Weekend Fishing And Dives

A couple of days ago, I discovered that fishing in the parks was a great way to enjoy an afternoon and find a little peace during this rather "trying" time.   I have known about these little ponds in various parks around the area, but now that I have new found time on my hands,  I find them a delightful way to connect with nature.  Especially when I don't want to bring anything home. ( Catch and release fish is better than harvesting mushrooms that I have no place for....)   

Bluegill, spawning colors!

The Lincoln Park pond was non stop action.   The Bluegills are on the beds and are   a Barrel of Monkeys worth of fun!   However,  there are not many preditor fish in that lake, so the bluegills are rather small.   Occasionally, you find a brute around 7 inches,  but otherwise,  things are limited to the "small" side of Panfish.  

They DO have a nice variety of species.   

Bluegill.   Very pretty when they are spawning,   Fun to catch when they are larger than 7 inches.   

Green Sunfish. Check out the mouth!

Green Sunfish:  Small, aggressive, and they have a fairly large mouth so they will take large bait. 

Crappie.  Fun to catch and grow large!

Crappie!   Fun to catch, but these guys tend to be small.   They are REALLY fun when you find a cluster of 12 inch + sizes. 

Golden Shiner!  Excellent Forage Fish

 Golden Shiners!  An interesting change-up.  They are larger than most shiners, and will take flies right along with the Bluegills.  Having these guys present proves that there are not many Bass in this pond.   (Because Bass would target these fish until they are wiped out!...  Excellent Forage Fish!)  They have an interesting incubation story...

Having caught just about everything Lincoln Park had to offer,  I tried my luck over at Pritchard Park, in Racine.   They have a couple small ponds there but those ponds  are FILLED with small green sunfish.   Not very fun, Even with flies!   The fish are so small, that a modest Bass population would have a field day reducing their numbers. 

And then I stumbled upon a small pond near the Home 2 suites.   The first cast I caught a small Largemouth Bass.  (Perfect size to control those little sunfish!)  I caught several others and spent the entire Saturday afternoon there, catching brutish Bluegills and Crappie.   If the Bass were a little larger, I think the bluegills would also grow to a decent harvest size.  

The fact that there is that diversity of fish in that pond is probably because it is  hidden in plain sight.   No one fishes these small retention ponds because they probably don't think there is anything in them.   But, nature has a way of balancing things out.  I would call the Bass the "Keystone Species" 

Very Pretty Colors!

keeping the numbers of bluegills down so that the ones that are a certain size have enough food to continue to grow.   That would require people tossing the bass back ( no matter how large or small) so that they can regulate the rest of the fish in the pond.  And that would make fishing that small pond that much more fun....

After that, I picked up a cake for the Potluck this afternoon and headed to our new found digs in Racine.   Americans Very Best Suites, I think is the name.     I guess their grading scale might be generous, but I would say that "Very" best would be a bit of an exaggeration.   

The rates are CHEAP!  And that is a good thing for two guys on a bit of a budget.   But upon entering the room, we discovered how they are able to keep their rates down.   

No chairs!   

Who really needs chairs anyway?    We sleep on beds and occasionally a couch, right?   It is a curiosity how they managed to have "desks" and tables without any means of sitting next to them, though.    But that is alright.  

The bathroom was clean and well stocked.    And the room seems nice.   The AC could use a little attention as we ran it all night last night and it never really got cool.  

And the breakfast Bar was rather sad.   That being said,  they DID have plenty of coffee.  And that is pretty much the only thing I consume in the morning anyway, so that was not a big deal. 

Oh!  And an extra bed would have been nice.  Then again,  I find that sleeping on couches has been good practice lately.   It certainly beats a cold park bench or camping on the cold ground.  

They DO have internet access.   And I am currently using it for this blog posting.   So that is nice.  Free wifi allows me to stay in the room rather than drag all of my tech over to the Local Library!   Hurray! 

Happy 81 "Uncle" Bill Arnold!

 So... We will call this place home for the next week and go from there.  My brother has invited me to come over to the property in Michigan and hang out for a bit while Uncle Bill celebrates his 81 birthday.  That might be an opportunity I will consider.  I

In the mean time,   We are still here and still above water.  So things are currently stable.   As the begin a new week, I will be looking for more Emails from Zebra and filling out things as they come.  And if I find that I nave time to spend on things that are not a necessity,  There is always  the fishing thing.  It's a nice way to keep my mind occupied so I don't go down some dark path or do something stupid.  ( Which is often what the idle  mind will do...) It might seem like I'm simply killing time,  but, in reality, I'm trying to make every second count.