Flowers and Fish - June 01, 2014

The grass is green and I have been after it about three times a week. My lawn is what could be called ‘postal stamp’ in size. It is by far the smallest lawn I have ever had to tend to. What makes the ‘cutting’ experience challenging is all of the added obstacles. My bride is an avid flower gardener and yearly she adds more to the property. “You cut down my hibiscus again! I even had a metal marker there to show you where it was.” When this happens I duck my head in shame and try to move on with life. “I see that you are also getting too close to the pachysandra. I have been working on that bed for years and just now have it where I want it.” “Those vines will continue out over the lawn and swallow the cabin, if I don’t trim them back from time to time. I am sorry about the hibiscus but we have to come to a compromise on the other.” My bride could see that my sorry face was saddened, having let her down and consoled me; “Why don’t you get in the boat and go fishing? Before she could turn away I was gone.

Not only did I get out once but three times last week. I was hoping to find some perch but had little success in finding any. One evening I caught two that were not much bigger than my jig. The next day I found a school but they too where all in the six inch range. After poking about a bit I caught a small mouth bass from another spot. The area was loaded with bass! Four of them followed the fish to the boat, gliding along the bottom. The one on the hook was hefty female at about four pounds. The other smaller bass chased her as soon as she went back into the river. It looked like the small mouth were staging to spawn and selecting sites; they are back in good numbers.

Today I got out on the river a bit after 9AM, to try again. There were still no perch but it was a fine day to bob around in the sun. I tried several locations around Carleton Island, just putting along and watching the bottom for fish. I found bass in schools and a few lumbering pike attached to the bottom, looking like logs. A ship passed me and trailed off down river with a smoke stream in tow. I was surprised by the lack of wake from the big steel hulled vessel. There were pleasure boats that went by leaving bigger ones. Perhaps they have been slowed down to lessen shore erosion.

Up by Fort Haldimand the lilacs were in full bloom, clinging to a rock ledge where they have been for many years. I wonder who had planted them and if they were as old as the bygone fort. Were they from the French or English soldiers as a reminder of home? The light purple flowers grace the island in a long hedge row, as wild as the river herself. I dropped a line with a rubber minnow; it was taken by a northern pike. The taunt line began to peel off of the reel. This was a surprise; I was in shallow water and never expected a pike to be there. This was a good test for my newest ultra light rod.

My setup was intended for perch, with four pound test on a four foot rod, not a 30” pike. The graphite rod bent and did a fine job absorbing the dashing runs of the fish. I had it to the surface and was about to take a photo when it took one more dive. The jig came loose from the fish’s jaw and everything went slack. I watched the pike settle back down to the bottom where it soon blended in with all of the green surroundings. One thing is for sure from the experience; I will have a lot of fun this season with my new rod and reel. All I need now is some perch to come back…

Back at my dock the wild columbine have been blooming. I so admire them for their structure and colors. They are a unique flower that has always reminded me of a jester’s hat. Each year they rebound and each year I am always thrilled to see them. Somehow they are able to cling to very little soil on the bank, which is quit steep. There have been times when the blooms have been small and fragile. This year they are as full as I have ever seen a wild variety get… just perfect. My bride and I have been working on flower beds around the cabin. Each of has gone a bit overboard with our purchases. Who can blame us after the winter that the river saw. There is nothing like brilliant blooms to push away the memory of iced roads, broken trees and months of snow.

Driving to a greenhouse yesterday I mentioned that one would never believe a winter ever happened. “Look how green it all is now, from the grass to the tops of the trees. It is easy to forget the short winter that we enjoyed.” A cold as February stare came my way; “What do you mean ‘we’ enjoyed? I remember you mopping around the cabin with nothing to do and complaining about how stark the world looked. You even complained about having too much ice to fish on!” When we got to the green house I scooped up a variety of flowers, she grabbed some new hostas. Together we buried the long winter under the splendid table that is spring turning into summer.

