We need Rain... Bad

[Royal]

I went to town yesterday and stopped by Bacus Pond. There are a couple ponds on Bacus Creek that are used for wildlift habitat. There are Osprey nesting platforms on them and they are flooded year arond. Each has a small dam to hold the water level.

Mary calls them the humpy spot and doesn't like them because when we kayak there the fish spook and hit the bottom of the kayak. Most of them are Dogfish and Pike.

The first picture is as it usually is and the second is as it is right now. I have never seen it this way.

The water at the base dam is green with scum and only a foot deep or so. It is full of dead and dying fish. I bet I saw fifty dead Pike! The scavengers are having a field day of it.

This is the place I wrote about last year. I was watching a guy hauling in Big dogfish by using small panfish for bait. He caught one on almost every cast and they were up to 10 pounds.

Dogfish are a very primitive fish. They have a sort of lung that enables them to live in places other fish have no chance, like this place. When the water is depleted of oxygen the other fish just die, as they are doing here but the dogfish just go to the surface and gulp air. That is what they are doing now. Man a person could catch a bunch now! The little water that is left is swarming with the suckers.

As I stood there the Osprey were off in the distance. I could hear their call. They have a high pitched screech. They soar high and call to each other, occasionally diving for a fish. I saw no bird diving for a fish this day.

I guess in the long run it will improve the fishing on the ponds. There were a lot of small fish and now they will almost all be dead. The few that live will have a feast when the water rises, as it will, and they will grow large. They will grow large until they over populate themselves again. There will be a few pike that will make it or some will eventually find their way into these ponds again, if there is a full kill.

I see the Blue Huron's are having a great feed, as are the other scavengers. The Hurons are wading the shallows, catching the few fish that are still alive.

If you look close you can see the creek winding through the center of the flood plane. There is not much left. No water is going over the dam . There is a little coming through the boards at the bottom but not much

My daughter and my grandkids were up last week and we kayaked the river. It is very low. We had a great time but it is depressing to see the wildlife taking such a hit. Where we kayak the river is fed by springs, which make it very cold on the upper reaches but at least it helps with the water lever in such times. The springs have not dried up.

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[Arkie John]

Just think in a few weeks it will be cooling off!

aj

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Just the opposite down here in South Texas with record rain the past several months. Now the rain has disappeared and the ground is dry again. We have not had a winter as per se the last several years and as a result we have an abundance of bugs that normally would die in the cold weather.

I am surprised that you folks are not getting the normal rain for your neck of the woods...I have never seen pictures from you that showed the area looking like that. Hopefully, when fall arrives in your area the rain will return with the change in tempatures and etc. Thanks for sharing this and please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Royal]

n/t

 

[david(tx)]

funny how pictures can revive your senses.are those stumps from beavers or when they cut down trees to clear for the ponds.i bet for a couple of years the reeds and other vegetation take over the pond bottoms and the fish will have a good place to hide when it does rain again and the ponds make a comeback.

 

[Royal]

all dried out.

If the water keeps going down there will be little there.

The stumps are from it being logged off before flooding. It is a beautiful area in normal times but now, rather depressing.

It will fill up this fall I imagine. In the spring it will be full to overflowing. As shallow as it is it fills easily, especially up here in the snow belt

 

[VT Dave]

Sad to see the habitat get hit but probably part of a natural cycle ???

 

[Micheal_R]

Like many of us, we need rain badly too.

come on rain

Fair winds

Mikie

 

[Wayne in BC]

n/t

 

[Sunny]

every summer, but the deepest part of it is about 20 feet deep, so most of the fish survive. I think we have a leak in it too, and Scott is going to have to do some work on the dike. We have some very large catfish in this pond,and they like the muddy bottom anyway! They won't even come to the top to feed right now! It has not rained here in weeks, and all my roses look awful, even with watering them at night and in the mornings. I got about 80 tomatoes off my three plants I experimented with this year, but they are all about dead too, despite the watering.

I don't know about ya'll, but I am ready for fall. This week our temps have been in the triple digits! It just drains you to go outside. My chickens appreciate their fan, and fresh water everyday. But I sure am not getting very many eggs!

Sorry to see the devastation all around!

 

[Sunny]

n/t

 

[Royal]

and it was pretty low then, not as low as not but I asked him at that time if it was normal and he said it was the worse he had seen. Now it is almost dry.

It will probably be good for the pond as the fish were getting stunted but it looks pretty bad

 

[Micheal_R]

I do believe it is not going to threaten us any more..... but as to being under control.... we still wake up to lots of smoke and bad visibility... So, until we get some rain, I will continue to take my precautions.

calm seas

Mikie

 

[Royal]

the Crazy Horse Woman we had a small pond. It dried up every summer and I had it deepened a bit.

Then I found a windmill. I hand drove a shallow well, about 25 ft and put the windmill on it. It pumped all year aroung helped keep the pond up. It didn't stay full all summer but only dropped a few feet.

Um Scott is working and you are retired now. You ought to get out there with a shovel and seal that pond. After all, you are as good as any man aren't you?

 

[Sunny]

down by the pond, so we wouldn't have to dig one. Scott said he just didn't know much about them!

As far as ME doing something like that??? Won't happen!

 

[Royal]

Lemme see now. You don't work. You don't sew. You don't cook. You don't do laundry. You don't ******. You fish. You shop. You run around in your little hotrod. You don't build additions. You run around with your girlfriends and spend money and Scott has to work and wait on you hand and foot

What is he? Nuts?

Just Google windmills and I am sure you will find information. I found one on an old farm and bought it for fifty bucks. Hauled it home and rebuilt it, the bearings were wood and I had new ones made out of oilite.

Maybe you should tell Scott to just go down there with a hand pump every night and pump for eight hours. Cooler at night

 

[Sunny]

Because I'm the best thing he has ever had, and he knows it! I might bring myself to "google it". The pumping by hand thing might build up his biceps though!

 

[Rob/Windsor Ont.]

That's crazy ! I check the Detroit River level occasionally using our shipping dock posts. I kid you not when I say the water level is still fairly high. I'm guessing they'll go down in the fall though. Makes ya wonder if these shallow river places are going to be fewer and far between. I sure hope not.....those smaller arteries out your way are beautiful. And clean !! I think we all need to do a rain dance. Too hot and dry !! Nice pics, by the way.