From the CLA

by HAROLD WOLF CLA President haroldwolf63@gmail.com

Easter Lane Good day, my fellow Canadian Lakers! As I put pen to paper this morning, it’s 6 a.m. Wednesday, April 21. Agnes and I just got in from our morning walk—Agnes is our one-year-old Bavarian Mountain Hound. Her nickname is “Little Rascal,” which tells you what one-year-old puppies are all about. It’s 24 degrees outside, the turkeys are gobbling, and the sky is brightening up from the sun that is soon to make its beautiful appearance. I now have Agnes wrapped up in her “sleepy time” blanket on my lap, along with a hot cup of coffee in my hand. The house is still. Writing does not come easy for me, so I need these quiet times to gather my thoughts.

By the time this edition of The Canadian Laker reaches you, we will all have our boats in the water. Our beaches, tennis and pickleball courts, and golf courses will all be filled with smiling Canadian Lakes members, families, and their guests. It’s “high season” in Canadian Lakes.

I now have six months into being Canadian Lakes Association (CLA) president. In this short time, I have had the privilege of working with a few of our CLPOC department heads, and it’s not a coincidence or happenstance that we are able to enjoy this wonderful community. Here are just a few examples of the amazing individuals we should all appreciate: Dennis Wolfe, our PGA professional, is simply the best! I have been a member at several golf clubs over the years, and none of them provided the kind of creative fun and competitive events Dennis organizes each year and every season. Roger Stobert and his Mobile Watch crew took care of traffic control at our Easter Egg Lane Event. What a professional group of people. Kim, Meghan, Faith, and our administrative staff in the CLPOC office couldn’t have been more helpful and patient with me as I learned my new role as CLA president (sorry, ladies, for how many times I made you get up and unlock the door). These are just a few individuals who have made my first six months as CLA president so much easier, and they also help us all to live the “good life.” THANK YOU ALL!

Our CLA Board came up with a very creative way to provide our community with the Easter Egg Lane Event, which replaced our traditional Easter Egg Hunt. It was a drive-through “Bunny Hole Hollow,” where roughly 180 kids, parents, and grandparents came out and received Easter eggs filled with candy, as well as cookies, stickers, lollipops, tattoos, and bubbles at each of our “bunny holes.” They also had a chance to win a few extra prizes: our Springtime Basket of Fun, our Jelly Bean Belly Bunny, and our surprise CLA-members-only drawing for a family of four gift package to Dippity Dogs in Lakeview! And they were even able to wave at the Easter Bunny on their way out. The weather was nice and everyone had a great time. I’d like to thank all the CLA board members and volunteers for their hard work to make this event possible and successful.

Our CLA Board is now working on our Summer Picnic, which is sure to be a fantastic event for our Canadian Lakes community, on Saturday, July 3. Please keep in mind that volunteering plays an important role in the CLA events. As we begin to host more of them, we will need your help. While I am speaking of volunteers, we have another opportunity for you. We need a couple of our Canadian Lakes members willing to volunteer to be CLA board members, as we will have some openings on our board next year due to current board members’ terms expiring. So please step up and help us keep the CLA tradition going strong and providing the fun to our community.

If you are not a CLA member yet, let me give you some incentives to come join the fun. We have several new things this year. Our Lite Lines

editor, Marsha Wolf (my wife), has come up with some new ideas that our younger and younger-at-heart— ALL OF OUR CLA MEMBERS—are enjoying. Lite Lines now has a new feature, “Kids Corner,” that will each month provide jokes and riddles, trivia facts, family-friendly area event information, a monthly prize offering, and quarterly contests. Did you say prize offering? Our first contest, announced in our May Lite Lines, was “Name the Character,” and the winner will be announced in our June issue. The contest was to name our own Lite Lines character (like “Where’s Waldo?”). This character will be “hidden” each month somewhere in Lite Lines. Every CLA member who finds the character can send an email to our cla21fun@gmail.com site to be entered into a random drawing to win a free ice cream cone at Dockside Ice Cream at CL Pizza Company. Each month we will have ten prize winners.

