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UTDOOR CONNECTION
SECTION C JULY 5, 2014 ESTHERVILLE NEWS
STORIES, ADVICE AND INFORMATION FOR OUTDOOR LOVERS
After the storm Never say never! BY STEVE WEISMAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
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ever say never! I think those words definitely apply to Mother Nature and the weather we have been having. I mean, here we were this spring with really dry conditions and no run-off to speak of. Loon Lake was low, tiles were pretty much dry…we worried about what to do with the docks and if the hoists would be able to handle the shallow water. There was no end in sight. Never say never…earlier in the spring a 40 percent chance of rain meant nothing. We would get nothing or maybe just a few tenths. My son kept saying, “Dad, I have seen forecasts where June is supposed to be a really wet month.” Sure, I thought. I’ve heard that before, and when we received little rain the first part of June, I said, “Ya right!”
See STORM on Page 6C While storms and rain were prevalent these past couple weeks of June, they also provide the opportunity for scenes liks this.
SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014
ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
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CHASING BIG BLUEGILLS ON WEST LAKE OKOBOJI W
shallow weed areas are always good bets. At the same time, West Lake has an incredible wood dock system. All of this wood is excellent habitat for not only bluegills but also other game fish. Because of its depth, the end of these docks can be in anywhere from 6-12 feet of water. With the water clarity and a good pair of sunglasses, you can see what kind and how many fish are around these docks. So, these are areas to target.” Grosvenor cautions, however, that not TEVE all docks are equal when it EISMAN comes to holding fish, so it OUTDOOR EDITOR takes scouting to find the best ones. As we move into the month of July, the fact that it is loaded with a series of bays that hold weedlines that run Grosvenorʼs son, Calvin (L) and his cousin Max. fishing in the Midwest. “With its incredible water anywhere from 14-22 feet in say that these depth means one thing: per- feet either above the weeds or can clarity, extensive off the bottom when fishing weedbeds/lines hold fish all fect bluegill habitat! weedbeds/lines that can the deep weed edges. around the lake. However, be found in all of the bays Lures and baits “The slip bobber allows us the more you fish the areas, and a strong bluegill popGrosvenor always has an to fish a lot of area. We will the more selective you can ulation, fishing bluegills array of tackle ready for the anchor on the wind side of be, and you will begin to day. His go-to presentation is the weedbed/line, so that we establish a pattern of what on this lake is an awea slip bobber rig with either a can cast with the wind. We you consider your favorite some experience.” Here is what Grosvenor and plain hook or a tiny gold jig can also cast on all sides of spots.” his clients experience each (1/64 to 1/80-ounce) tipped the boat. Many times when Grosvenor notes that he can time he runs his WX 2060 with a Belgian worm (red we do this, we will find one tell what kind of a fishing day Skeeter on West Lake. worm, leaf worm), a medium spot that seems to hold bigger it will be by simply driving During the month of June to large leech or a wax worm bluegills. It’s then pretty easy along the weedline and (just completed), Grosvenor or silver wiggler – in that to move toward that spot watching his Lowrance has been targeting the shal- order. Grosvenor will set the where the bigger fish are HDS10 and its side-scan. “If low weed beds and the exten- bobber to match the weeds located. There is also some- I mark bluegills sitting above sive dock system. “These depth, trying to be about two thing about a bobber moving the weeds, I can pretty much with the waves in the water assure you that the fish are that attracts fish.” going to be active and The other option is aggressive. They will be that straightlining a Shuck’s way pretty much all over the www.motorinnautogroup.com Jigger Minnow with one of lake. If I don’t mark them, these baits. “You fish this then I know that they are right over the side of the boat down along the weed edges without a bobber. We will go or even in the weeds themto this when the fish are down selves. Then it becomes more in the weeds or along the of a challenge and a change deep edge of the weeds. Plus, of strategy to get to these the flash of the Little Jigger fish-say straightlining or vercan really attract the tical jigging a Shuck’s Jigger bluegills.” Minnows.” Grosvenor says fish locaSummer and tion can change daily, even deep weeds by the hour. “They might be “This is my favorite place on top of the weeds, and all of to fish,” says Grosvenor. “As a sudden they disappear. water temperatures rise and They haven’t left. Instead, the weeds begin to emerge in they might have dropped the 14-22 feet of water, I’ll down into the weeds or A Member Of The MOTOR INN AUTO GROUP Estherville • Spirit Lake head to these weed beds. I maybe down along the deep • LeMars • Algona • Webster City • Knoxville• Orange City • Carroll
