Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Knowing is half the battle

As a kid, I watched a lot of G.I. Joe cartoons. Yeah, I was that kid. But at the end of every episode there was a teaching moment; usually something about dealing with bullies or not cheating.

And after the kid had learned his lesson from the Joes, he or she would say, "I never knew that," to which a Joe would reply, "Well now you know, and knowing is half the battle."

The nonprofit organization Conservation Minnesota has taken that approach to the mercury content in Minnesota's lakes. The organization works on many projects to help the conservation of Minnesota's broad outdoor haven, but for the purpose of this blog, I'd like to concentrate on one of its websites, checkmylake.org.

This website is designed to give Minnesota water enthusiasts a quick, easy breakdown of pollutants and water quality of any lake in Minnesota.

The information that Conservation Minnesota collects comes from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and is broken down and made easier for you and I to understand.

I was troubled when I first visited checkmylake.org, because every lake I visited seemed to have a warning not to eat the fish. This occurred because of a several factors, but Marty Broan of Conservation Minnesota assured me it wasn't to scare people off from eating fish.

"It doesn't mean people can't eat fish," he said. "We recognize eating fish is an important part of people's diet, and that fishing is an important part of Minnesota's legacy."

But still, there are quite a few lakes with fish-consumption advisories on this website.

"For every lake that is tested and unhealthy levels of mercury are found, we provide a link that has lake specific consumption guidelines," Broan said.

Broan says the information obtained by Conservation Minnesota is information that comes from the testing of lakes, which occurs every two years. The website is then updated, which happened within the last month he says. Not all lakes, however, have been tested recently for their contaminant levels, so Broan says it is important people continue to use the DNR website to check consumption guidelines.

Broan also said there was some concern from anglers about the wording of some of the advisories for eating fish on the website, which is why, within the last week or so, the website was updated again to clarify that eating fish is ok, he says, as long as you know the lakes guidelines for fish consumption.

"We want people to make the wise decision based on what the Department of Health says," he said.

For more information on mercury and how it gets into our lakes and rivers, I encourage you to see what the MPCA says on the subject.

I'm taking the side of Conservation Minnesota here, and pushing for knowledge of mercury and its effects on our lakes. And I'm glad that Minnesota has already stepped up and passed legislation to help reduce the amount of mercury in our waterways.

I encourage anyone who is concerned about our lakes and rivers or the fish they consume to use the resources available to them. The DNR puts out lake-specific consumption guidelines on its website, and used with checkmylake.org, guidelines about fishing and swimming become a lot clearer.

After all, as the Joes say, knowing is half the battle.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Madison's the opener champ

After a few quick calls Monday, it became quite clear to me that Madison Lake was the place to fish locally for the opener.

Fishing action in general was strong over the opener weekend on Madison, with plenty of people fishing Church Bay and the narrows.

Action in the shallows produced a few small northerns, plenty of largemouth bass (which aren't in season I might add) and a few small walleyes.

Late-afternoon action picked up in the shallows, but a lot of the walleye action came in deeper water.

River fishing was also strong, according to the folks out at The Bobber Shop. Unfortunately, I only was able to garner most of the action came from the Minnesota River, with no actual spots mentioned.

Action on Washington was slow. Both Washington and Madison Lakes are clear right now, with reports of water clarity reaching 5 to 7 feet on both lakes.

An early crappie tournament on Madison produced good crappie action and some walleye action in Church Bay, and the site of boats swarming the deep hole was evident on Saturday.

As for my action — slow. Skunked at Tetonka, Elysian and Madison for northerns, and only sunfish and bass (on a Rapala Flat Rap) at Lake George. Hopefully Wednesday will be better.