October 8, 2014 Water Monitoring Report

The lake was rocking and rolling with winds blasting past 30 mph.  It is very unusual that I go out during high winds and this was certainly the windiest I have ever ventured out on Lake Puckaway.  The waves make sampling and everything else much more difficult.  I am glad I got there though, it will be a good test to see how much phosphorus is kicked up from the wind during this events.  The wind created a constant flurry of cattail fluff, unfortunately about 99% will be from non-native invasive cattail species.

The carp fisherman were also out there braving the wind and waves, I can't say I envied them.  I heard there efforts paid off and there are getting a good haul of marketable fish.

There was a fair number of Rudy Ducks bobbing up and down in the water and some wood ducks hanging around at the mouth of the river.

Water clarity as measured with a Secchi disk.  The disk was still visible while
resting on the bottom at the Fox River Inlet.

September 25, 2014 Water Monitoring Report

Fall is in the air.  Water was 64 degrees F.  Water clarity is close to normal for this time of year.  As the season winds down I'll have updates on this years projects.  Enjoy the nice weather forecast for the next several days.

Bulrushes planted in 2013 are thriving at the Eastern Dredge Bank

Wild Rice on the Dead River/Lake Puckaway

August 25, 2014 Water Monitoring Report

Today's water quality monitoring followed early morning thunderstorms that downed a few trees and branches.  The temperature was forecast to be in the low 90's, but temperatures were only in the low 80's, with a water temperature of 77 degrees  This summer continues to be mild.

August 8, 2014 Water Monitoring Report

Water clarity is relatively good for this time of year.  Even with calm weather last week algae blooms were not too bad for August.  The same could not be said for algae on Lake Poygan which had large clumps of algae floating on the surface in many places.

Water clarity on the Fox River in the Puckaway area improved upstream as usual for summer.  This year we are monitoring water quality on Buffalo Lake as well.  Unfortunately our monitoring sites are on bridges and we can't use Secchi disks from high vantage points, so we will only be able to use other parameters like Chlorophyll a and total phosphorous concentrations to make comparisons.  Still it will be very interesting to see the results when they come back from the lab.

July 23, 2014 Water Monitoring Report

The regular summer pattern continues with decreasing water clarity as water moves from inlet to outlet.  Surface water temperatures are approaching 80 degrees, and daytime dissolved oxygen levels are supersaturated.

July 13, 2014 Water Monitoring Report

We just can't seem to catch much of a break in terms of wind.  This seems to be one of the windiest Julys I can remember.  If the spray from the boat is going to hit me in the face, at least it is 73 degrees.  The wind and waves are sure keeping the bottom churned up too, but at the same time it keeps the algae from reproducing so much.

June 26, 2014 Water Monitoring Report

Water clarity (secchi depth) is moderately good on the lake, and excellent on the Grand River where the disk was clearly visible on the bottom in 4.7 feet of water.  Water levels remain abnormally high, for this time of year with the nearby marshes holding standing water.  Although the water is high for this time of year on the long-term average, but it is has been like this for the last several years, minus a record drought in 2012.

Fourth of July is coming up, have a fun and safe time on the lake.

June 10, 2014 Water Monitoring Report

A normal day on Lake Puckaway with a little chop, Bald Eagles in the sky, and fish in the water.  The amazingly clear water of two weeks was lost thanks to storms that brought runoff and waves that stirred up the bottom.  Unlike the lake and the Fox River the Grand River was clearer at 4.6 feet.

April 17, 2014 Water Monitoring Report

Water quality monitoring and several other projects will continue for 2014 due to a grant extension.  Thursday was the first day back on the lake, and it felt great after a very long winter.  Things are pretty normal for this time of year; the water is high, and there are many migratory birds on the lake, more than I have seen in years past.  I counted 43 Common Loons, 3 Bald Eagles, numerous diving ducks and 5 Trumpeter Swans at the mouth of the river to name just a few.  Looking forward to another year on the lake.

October 8, 2013 Water Monitoring Report

Fall is in the air, and ducks and geese are on the lake.  Water temperature flirted with 60 F, but it just wouldn't get up there while I was on the lake.  Unfortunately I ran out of time to run up river for a Secchi (water clarity) reading.

September 24, 2013 Water Monitoring Report

September 3, 2013 Water Monitoring Report

So far 2013 had good water clarity by Puckaway standards, unfortunately the heat wave at the end of August and early September caused a large algae bloom that put an end to that.