hen John Grosvenor, longtime Iowa Great Lakes fishing guide (www.jtgexpeditions), thinks about taking his clients fishing on West Lake Okoboji, his eyes light up. After all, West Lake Okoboji is home to some of the finest bluegill
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Photo by John Grosvenor
weed edge. “
Late summer We have now moved into the month of August. The weeds are at full force, and now Grosvenor adds another spot around these weeds. “If they aren’t on top of the weeds, and they aren’t deep in the weeds, I will look to the flats on the outside of the weeds in 19-25 feet of water. “ Again, according to Grosvenor, it’s about working a spot. At this time of year, Grosvenor finds that medium to large leeches become a great gill catcher! “It seems the leeches will attract the larger bluegills. There are times when we get pestered by lots of 5-7 inch fish. The smaller fish tend to leave the leeches alone and give the bigger fish the chance to go after the bait.” Plus, leeches mean bonus fish. On any given day, Grosvenor’s clients have the opportunity to catch smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, northern pike and walleyes. Nothing beats a youngster battling a 20-inch smallmouth or walleye!
than just sitting in one spot. “The difference between no fish, small fish and big fish can be only a few feet when you’re fishing these weeds. I have a Minnkota Terrova IPilot, so it’s really easy for me to bump the boat along. We’re always fan casting our slip bobber rigs, so when we get a good bite going in a certain spot, I’ll move us a little so that we can fish more of that area.” If you are using a traditional anchor, then set up with the wind so that you can move along the weedline and every so often let out a few feet of line. “Of course, you don’t want to run out of rope,” says Grosvenor with a laugh.
Keeping bluegills
Grosvenor says his clients like both the fight of the bluegills, their willingness to bite a hook and their table fair. “They are a great tasting fish. I always try to make sure that my clients get all they fish they want for a meal. However, I also believe that even though the limit is 25 bluegills and we can catch that many per person - we don’t NEED to keep that I really believe in Using the anchor many. catching plenty for a good Grosvenor believes in using meal, but catch and release is an anchor system for more a lot of fun.”
SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014
ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
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Nature’s light show: FIREFLIES “A
h I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved the idea of summer and sun and all things hot,” Olaf the Snowman from the movie Frozen. If a snowman can get that excited about summer, why can’t we?! It inspires that childhood glee discovered in chasing butterflies and catching a jar full of fireflies. Fireflies are our summer-long firework display. Maybe now would be a good time to take a closer look at the life of a lightning bug before its gone in a flash! From the family Lampyridae (lamp, that seems fitting), the firefly or lightning bug belongs to the beetle order Coleoptera. Females lay eggs on the ground surface or sometimes underground. After three to four weeks, the eggs hatch and the juvenile larvae begin to feed. The larvae will feed throughout the rest of the summer and hibernate throughout the winter. In the larvae stage, fireflies consume other insects and some plant materials. Once temperatures warm-up, the larvae will pupate for one to two
JENNA POLLOCK EMMET COUNTY NATURALIST
weeks and turn into the adult beetle. In the adult beetle phase, their diet becomes more herbaceous. Although some adults can be rather carnivorous. Fireflies in general are classified as omnivores. Lightning bugs utilize bioluminescence (production and emission of light by a living organism) for mating, self-defense, and predation purposes. The larval and adult phases utilize bioluminescence indicating that it goes beyond using light for attracting a mate. It’s an internal exchange of chemicals that produce the glow. This light can be yellow, green or red. Females are often flightless remaining on the ground while males fly overheard. Different species “flash” a differ-
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ent light pattern to draw-in the same species. Species will also display synchronized bioluminescence- “flashing” their lights intermittently in a group. I remember several times in my youth imagining that fireflies were lighting up the runway of a landing strip. The synchronizing of species might help explain the phenomenon of timing. There are some species of lightning bugs, particularly the females, which will mimic another species in an attempt to attract a male. When the male lands near the female, she will “sting” him leaving him paralyzed and then consume the firefly. Those fireflies are referred to as “firefly fatale.” Lightning bugs prefer a moist environment near a prevalent water supply. Wetlands and marshes attract fireflies. This is especially important for the larvae. With our surplus water supply, we should witness a firefly boom next year if the summer months remain moist for adolescent development. Don’t miss out on the light show. Enjoy the great outdoors this summer by spending a night watching fireflies!
