Canoe Reconnaissance

This is our first spring as regular visitors to Birch Lake. This weekend I kept a promise to myself and canoed the entire perimeter, splitting the trip into two days, two hours at a time. Luckily the weekend was calm, so it was easy to paddle at a relaxed pace along the shoreline.

Have you canoed your lake in spring? It’s a good time for a couple of reasons: There are no motorboat wakes to contend with, and the water is clearer before the sun and warmer temperatures have a chance to feed the algae. I would have liked to take a Secchi disc reading; I am sure it would have shown better light penetration than in summer.

Having no water-testing equipment, I just cruised along shore, a gentle paddle stroke at a time, eyes down on the water on the shoreward side – I’m a fisherman and so always want to see what’s active. What I saw bodes well for opening day two weeks from now. Numerous smallmouth bass were in the rocky shallows and under logs. Walleyes (identified by the white tail spot) haunted the woodpiles – in one case at least a dozen of them, in an assortment of sizes, some clearly in the keeper range.

In a back bay I found a substantial school of perch that, while still small, had made it past the fry stage and so have boosted their odds of survival to adulthood. One reed bed held a cluster of crappies. Here and there a northern pike or small musky hung suspended over gravel and sand bottom. One large musky cruised under the canoe. The lake’s many painted turtles were in evidence, some swimming underwater, others sunning on logs (until my quiet approach sent the plopping to safety). It was disappointing, though not surprising, to see a few rusty crayfish skittering tail-first across the bottom.

You learn things every time you look closely at a lake. I believe I found a few new fishing spots – that walleye-populated woodpile being one – and discovered why certain other places that look good in summer in fact are not (too shallow, bottom too mucky). It was a pleasant way to get to know “our” lake better and to get ready for fishing season. I also met a few lake neighbors, putting in their piers or sprucing up their waterfronts. Piers are back in place at most of the cottages and pontoon boats are in the water.

I would definitely recommend a slow canoe or rowboat ride around your lake before the weather warms up and the water gets busy. What you see will open your eyes to a world that’s bigger and more interesting than you realize.