Off the Editor’s Desk – 7-10-2013

I hope everyone enjoyed the long Fourth of July weekend. We had a great time with family at the Lake. Fishing was on the schedule as was enjoying the water.

Several members took to the Namekagon River near Seeley for a canoe trip down the river to Hayward. All enjoyed that adventure.

 I was not successful in my attempt to latch on to another big Musky on the lake. Only a couple small Northerns took my bait. But the grandkids had the joy of pulling in numerous of pan fish, while fishing from the dock. Even our eleven-year-old granddaughter, Emma, put the worm on the hook and removed the fish and returned it into the water.

Grandson, Ross and myself spent an hour or so taking water samples from Lake Hayward. The Lake was treated for Hybrid Milfoil, which is a very aggressive plant and can take over the entire lake. A survey last year indicated that only several small spots had that plant, but a survey this spring indicated that the plant has spread to cover 23 acres.

A treatment was applied on July 2nd and several property owners on the lake volunteered to take herbicide concentration samples at seven spots on the lake. The DNR funded $20,000 of the $27,000 application costs, and they required monitoring of five times during the first seven hours after the application and then five more times in the next seven days to determine the effectiveness of the application.

Ross and I collected samples on Friday. The reason that I am telling all you folks about this, is that it is suspected that the weed was spread into the lake by boaters who have had their boat in a lake with milfoil and transported the weed from one lake to another. The spread of invasive weeds from lake to lake is our responsibility and we need to be sure that when we remove our boats from one lake and take it to another that we make sure that all weeds or other unwanted species are removed from our boats, motors and trailers to stop the spread of those unwanted things.

Please take the time to clean your boat and trailer.  Thank you.

— Carlton