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SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014
ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
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Six easy steps for bird identification W
BY WENDELL HANSEN BIRD HAVEN
hat a season this is turning out to be for the birds and bird sightings! A few years back we had a cold wet spring like the one we're having this year. During the spring migration that year most of the northbound birds were late in showing up, just like they were this year, and the same pattern is playing out again. On both the spring and fall migration the weather plays a big part. For instance, for the most part of April we had a north wind. That wind shut down all of the migrating northbound birds. It was in the first week of May that we finally got our first southern wind, and the birds seemed to pour in. Overnight we had an overload of Baltimore Orioles, Rosebreasted Grosbeaks, Rubythroated Hummingbirds and to top it off all kinds of new birds that had not been seen in this area for years, and for some it could possibly be the first sighting ever. Some of our rare sightings included the Summer Tanager, Western Kingbird, Lazuli Bunting, Painted
Bunting, Black-headed Grosbeak, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck and the White-winged Dove. Some of the birds have been seen in this area from time to time. In the past, we would get a report of a rare bird seen by one or two people at most. Now the reports are from eight or nine different individuals of the same bird. There are six keys (with four of them being the main keys) to help you ID a bird: 1. Size and Shape 2. Color Pattern 3. Behavior 4. Habitat. The final two keys are Field Marks and Songs/calls. n Size and shape are the first pieces of information you should examine. With just a little practice and observation, you'll find that differences in size and shape will jump out at you. The first step is to learn typical bird silhouettes. n For color pattern focus on overall color pattern. Understand that these are the colors that are found in the body, and consequently a bird can contain more that one basic color. n Behavior. Birds have unique ways of acting, moving, sitting and flying. When
you learn these habits, you can recognize many birds just by the way they behave. n Habitat: grassland, swamp, woods (pine or deciduous). By noting what habitat you're in, you can have a very good idea about the kinds of birds you're most likely to see. And the last two keys: n Field Marks. Once you've looked at size and shape, color pattern, behavior and habitat to decide what general type of bird you're looking at you may still have a few birds that are similar. Field marks are the distinctive stripes, spots, patterns, eye-ring, wing bars and highlights that all birds have. n Songs and calls. This is a hard one. The best way to start is to look up online or get a bird song CD and play it over and over till the sound sticks in your mind. Start with birds you see most often. One customer came in awhile back and asked about a bird and wanted to know if I knew what it was. The size and shape of the bird was a little smaller than an American Robin and had no neck. The color pattern was
A rarity, this white-winged Dove stopped by Bird Haven just a few weeks ago and was feeding along with some Mourning Doves. Photo by Wendell Hansen
black and white, while behavior wasn't observable at that time. As for habitat, I asked where she lived in the area and was told she had a lot of mature deciduous trees. Finally, for field marks, she had seen two white wing bars and had only seen the bird from behind and just off to the side. The only thing I had to ask was did it look like a flying skunk when the bird was flying away and her reply was “yes.” What we had was a Rosebreasted Grosbeak. It was her first sighting ever. If not
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for the notes that she had jotted on a note pad we would have never known what it was. The accompanying photo is of a White-winged Dove that was taken here at Birdhaven just a few weeks ago. The dove was feeding along with some Mourning Doves. What caught my attention was the white trim along the edge of the wings. I was on my way out, so I just snapped a few fast photos. It wasn't until the photos were downloaded that I found out I had a new bird. I did not need the first four
keys to ID this bird or the last key. Instead, it was key 5: field marks that identified my backyard visitor: white edge on wing, black dash on cheek, red eye and the tall tail sign and a blue ring around the eye. The last time this dove was reported in Iowa was10 years ago. If this spring is any indicator, as was the last wet one, then I can hardly wait till the fall and winter! The last wet year we had was fantastic; this one should be awesome. As always: get up, get out and enjoy the outdoors!
