big walleye toward the boat I had to fight the fish with one hand while reaching for the net with the other. I use a Frabill net with an extending handle so I had to extend the handle while trying to keep the walleye from coming unhooked. I managed to slip the net under the big fish just as it shook its head and spit the hook. The walleye dropped into the net and I was able to bring it on board to measure it. By most estimates, a 23 1/2 inch walleye weighs somewhere between 4 1/2 and 5 pounds. Like I said, a sturdy fish. I put the slot fish back into the water in the same place where I caught it, in 11 feet of water in a spot directly between the house and cabin.

By 5:30 p.m. I was on shore and having a beer with my neighbors John and Karen Newman. We had a nice chat and then parted ways so we could each make dinner. After I ate, I took and ATV ride around the "loop" and again encountered the local animals, including a painted turtle, ruffed grouse and a white tail deer, not to mention a plethora of native song birds.

At 8:45 p.m. the temperature is still a very warm 74 degrees, but I can feel it cooling off. The wind has shifted to the SW and picked up to around 20-25 mph so there are white caps rolling across the lake once again, and the sky remained hazy. I walked over to the cabin to raise the boat in the lift a little more since the waves were large and ran into our local mink neighbor. It was scurrying about near the boat landing and when is saw me it darted into the big rocks along the shoreline.

Oh, and one other update. Before I went over to the Newman's this evening, all three of the Newman men -- John, Johnny and Greg -- were in the lake to cool off. I had mentioned losing the corner section of the dock, so while in the water the Newman's donned face masks and looked for the missing part of the dock. And wouldn't you know it, John found it right underneath a section of our dock; where it was not visible from above the water. I now have the missing section, but will need some hardware and a specially sized board to reattach it. Nonetheless, a great find.

I did not go fishing tonight because the wind picked up so much and was creating white caps. I love fishing, but I don't need to venture out on a night like tonight. Maybe tomorrow...