Four days in July

What was it like on your lake over the Fourth of July? I wouldn't want to live on Birch Lake if it were always as busy as in the past four days. Fortunately, it isn't; not by far.

This is a quiet lake -- big enough, I like to say, to have nice fish, but small enough to keep the big boats off. The last half of that falls apart over the summer holidays weekends, especially the Fourth. This 180-acre lake near Harshaw, Wis., has mostly small summer cottages. Over the Fourth, almost all of them are occupied. On one hand that creates a festive atmosphere, conversation and laughter carrying over the water, campfire smoke scenting the air. On the other, it means boat traffic and the inevtiable conflicts between the boaters and those who favor quieter pursuits.

There's an easy remedy for such conflicts, of course, and maybe your lake has employed it. On Birch, we haven't. And so on these long weekends, we get boat noise and boat wake from mid-morning clear up to and after sunset. The time of day most appealing for fishing also appeals to water skiers, tubers, Jet Ski owners, and those who simple like to drive as fast as possible around the lake's perimeter.

Now, I can imagine I occupy some moral high ground because I like quiet activities, chiefly anchoring the boat over a favorite rock bar and slip-bobbering for walleyes and smallmouth bass. The truth is, though, I water-skied as a kid and enjoyed it; I also have a grandson, 18 months old now, who one day might like being towed behind a boat on an inflated tube. It's also true that I own a fishing boat with a 25 hp outboard and do not navigate silently to fishing spots. Do I have the right to say a motorboat is all right, so long as it's no bigger than mine? .

On the flip side, large boats have an outsized impact on the lake. Yesterday at dusk while I and others were fishing, at least one boat sounded like a stock car revving its engine for time trials at the track. Two or three other boats like it were tearing around, kicking up wakes that rocked the fishing boats constantly. The evening sounded like an engine and smelled faintly of gasoline. My cousin Tom observes that big boats and Jet Skis are like nuclear weapons -- it takes just one to dominate the atmosphere of a whole lake, at any rate a lake the size of Birch.

So, what's the remedy? Hours. Many lake associations have them. Between, say, 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., anything goes on the water. Outside those hours, it's no-wake speeds, or skiing and "personal watercraft" are prohibited, or some restrictions are set so that anglers, canoers and kayakers can have their moments. It's an ideal compromise. In bright midday sunlight, the fishing is generally poor anyway. It also tends to be windy, making things difficult for paddlers. Boat traffic then isn't really bothersome. Meanwhile, the mellow, quiet hours are protected.

It's a solution I'd like to see the Friends of Birch Lake try -- even if just on an advisory basis, or an honor system if you will. Of course, this being Sunday, the last gasp of a four-day holiday, the weekenders will go home, and once again the lake will be quiet -- even, for the most part, during the heat of the day. That's why we like this lake. That's why we live here.