| May Day |
For, as when the red-cheeked, dancing girls of May trip home to the wintry, misanthropic woods; even the barest, ruggedest, most thunder-cloven old oak will at least send forth some few green sprouts to welcome such glad-hearted visitants. -- Herman Melville (circa 1865) As of 10:15 this morning I've owned LBLR for 23 years, which makes me the second longest owner in the 83 years of LBLR history. Clyde Jellison (who started it "to give his wife something to do") owned it for 38 years; he then sold it to John Anderson who owned it for the next 22 years. If I can make it for another year and a day, I'll have owned LBLR longer than I worked for IBM. Tempus fugit!!!! |
| May 2nd |
There! The swimming raft is in the water.......but alas, the pontoons are still on dry land. Tons and tons of little Perch and a few Bluegills have moved into shallow water. |
| May 3rd | Helen Dortch Longstreet was the wife of General James Longstreet, the right hand man of General Robert E. Lee during the Civil war. If you didn't already know this you're going to find it surprising, as I did: she died on this day in 1962. Not in 1862, but in 1962.......when I was in high school. The Civil War wasn't really all that long ago, was it? |
| May 4th | Deb and I cleaned some of the "winter mess" from Tchotchke Ridge (formerly known as Tchotchke Hill). Click HERE. |
| Cinco de Mayo | Cold nights, warm days.......what gorgeous weather! |
| May 6th |
Dave B in Arkansas asked: "Now that the bluegills are in shallow water (see the May 2nd entry above), when and at what water temperature will spawning begin"? Well, you'll have to ask the DNR about that; I don't know much about it. However, if one were to look at some of the Chronicles entries back in April, May, and June of 2009 and compare that to the 2009 water temperature readings from the "Information About the Lake" page, one would find out a few things for that year. To net it out, the ice went out on April 25th, the Bluegills moved en masse into the shallows about a month later (around May 23rd) when the water temperture was in the 48 to 50 degree range. About a month after that (June 25th), spawning was complete but the roe had still not hatched and the water temp was in the high 60s to low 70s. I don't know when, during the time between 5/23 and 6/25, the nests were made and the eggs layed, nor do I know how long after 6/25 the eggs hatched. If you're interested in looking at the source for the above information (as well as a few pictures of the nests): Click HERE to get to the 2009 Chronicles. The relevant entries are April 25th, May 21st & 23rd, and June 25th. Click HERE to see the lake temperature graph for 2009. Click HERE to see the lake temperature details (if you have MS Excel on your computer). Incidentally, the links to all of the Lake Data are HERE. |
| May 7th |
At 11:15 yesterday morning the three pontoons, including the front porch, were in the water. This is a tad late in the Spring, but not the latest ever. NEATO!!!!! Look at this (it's for LBL). I don't think it'll help much (if at all) but it's good nonetheless. Click HERE. |
| May 8th | The last of the six cabins is now up and running (HUZZAH!!!!!!!), but two of them still need to be Spring cleaned. |
| Fishing Opener |
The temp was in the mid 30s this morning and it was fairly windy, which is typical for an Opening Fishing morning, but no rain or snow.......which is a good thing. This is in honor of the victory of Prime Minister David Cameron and the Tories in yesterday's UK national election, as well as the Scottish National Party for winning 56 of the 59 House of Commons seats assigned to Scotland. Congrats to the victors. Click HERE. |
| Mothers' Day |
Happy Day to all you Mothers!!!! When one drives from LBLR into Grand Rapids on the Fishing Opener (or shortly thereafter) the sight of fishing boats on the river can be a sudden surprise.......but very quickly it begins to seem normal again. |
| May 11th | A week and a half ago Ron D (in Rochester) studied the long range weather forecast and found that yesterday was predicted to be the beginning of a week of gorgeous Spring weather.......so he called and reserved cabin 4 for ten days. He arrived yesterday to high winds, rain off and on all day, and a high temp of only 45 degrees. The rest of the week (until at least Friday) promises to be more of the same (if not worse) with possible snow on two of those days. You people who make reservations a year ahead of time with no thought of weather predictions, are probably less frustrated if it turns bad. |
