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Vol. 3, No. 5
May 1995
Living in a Community of Floating Homes By Trudy R. Balcom
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I was immediately enchanted the first time I visited the community of floating homes on Latsch Island, where I now live. Janita, a friend and island resident, gave me a grand tour via canoe. The island was in its springtime glory that day, overrun by the Mississippi. I saw picnic tables and bicycles slide like ghosts underneath the bow of the canoe, while overhead returning songbirds built nests in the trees. To my eyes the odd collection of funky floating shacks, substantial floating homes and little boat docks and shelters seemed like something out of a Kerouac novel. I bought my floating home just a few weeks after that first visit. Latsch Island, named after a local nineteenth century philanthropist, John Latsch, sits across the Mississippi from
When is a Bass Not a Bass? By Lee Kernen
Common or popular names for fish are often confusing and sometimes downright misleading, but they sure are interesting! In much of the United States, smallmouth and largemouth bass are collectively referred to as "black bass." The truth is they are not bass at all, they are sunfish. Scientists long ago placed them in the same family as other nest-building sunfish - like bluegills and crappies for all sorts of anatomical reasons, such as the kind of teeth they have, where their fins are located, and whether the fins are spiny or soft. You may have recently heard about a new fish invading the Great Lakes. The white perch, found in the western end of Lake Superior just a few years ago, is now becoming very abundant in Lake Michigan's Green Bay. I hate to tell you this, but the white perch is not a perch (Bass continued on page 3)
I saw picnic tables and bicycles slide like ghosts underneath the bow of the canoe ... downtown Winona, Minnesota. The island is a busy place home of the local marina, a city park and boat landing, as well as about 100 boathouses and floating homes, some 25 of which are occupied year round. Life on the island requires you to experience the river and the whole local environment in a very intimate manner. My floating home is located on the most primitive part of the
(Floating Homes continued on page 2)
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