Finally! I made it down to South Cove. This summer has been either really busy, or I was sick, or the weather went weird and inhospitable. Not so today.
Started at the Eaton put-in and covered zones 10 and 11 (lower and middle So Cove) on both the east and west sides. In zone 9 (upper So cove) I went as far as grid 238, past Boynton Island, where I crossed over to the west side of the zone to near Isle (grid 335) and then headed back south to the put-in.
Of note was the color change of lake’s water in zone 11. This coloration extended (although it was far less intense) into the top of zone 10—more on the east side than on the west side. Earlier this season, several weeks ago, it was easy for me to see right to the lake’s bottom in zone 11 but today I saw the same kind of brown coloration that I found last season in ‘21 that made it difficult for the light to penetrate to the floor of the lake. It happens when Snow Brook’s flow is fast and turbulent after heavy rain storms. It does take a good period of time for the tannin stain to subside. Having said that, in lower and middle So Cove, I was still able to discern a lot of Water lilies, Thin-leaf pondweeds, “fields” of Grassy spike rush, tape grasses, lots of Native naiads, good clumps of Elodia waterweeds, a batch of Water marigolds, and the omnipresent varieties of bladderworts. These plants extended into upper So Cove along with a nice sighting of Native milfoil near the Smith’s dock.
Thick filamentous algae coated the lake’s floor everywhere I went on this patrol although, outside one tiny exception, I did not see it in its green/golden colored bubbly phase as in past years at this point in the season. At least not yet…
I did want to share this wonderful creature I found in zone 11 grid 310 (or was it 311) ….