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ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
2014-15 federal duck stamp goes on sale
Why bees are important for our environment BY MIRIAM PATTON PALO ALTO COUNTY NATURALIST
The bee hive at the Lost Island Nature Center is one of our most popular exhibits. Student who have been to the Center before will run back to the corner where they live in our indoor hive and check out the activity there. Bees are fascinating. I am continually amazed at their life cycle, their work load and their importance to pollination. We don’t think much about them, but if they disappeared, we would notice their absence. There are three kinds of bees in the colony. The queen is the largest bee. Her main purpose is to produce eggs. During the summer, the queen can lay up to 1,500 eggs a day. Fertile eggs become workers (females), unfertilized eggs become drones (males). When the queen starts to slow down, workers place a recently laid fertilized egg into a queen cell to develop into a new queen. Those larva are fed “royal jelly”, a high protein mixture of pollen and honey, for five days. A queen may live up to four years. Drones (males) have only one function and that is to fertilize the queen. Drones do not have stingers. At the end of the summer the drones are stung to death or driven off the hive because their
job is done and they are unable to help the worker bees and would eat up the precious food. Worker bees are the smallest bees in the hive. They have different jobs, depending on their age. For the first few days after emerging from their cells, the worker bees clean out brood cells and remove dead bees from the hive. Day six through eleven, the worker bees feed larvae. When the worker bee is 12 to 16 days old, their wax glands are developed and they can build honey comb. From day 16 to day 20, workers become guard bees that guard the entrance to the hive, making sure no intruders enter to steal the honey. They will attack wasps, bees from other hives, or even a mouse! During the last three weeks of their lives, worker bees leave the hive to forage, going out to collect nectar and pollen. Altogether, worker bees must fly 55,000 miles and visit one million flowers to produce one pound of honey. As they visit the flowers, pollen from one flower sticks to their legs and rubs off onto other flowers, and pollination occurs. Honey bees pollinate approximately $15 billion worth of crops in the United States annually. The value of pollination by native bees and other wildlife is even greater.
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Studies in many parts of the world have shown that pollinator populations have been declining. Habitat loss, pesticide use, diseases, parasites and the spread of invasive species are all causes of this decline. There are several things each of us can do to help local pollinators. Choose native species of flowers whenever possible. Cultivars often have more petals for beauty, but less nectar. Plant clumps of flowers of the same species together rather than scattering them throughout the landscape. Bees tend to feed on one species at a time. Remember to plant a variety of flowers, making sure that there is something in bloom from April through October. Try to use the least amount of pesticides as possible. Even slow acting insecticides can end up in pollen and nectar brought back to the hive, eventually killing the larvae. Don’t manicure your yard. Keep farm hedgerows, old field margins and roadsides wild. These areas provide places for nesting, resting, overwintering as well as feeding. Enjoy the bees in your back yard and think about all they do for us. The next time you bite into an apple or eat an orange, thank a bee.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The new 2014-15 federal duck stamp went on sale Friday, June 27. The stamps, which cost $15, are valid through June 30, 2015. Purchased by millions of waterfowl hunters, wildlife enthusiasts and collectors every year, duck stamps help raise money to purchase and protect wetlands for ducks, geese and other wildlife species. “Duck stamps are one of the traditional ways hunters and others give back to conservation,” said DU CEO Dale Hall. “We encourage everyone, whether they hunt waterfowl or not, to buy a duck stamp to help conserve our precious wetland resources. Many duck hunters even 'double up' their contributions to this conservation effort by buying two stamps every year.” This year's federal duck stamp artwork is an oil painting of a pair of canvasbacks by Adam Grimm of Burbank, S.D. Grimm is a repeat winner; his art was also represented on the 2000-2001 federal duck stamp. Si youn Kim, 16, of Tenafly, N.J., took top honors in the 2013 National Junior Duck Stamp Contest with an acrylic painting of a king eider, which will be featured on the 2014-2015 junior duck stamp, which sell for $5, and the funds go toward environmental education. The junior duck stamp is part of a yearlong conservation program used by educators across the nation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the duck stamp programs, hosts a first day of sale ceremony annually at the Interior Department in Washington, D.C. The duck stamp, also known as the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, dates back to 1934. Since then, the program has raised more than $800 million to help acquire and protect more than 6 million acres of wetlands within the National Wildlife Refuge System. “DU and other conservation groups continue to work hard in Washington to raise the price of the duck stamp, which has remained unchanged since 1991,” Hall said. “We need this increase to help keep pace with inflation and retain the ability of duck stamp funds to conserve habitat. We hope hunters and others conservationists will support this increase when it comes before Congress again in the future.” Waterfowl hunters age 16 and older are required to purchase and carry a duck stamp while hunting. A duck stamp also provides free admission to national wildlife refuges (NWRs) that are open to the public. Duck stamps are sold at post offices nationwide, online through the U.S. Postal Service, at www.duckstamp.com and at many NWRs and sporting goods stores. Electronic versions of the duck stamp can also be purchased online – visit www.fws.gov/duckstamps for more information.
