September 25, 2012 Water Monitoring Report

Water was ridiculously clear on the Fox River upstream of Puckaway.  With an almost complete lack of wind and bright cloudless sky I took the opportunity to fish watch along the Northern bank of the river.  I saw hundreds of bluegills, but only a few fit for the frying pan.  Lurking on the bottom was a beat up flathead catfish about 26", and several channel cats in the 18" range.  I also saw two dozen largemouth bass, two legal, and a dozen of their smallmouth cousins, the largest of which were 10"  There were thousands of baitfish, and two northern pick lurking in ambush for them.  No trophies along the shore, but it is nice to see them and make me wish I could have brought a fishing pole.

This Saturday is the duck opener, and  there is at least one large raft of coots, or as members of my family call them, mudhens, checking out the west shore.  I didn't go into much of the vegetated areas of the lake, so there could be many more coots and ducks tucked away here and there.  Good luck on Saturday!

Fox R Inlet and Deep Hole, could not be accurately measured because the Secchi disk was clearly visible on the bottom at both sites.  I would estimate that clarity at the Deep Hole was really 13-15 feet.

September 18, 2012 Water Monitoring Report

A cold September day on the lake and river, but if the fox squirrel I encountered swimming down the  middle of the Fox River can't complain than neither will I.  Water temperatures were 57.7 - 61.8 degrees. Water clarity is slightly better on the lake, and decreasing on the river.  The decrease on the river is expected, because the last reading was the best out of two years of monitoring, vegetation is breaking up in the lakes and rivers this time of year, and we should expect a little debris from Buffalo Lake in the river.  

Secchi disk was visible resting on the lake bottom at Fox R. Inlet.

Drought Jetsam

The drought has revealed a few interesting things as shoreline becomes exposed, most of it is old litter. Some beer cans probably more than 50 years old have labels still visible.  See more photos by clicking "read more", below the photo.    

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 23, 2012 Water Monitoring Report

Water clarity showed a slight improvement over the last three sampling events.  The temperature of the lake today was in the low 70's.  With lower temperatures, and less day light algae should reduce in number and bring clearer water into the fall.  I'll be sampling phosphorus, and observing water clarity into the fall this year.  

Secchi disk hit bottom and was still visible at the Fox River inlet

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.

Lake District Installing Living Fish Hatcheries

The Lake Puckaway Protection and Rehabilitation District if fighting the loss of important bluegill, yellow perch spawning habitat by planting emergent bulrush species and creeping spikerush.  Shortly after ice out these areas will become a living fish hatchery as yellow perch lay their eggs among the stems, and northern pike attach their eggs to the stems. Late in spring male bluegills, and pumpkinseeds will make and defend shallow nests where females will lay their eggs.  Come fall the living fish hatchery will be visited by mallards, teal, coots and many other species of waterfowl as they relish the seeds dropped by the bulrush plants.

Last planting completed August 5th! More information coming soon.