| May 12th | Opening Weekend fishing report: Due to the wet windy weather I could find no one who fished on Sunday or Monday, but of those who fished on Saturday (the opener) none of them fared very well. The few groups I know who fished on Winnie could only account for a total of five fish (4 Walleyes and 1 Northern). The groups that I know who fished on Bass Lake (not Little Bass) got 4 Walleyes between mid-night and 1:30 AM, but none during the day, though they did catch four keeper-size Northerns. All in all, it was an uncomfortable and not very productive opener. |
| May 13th | The DNR arrived this morning to calibrate the LBL lake level gauge. On the day the ice went out (April 13th) the surface of the lake was 1282.40 feet above sea level, which is nearly 6.5 inches lower than when the ice went out last year, but fairly close to the level of the final reading last November. However, with the rain the last two days the level has increased nearly 1.7 inches to 1282.54 feet above sea level. |
| May 14th |
Two years ago today the ice went out. That was the latest ever. By the way, Ron D (see the May 11th entry above) gave up and went home this morning after having used only 4 days of his 10 day reservation. |
| May 15th | The rain, the delightful rain (if you're not trying to fish, that is), has raised the lake more than 3/4 of an inch over the last two days. That's 2.52 inches since the ice went out. Neato!!!!! |
| May 16th | As of yesterday all of the cabins were ready for guests so.......come on Summer!!!!!!! (PS: Thanks to the cleaning crew for their hard work.) |
| May 17th | Once every month during the summer, Deb's extended family gets together in a Bar somewhere in the Cities to [sort of] watch a Twins game, and I have an open invitation to attend. The game for May was today and I was there, but unless the Twins get into the World Series and are still playing in October, that will probably be my last one for this year. |
| May 18th |
Another day and a half of rain! At 1282.74 feet above sea level, the lake is now 4.08 inches higher than it was when the ice went out. That's only 2 1/2 inches lower than this time last year, so we're catching up. On this day in 1980 my Dear Daughter Tammy celebrated her 11th birthday and Mount St. Helens erupted. There was probably no connection between the two events. |
| May 19th | The DNR puts on many many interesting events throughout the year and throughout the state. The list is large (the summer months each contain 200 to 300 items) but it's organized by month and it can be narrowed down by chosing the type of event your interested in. The first entries in every month contain the hunting/fishing season dates for any season that is open at that time. If you're intersted, check it out.......there might be something going on in your area that you'd like to see. Click HERE. PS: A lot of the event names in the list are prefaced with "BOW" which stands for "Becoming an Outdoors Woman (& Becoming an Outdoors Family)". |
| May 20th | More beach sand. Click HERE. |
| May 21st | Look what the rain did for us.......Morels! Yum! It would behoove one to pay attention when one mows. Click HERE. |
| May 22nd | Hear ye! Hear ye! Since Jeff and Christine K could not make it up here this Spring, Denny T and his gang of Illinois fishermen became LBLR's first guests of the season when they arrived this afternoon. Bob and Bing N (& friends) also arrived today, but bit later. As is typical for a Memorial Day Weekend, my daughters Tracie and Tammy (& families), my nephew Jason (& family), and Deb arrived today as well. The resort is FULL.......the game is afoot. |
| May 23rd | What a lovely start to a Memorial Day Weekend. Click HERE. |
| Whitsunday (Penticost) |
Hit befell on Whitsontide Early in a May mornyng, The Sonne up faire can shyne, And the briddis mery can syng. -- Anonymous (circa 1450) Nice fish Calvin. It was worth getting up early for, right? Click HERE. |
| Memorial Day | LBLR had a delicious Smelt Feed last night, thanks to the "smelting" skills of Jason and the cooking skills of Jim. Click HERE to see everyone holding up a deep fried smelt. |
| May 26th | More anonymous additions have been added to Tchotchke Ridge.......click HERE. By the way, to the best of my knowledge none of the "usual suspects" were in town when these additions occurred, so I have no idea who is responsible. |
| May 27th | As mentioned previously, none of the MP&L Falcon eggs hatched last year, but that wasn't the case with this year's crop.......the three eggs have all hatched. If you go to the Falcon Cam (click HERE) and then look at the "24-hour view" you will get some glimpses of the chicks. |
| May 28th | To see the Butcher family on an LBL fishing expedition: click HERE. |
| May 29th | This is a blury picture of the week-old Falcon chicks. Click HERE. |
| May 30th | Click HERE. |
| May 31st | As the merry month of May draws to a close, we look forward to the Season of the Sun!!! |