Mike LaDue, Sunday, June 01, 201

End of the Ice 04-13-14

The ice fishing season has come to a close. I took advantage of the late ice last week, for a few more attempts. Three days at Chippewa Bay produced some hefty perch, just not in large numbers. I do not remember another season when I was able to fish into April. Snow geese have made their migration and some spent a few days along the river. The ice has been an issue for ship traffic too. There have many days where I have seen them stacked up facing the flow, waiting. I presume the constant shifting of large ice chunks have made progress nearly impossible at times.

The river will open up in certain locations during the day, when it is warm. Ice comes in from the lake and piles up against the remaining ice pad. Each day it looks different and some mornings it appears to be solid, out to the channel. This morning I watched an ice breaker make another run up-river. Just minutes behind, two red CSL freighters followed the smaller vessel out to the lake. A bit of wind and rain is all that is needed to saturate the ice and send it on its way. The ice has changed color and is now dark enough to drink in the warmth of the sun. It looks dark green to almost black and the river below is rising through small open crevices.  Soon I will see the bright blue river surface that comes with spring. I am more than ready…

Snow geese have come through in large numbers this year. For a change, some of them actually spent a few days along the river to feed and rest. On one bright sunny day I watched a large mixed flock of Canada’s and Snow’s take flight, headed inland. It looked like a swarm of bees tumbling across the sky or a locust invasion. The sound was absolutely magnificent! In a few scattered flocks of snows I noticed some Blue geese mixed in. The blue goose is a darker color phase of the snow goose, still the same species. When fishing was slow I had my eyes to the sky each time a flock passed overhead. Some of them were so high that the only way I knew they were there, was by the constant high pitched gabbing.

Usually in mid-March I find the big female perch in good numbers. That was not the case this year. From many locations I have heard the same. “The fish are there but they will just not bite.” Tuesday I iced four perch that were nice keepers. It rained that morning and I was so soaked by noon, that I called it a day. Wednesday my fishing buddy (Ernie) had his best day of the season, he took home 32 dandies. He has been up several times and his grin more than made up for the fishless days he has endured. I kept 17 that were between 9” and 11” that day. Thursday we were at it again. Ernie was on the ice at daybreak and I joined him around 10:30. This turned out to be my day, Ernie tried everything he could, but I kept catching the fish. The perch were taking my jig like hungry wolves.

 Anything under 9” and anything over 11” went back into the bay. I came home with 14 perch that filled my five gallon bucket to a third. It was a warm generous day and a darn good one to have for the last trip out. I even got a suntan on my hands, which looked odd in the shower the next morning. It was not a stellar year for perch through the ice, but the many trips helped to whittle away the winter. Now I will have to wait for all of the various fish to get the breeding done and work up an appetite. Sometime in May I’ll be back out in the Lyman and begin my search during the ‘other’ season. From now until then I’ll be getting the remnants of winter and ice damage cleaned up and out of mind.

The ground here is still harboring some ice and snow. This is one very brown spring. Between the mud, brown grass and leafless trees it looks like a barren lifeless world. The rabbits are so properly attired that they can be hard to see, even when right in front of me! While grilling on a nice afternoon, a bunny came to within five feet of me in the driveway. It was picking up the seeds from the cedar trees trying to fill a hungry belly. I had one old apple left in my fridge so I brought it out and sliced it up. I threw the apple to the ground and that rabbit was in heaven. It ate only one piece and then scaled the rock wall above my cabin. Rabbits turn out, are darn good climbers!

 I never would have imagined that one could zip up a rock wall with such ease. Another one was ‘stuck’ in my fenced garden a few days back. I figured that I needed to raise a corner so that the poor bugger could get out. When I did just that the rabbit reached up and climbed over the fence with hardly an effort. This my friend, may turn into a nightmare. Rabbits that can climb fences with such ease will have no problem plucking my produce, proficiently, purposely and positively barren…

Mike LaDue, Sunday, April 13, 2014