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Many events upcoming for county conservation
STORM Continued from page C1 Oh my, was I wrong. We’ve gone from a dry weather pattern to almost tropical. High humidity and warm temperatures: bang, thunderstorms erupt! Water is rushing out of Loon Lake and into Big Spirit, the spillway is running, there are chances of thunderstorms pretty much every day and the potential for severe weather seems to be always at hand. Never say never. Yet, Mother Nature could do an about face, and we could be back in the drought mode in a hurry.
Monday nightʼs storm: June 16 Oh what a night! Think back to late afternoon, evening and night of Monday, June 16. It was incredible. I think everybody has a story about that night and the storm. All across northwest Iowa severe
After a spring of low water, Big Spirit Lake is now flowing over the spillway into the north end of East Lake Okoboji.
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weather erupted again and again. We have lived on the east side of Big Spirit Lake (between Reed’s Run and Red Nose) for nearly five years, so we have seen what a strong wind can do and the waves that can occur. But never have we seen the waves like they were on Monday evening. The wind came hard, and I mean hard, out of the northwest. Not just for a few minutes, but sustained for what I would guess an hour. Now that’s a lot of time for the waves to do their damage. Five footers for sure and possibly larger rolled into our shoreline. Oh, and for the rain. Right in the middle of everything, I heard a noise and looked up to see a huge oak tree (about 60 feet from our lakeside porch and deck) come crashing down toward the house. It landed right on
the railing of the deck just above our walkout porch. It missed our main level house windows by about 12 inches. After recovering from that, we looked out on the lakeside and watched two pontoons come down the shoreline, taking out one dock along the way. The dock to the north stopped the one pontoon and the wind banged it on the rocky shoreline. At the same time, somehow, the other pontoon slipped back out and headed farther to the south. Our dock began to lean toward the south and brackets began to pop on one side. Still, the dock hung on and made it through the night in a kind of all-in-one-piece battered state. Our hoist held our pontoon, but for over half an hour, the rear corner (northwest) kept rising up a foot or so as the waves battered its backside.
Luckily, the pontoon and hoist stayed put, although I found out later the right ‘toon got scratched up from getting rammed into the hoist!
A war zone No matter where you went the next day, it was a war zone! Leaves, branches and trees down all over and pieces of docks, some boats and jet skis became piled up on the south end of both Big Spirit and West Okoboji. Hoists were twisted and some flipped upside down and covered with water. Yet, as difficult as this was, you only had to head west to Rock Rapids or Rock Valley to see huge devastation with rivers reaching record highs. Yes, never say never when it comes to the weather. Mother Nature has been pretty ornery, and I think she still has some of it in her. Only time will tell.
