NANFA-- River Reef Report...Saturday

kahley (kahley7_at_ptd.net)
Tue, 10 Jul 2001 10:30:30 -0500

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Another friend showed up today...this one with legs! I do have human
friends after all <grin>. Bob first showed up, three years ago, during a week
long stay at the campground I talked of earlier. I had that same week off work
and my constant snorkeling piqued his interest. He bought some
gear and began to snorkel the shallows on the other side of the
next island. Frustrated, he finally came to ask me what I was watching as
there didn't seem to be much to see where he was looking. I laughed and
introduced him to the reef. He was so enthralled, that the next year, instead
of touring from place to place in his RV for the summer, he stayed for a
month at the campground and may have logged more reef time than I did.
Man....I can't wait till I retire!!! I'll pitch a tent on the island and
live there!

Arriving yesterday, he went straight to the reef after the cloudburst and his
first words to me, today, were "What's with all the minnies? Millions and
millions
of minnies. They ate me alive yesterday!" Well maybe he exaggerates a bit,
but since last year at this time, there were NO minnows this is definitely
a big change.
It makes it hard to do any redesign on the reef since every time I try and
reposition
a rock, I find the underside covered with eggs. The cloud of shiners and such
that follow me around descend on the caviar till I can carefully put the
rock back.
That's pretty much put and end to the rock work for now except for repairs.

We exchanged theories about last July's carp kill. He heard that it was
caused by
water too warm for spawning so the fish just bloated and died. Is this
possible?
My theory remains that there was some connection between the almost total lack
early season minnows and the death of the carp since they both belong to
the same family.
I spent many hours last year trying to find a dying carp that I could catch
and turn
over to the authorities for examination. The said the specimens that could
be retrieved
from the surface were too far gone for any substantive study. However, I
was unable
to find any live or fresh-dead as I started to search too late in the
episode (I guess).

Since a skier was haunting the neighborhood and creating constant, big wakes,
we swam for an hour or so scouting for reef fodder. He bemoaned, with me,
the loss of the great tree to the float factor last month but promised to look
for whatever he could find to add to the outer reef. He is particularly
enamored
with the big bass, as am I, and is willing to do whatever it takes to lure
them with
fancy big bass habitat. His family and some people from the campground
joined him then and I did 'show and tell' as to the how what /where and how
to keep the mask from fogging and we all poured over the Peterson's which
arrived yesterday. All those people stirred things up and the big fish
split.
I did see that there are at least four, second season bass hung up between
the second reef and the first logs. I'm glad to see that and hope to connect
so that there be at least one 'pet' bass next year.

Lefteye is dining fine on_something_and is growing before my eyes. If she
follows the pattern, she probably won't want to be bothered with me next year.

Bass are such elegant fish. The barely move a muscle as they lay in the
current
just the oscillating front fins , Yet they are capable of such explosive
movement.
To me they are regal and I'd hate not to have one willing to come close.

Speaking of Lefteye...as I said, she developed a dark almost circular mark
around her
left eye in her second season. And as I said, she often gets out
maneuvered for
the treats by the chub. This is not common in my experience. A big bass
usually
gets what it wants. I'm beginning to think that there may be something
deficient
with that eye. Maybe she doesn't have proper depth perception and that is
why she
seems to miss the treats. I haven't a clue as to how I can do a vision
test on a bass,
but I'm going to watch more closely the next time I feed. A good
day...teaching
new snorkelers and greeting a friend and fellow reefanatic.

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