Other benefits for CLA members only are our CLA Facebook page, which provides the opportunity to win prizes in conjunction with our events; CLA Shopping Spree and Poker Run contests; the CLA Member Directory and Buying Guide; Lite Lines, which you will receive each month, along with a monthly prize opportunity; our monthly CLA Membership Appreciation Drawing, which awards a $25 gift card from an area business; and the CLA membership cards, soon to serve as “discount cards” at our participating local businesses.

The amazing prizes for our CLA Shopping Spree Contest, which began February 1 and ends June 21, are a $500 package for 2021/2022 boat storage donated by EMS Boat Storage & Small Engine Repair or a $200 gift card package that includes gift certificates to Antlers, the Canadian Lakes Shell Station, and Scott’s Body Shop. All CLA members need to do is shop at our businesses that advertise in our CLA Member Directory, save receipts, and place them in one of our drop-box locations at ACE Hardware, Hixson’s Family Market, or Canadian Lakes Pharmacy. Our two lucky winners will be drawn on June 22.

A second contest began May 21 and runs until June 6—our CLA Poker Run Contest. This is also for CLA members only. All members need to do is shop at the participating businesses, draw a card from the playing deck in each store, and build the best poker hand or collect the most cards. Two winners will receive either 2021/2022 boat storage donated by Lakeside Motor Sports or two rounds of golf with cart donated by Tullymore Golf Course.

So, as you can see, you will receive an incredible amount of value for your $25 CLA membership fee. If you are not already a CLA member, COME JOIN THE FUN!

Stay healthy, safe, and strong!

Summer Concert Series Returns BY MARILYN YVON

It’s with great pleasure that the Summer Concert Committee announces the return of the Lakeside Motor Sports Summer Concert Series. Anticipating a summer when people can mingle and enjoy the beauty and camaraderie of Canadian Lakes, we have scheduled an abbreviated season of three Saturday concerts: July 31, August 21, and August 28.

Dave Spieker, who is responsible for booking our musical entertainment, says, “I am excited about our lineup and think it will bring good variety to our community.”

The concerts begin at 7 p.m. and are held at the Reuther Music Pavilion at Pierce Beach on West Canadian Lake. Bring lawn chairs—or your boat—pack some snacks, and enjoy an evening of top-notch entertainment by the water. Here’s what you can look forward to:

SwingShift is an elite 10-piece band, playing jazz, Latin, Swing era, and dance favorites. SwingShift presents a complete celebration of music and dance—three vocalists combine three-part harmonies with dynamic choreography. You’ll tap your toes, sing along, and maybe take a few spins around the dance floor!

Atomic Annie is female-fronted, highenergy fun! This variety cover band presents music you know and love, with its own special twist—from 60’s and 70’s rock to 80’s MTV classics to 90’s alternative to modern rock/pop covers. This group’s unique style will have you singing along.

The Kari Lynch Band, a Canadian Lakes favorite, returns with its alt-country style. Based in Nashville, the group members are originally from Grand Rapids. Talented singers, songwriters, collaborators, and performers, they deliver an exciting, powerful, and memorable performance. Known for powerhouse lead vocals, solid harmonies, and dynamic live shows, their program spans musical genres and resonates with listeners of all ages.

These concerts are made possible by the generous sponsorship of our Title Sponsor, Lakeside Motor Sports; and our Concert Sponsor, Ice Mountain. Because of their generosity and our shortened season, we do not need to depend on other business sponsorships this year.

Thanks to our committee volunteers Dave Spieker, Danielle Maneke, Susan Morris, Marilyn Yvon, Jim Brakora, Kathleen Reau, Jim Benoit, and Diane Spieker, who are all looking forward to seeing our Canadian Lakes community at the concert season this summer.

We hope to see you soon!

Concerts may be affected by future COVID-19 restrictions. Updates will be posted in the Canadian Lakes News and The Community Connection e-newsletters and on the Canadian Lakes Reuther Music Pavilion Facebook page.

Left: Atomic Annie

Below: Kari Lynch Band

BY CHRIS ZIMMERMAN

LAST SUMMER at about this time, I pulled into the parking lot where the Little Muskegon River pours over the dam in downtown Altona. A younger version of myself was there with his two daughters, fishing. They cast worms under a bobber into the swirling froth, hoping for a fish to bite the worms and pull the bobber under the surface.