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A look at the Lakes Regional Hospital Bio Retention Cell Photo by John H. Wills
What’s going on at the hospital? I BY JOHN H. WILLS
CLEAN WATER ALLIANCE COORDINATOR
f you have driven by the Lakes Regional Hospital in the last two months you may have noticed some “landscaping” happening at the Eye Care Centre, Lakes Regional Hospital, Keelson Harbor, and Immanuel Lutheran Church. Conservation practices called Low Impact Development are nearing completion on these sites and others. These practices will protect Center Lake and West Okoboji since Center Lake flows into West Okoboji. There were 14 of these Low Impact Development practices built in this 3-block area that will filter millions of gallons of water prior to that water going into the storm sewer system and then into Center Lake. In the process of the rain water runoff going through these practices the pollutants that harm our lakes are filtered out of the runoff and then those pollutants are used in these conservation practices by the plants that are planted there.
This project is one of our most ambitious that we have done. The size of these low impact development practices is large. By installing a “few” large practices we were able to get a bigger “bang for the buck”. In addition to the lake being improved, the businesses get some benefit, too. They have new flower gardens, more level lawns, and the satisfaction that they are doing good things for our community. The construction of these low impact development practices were made possible by grants from the Iowa Watershed Improvement Review Board (WIRB), U.S. EPA Section 319 through the Iowa DNR, Dickinson County Water Quality Commission, City of Spirit Lake, Iowa’s Lake Restoration Fund, Center Lake Improvement and Preservation Corporation, and others. These practices, for the most part will have flowers and will be attractive “center pieces” in the fight to improve our lakes water quality.
SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014
ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
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Summer action over and around the weeds BY BOB JENSEN FISHING THE MIDWEST FISHING TEAM
A
s summer progresses, the various vegetation in the lakes becomes a big factor in our fishing. The different types of vegetation that live in the lakes will be home to a variety of fish species. Some weeds will be in the shallow water, others will be deeper. Almost wherever you fish in the summer, vegetation will hold some fish. Here are some ideas for fishing that vegetation. The main reason game fish are in and around weeds this time of year is because the weeds are where the smaller fish that the game fish like to eat are. The vegetation provides cover for the smaller fish, but every now and then a small fish will wander away from the cover. They usually don’t last long
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FISHINGTHEMIDWEST.COM Also visit FACEBOOK.COM/FISHINGTHEMIDWEST when they do this. Walleyes are often thought to be a fish of deeper water and that like rock and sand, and on some bodies of water that is very true. But there are lots of times on lots of lakes where walleyes will be on the deeper edges of weeds, say eight to twelve feet of water, in good numbers. There are also many times when they’ll be in the shallower weed clumps in depths of four to six feet of water. When they’re in the weeds, you can catch them. Jigs and crankbaits are very productive presentations for working the deep
weedline. They can be worked quickly so you can cover water fast in your search for fish willing to bite. It works well to have the angler in the front of the boat throwing the crankbait and the angler in back using a jig. The crankbait will take the active fish: The jig will take the fish that want the bait a little slower. Salmo’s Hornet series of baits can be very good. The #6 is especially good for largemouth bass. It will also take walleyes, but if walleyes are your target, start with the #5 size. Cast it ahead of the boat to the
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weedline. Follow up with a jig tipped with plastic. Weed-Weasel jigs are weedless and will enable you to slide your jig through the cover with minimal hang-ups. A slow, finesse presentation is not necessary. Retrieve the jig with snaps and brief pauses. An eighth ounce jig will work well, but don’t hesitate to tie on a larger jig. Live bait will get ripped off the jig by the vegetation quickly, so plastic is what we will be tipping the jig
with. Something like an Impulse Paddle Minnow or Smelt Minnow will be good. Largemouth bass will also be found along the weedline. Fish them like you would walleyes on the weedline, but substitute an Impulse Dip-Stick or Ribbon Worm on the jig. On cloudy days and early and late in the day, largemouth will move to the tops of the weeds. This is when we throw either a spinnerbait or a topwater. They’ll be near the surface under
these low-light conditions, and you can usually work the bait pretty fast. Northern pike, muskies, and panfish also call the weedline home in the summer, or at least they make frequent stops at the weedline. The fun of fishing in and around vegetation is that you never know what going to bite next. The only thing for sure is that you’re probably going to get bit frequently, and that’s why you should fish the weeds this time of year.