July 1, 2013 Water Monitoring Report

Water quality seems to have slipped into its typical pattern which should continue through the rest of the open water season.  This pattern is a decrease in water quality as water comes down the Fox River and through the lake.  This pattern developed later than the previous two years, likely because the cool spring has slowed algae growth.  Now with water temperatures in the 70's and 80's the green stuff can grow rapidly.  Still the temperature is cooler than last year, so maybe we will be spared heavy blooms.  Although I don't publish the Grand River measurements on the blog, it again has the highest water clarity measured in the early summer season.  Today it was 4.3 feet, but the Secchi disk was still visible while sitting on the bottom.

June 16, 2013 Water Monitoring Report

Happy Fathers' Day!

Many people were out enjoying the lake, with warm temperatures both in and out of the water (74 F).  Unfortunately heavy boat traffic was causing significant shore erosion above and below the the slow-no-wake area.  This, and Saturday's storms left the river turbid while the lake was fairly clear.

June 3, 2013 Water Monitoring Report

Today's average in-lake water clarity was 4.2 feet, and was courtesy of a massive zooplankton bloom.  It is massive in that zooplankton are very large, some large enough to see while standing in a boat, and massive in the number of individual tiny animals.  Large zooplankton are very efficient algae eating machines, and graze algae faster than it can reproduce. These zooplankton are feeding the walleye hatchery fish, not to mention yellow perch fry, and many others.  Soon the rapidly growing young fish will drive down the population of large zooplankton and algae will begin to dominate.

Water temperature was 67-70 degrees.

A Water Flea, or Daphnia, like this one from Lake Puckaway is a welcome sight.
Water Fleas eat large amounts of algae, and provide food for young fish.

May 24, 2013 Water Monitoring Report

Relatively heavy rains earlier in the week, coupled with bare ground on the farm fields probably brought in extra sediment down the river and into the lake.

The districts plantings from 2012 struggle to reach the light in turbid water.
These plants in the shallows, are now in the clear, so to speak.

May 14, 2013 Water Monitoring Report

Water clarity seems a little lower than normal and that is not to be unexpected with three days of high winds over the weekend.

Water clarity as measured with a Secchi disk

September 6, 2012 Water Monitoring Report

Summer is drawing to a close, the cane beds, and willows have are beginning to turn yellow, and the water is going from green to brown.   The color shift is partially a changing of the gaurd in algae species.  Fading away are the green, and blue green algae, replaced by brown algae.  Water clarity on the Fox River upstream of Puckaway could not be determined because the Secchi disk used to measure it was still visible resting on the bottom in 9 ft. of water.  I would estimate that true clarity was 10.5-12 ft.  The prior deepest recorded was 8.8 ft. at the same spot Sept. 16, 2011

At both the Fox River Inlet and deep hole the Secchi disk
hit bottom, and true clarity could not be read.  

August 6, 2012 Water Monitoring Report

Today the in-lake average was 0.9 ft. nearly the same for the last month.  The usual summer pattern continues.

July 17, 2012 Water Monitoring Report

At the Fox River Inlet the Secchi disk was visible while sitting on the bottom,
so true clarity could not be determined.

 Out of concern for oxygen and temperature levels during the recent fish kill, today I expanded water quality monitoring and reporting to include dissolved oxygen (D.O.) at each station.  I also did temperature and D.O. profiles to see how these factors change with depth.  While conditions are not as extreme as before they are a good indicator of how the lake responds to high temperatures.

Temperature depth profiles in the East and West Basin show that, as expected temperature does not change significantly with depth as with nearly all shallow lakes and reservoirs  Slightly higher temperatures in the West Basin were because they were taken slightly later in the day. 

D.O. concentrations at 1.5 feet were very good throughout the sample sites.  The D.O. depth profile however indicates how fast D.O levels begin to drop off in deeper water.  The primary reason for this is low water clarity.  As over abundant algae get mixed in the water column down below were little light penetrates they stop producing surplus oxygen, and begin extracting it from the water, just like the fish, invertebrates and zooplankton surrounding them.  Also the deeper the water, the further it is from the surface where oxygen can be exchanged with the atmosphere.  Still D.O. levels at the bottom are not harmful to fish, but oxygen is becoming limited.   Conversely he Fox River Deep Hole upsteam of Puckaway had a clarity of 7.75 feet and had a D.O. of 7.38 mg/L at 1.5 ft and 7.52 mg/L at 7 feet.  Clearer water has less algae.

An important note on D.O.:  After the sun goes done all algae and aquatic plants begin using oxygen found in the water.  If they are over abundant D.O. levels can sometimes become dangerously low.  D.O. levels have not been tested at night.  

D.O. at a depth of 1.5 feet

Clarity today hit a new low since monitoring began with only 6 inches of clarity exiting Lake Puckaway, while the lake took in 93 inches of clear water from the Fox River.  In other words the lake made the water 15.5 times less clear. 

Right to Left: Water as it moves The Fox River into Lake Puckaway and out again.
Stations match up with water clarity graph at top of post.