I didn’t say anything to the young family; but the setting took me in, the way trout fishing always does. My eyes turned to the evening sky. There, in the twilight of midsummer, clouds of slender, dark mayflies swarmed overhead in a mating ritual cast from the script of The Wizard of Oz. You know the scene: when the Wicked Witch banishes her legions of flying monkeys from her castle. The monkeys fly away in swarms so thick they nearly blot out the sun.

Mayflies in such abundance tickle a fly fisherman’s fancy. Without them, the trout have nothing to feed on. With them, the river’s surface becomes an overhead buffet line for hungry trout. I stood there for twenty minutes or so, watching the bugs in the sky, the inky darkness of the water, and the dreamy mingling of the two. I waited for the splashing goodness of a trout, behind a log, in the swift middle section, near the old bridge, or as far upstream as I could see.

Nothing.

And with that observation, I formulated an opinion that the Little Muskegon River was too warm, too muddy, and too slow to support decent populations of trout.

That theory held true until I spoke with Mark Tonello, fisheries biologist with the Department of Natural Resources. “There are places in the Little Muskegon with really nice brook trout,” Tonello said, “and we don’t plant brook trout. Most of the guys who catch them get away from road crossings and bust a lot of brush getting to trout.”

The DNR stocks the Little Muskegon with rainbow and brown trout. In 2020, 6,000 rainbow and 2,400 browns were set free not far from Canadian Lakes. Most of the trout are below the minimum size limit, but the DNR seldom plants fish that are. “The rainbows average 7.3 inches, while the browns are 6.2,” Tonello said. “We raise trout at

hatcheries in Oden or Harrietta. After a year, we release them into the wild.”

Anglers are encouraged to consult the 2021 Michigan Fishing Guide before keeping any trout for the table: www. michigan.gov/dnr. In the section of the Little Muskegon closest to Canadian Lakes, brook trout have to be 7 inches, while browns and rainbows must be 10 inches. The limit is five fish per day, but no more than three trout can be greater than 15 inches. Anglers can use whatever tackle they want. Popular trout lures are spinners, nightcrawlers, minnow imitations such as Rapalas, and, of course, trout flies tied from feathers and fur that mimic insects or small rodents.

Fishermen are reminded to respect private property. Anglers have the right to fish, so long as they stay in the river. If they encounter an obstacle in the river such as a deep hole or a fallen log, they can get out of the water and hop onto private property. They don’t have the right to linger or fish from private property. As long as they’re in the water fishing, fishermen are legal.

The Little Muskegon’s beginnings are at the outlet of Horsehead Lake near Mecosta. It flows in a southsouthwest direction before it dumps into the Croton Pond above Croton Dam. Along the way, the east branch of the Little Muskegon, Shinglebolt Creek, Cedar Creek, and several other creeks dump into the Little Muskegon.

Tonello said plans are being made to remove the dam in Altona. “It’s old and crumbling and the road commission wants it taken out,” he said. Once the dam is removed, the pool and eddies won’t be available to families to fish, but neither will the collection of sediment on the upstream side of the dam. That scenario will be better for trout.

Few outdoor pursuits sweep me off my feet like trout fishing. It takes skill and prowess to drop a spinner or fly into tight places where trout live. I talk to myself when I’m alone on the river. Bad casts are frowned upon. Good casts are met with adoration. Seems like only the really good casts are rewarded with a strike from a hungry trout.

I stumble over rocks and logs and duck under overhanging branches. The gentle swoosh of the flyline is drowned out by the sounds of whippoorwills, wood thrushes, and faraway gobbles of a lonesome tom. Insect hatches unfold with the subtlety of a gust of wind. Trout dimpling the water surface is akin to a good luck coin dropped in a water fountain. My mind races from cast to cast, from one pocket of cover to the next. Around the bend I go, taking in the scenery, the wildlife, the sights and smells of an evening on the river. Trout fishing turns hours into minutes, and it’s one of the most pleasant of all outdoor experiences.

Now that I know the Little Muskegon River could be good for trout, I can’t wait to give it a whirl.

Chris Zimmerman is a resident of Canadian Lakes, the father of two grown daughters, and the author of six Michigan-based novels. Look for his “Outdoor Mystery” stories in The Canadian Laker.