That sound is the record cold temps sucking all the warm water out of every pond and lake in Kansas.

I’ve noticed that in just 48 hours my pond went from brown to clear water, telling me that my CC’s are laying low. Got a feeling it might be a short fall fishing season this year.

We're entirely snow covered here.

You're right...it sucks.

27F degrees @ 10:45 here this morning with snow on the ground. Way, far too early!

Could be but I've also seen where it got cold early and then warmed up for the rest of the winter.

How much snow did you get Bruce? Someone in Nebraska got 17 inches I see.

Please, please, please don't say it. I'm going to get my hip waders out to go in the lake for the 1st time, start getting the leaves out from the 60 mile an hour wind storm and go in boat to see where the shingles came off the roof, can't see it from the yard. We are so far below normal temps, probably do the secchi dick reading for the last time. The lake looks pretty good. Putting on the headphones and gardening the buffer zone.
This is the worst part, 7 months till the Boys of Summer are back.

Lynda,

Did you ever do your second fish kill?

Lynda, test out your new camera and post pics of you in the waders!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah am here in Arkansas and it is only 53 here right now. That's cold here for this time of year. I think we are going to have a nasty winter this year! Cold, cold, cold!

2cat, don't forget my suggestion to secure yourself a strapping, young Boy of All Seasons.

We have a charming young man, almost finished with Fish School, and just chomping at the bit to learn to love the lands north of Detroit.

Sure he's never shoveled snow before, but he's young. He will learn.

I doubt he's seen snow deep enough to even NEED shoveling.

Well, I don't know if he's even seen snow. He may have seen pictures though.

Young Blood?

It snowed 15 inches one day here in Arkansas during March of 2008. That is the most I have seen other then when I went skiing in New Mexico.

New Mexico? There's skiing there?

And awesome Elk hunting! Very rugged territory.

Northern New Mexico. We were within 20-30 miles of Colorado.

OK, great story. Thanks.

I'm trying to land you a job here. Why are talking about skiing?

I know that you talked so highly of the area but I will have to pass. I don't think I could live with myself if I was a yankee.

2cat and GFLakeChair are two cool ladies.

You know they'd be trying to constantly set you up.

Can't shake a stick at that.

I'm going to let the "yankee" statement slide because it would hurt catmandoo's feelings. And to think, all of the recipies for fresh possum that he gave you...

We're all Americans dude. Stop with that!

I don't think I could live with yankee winters. I have an aversion to having the life sucked out of me by artic blasts.

Am I a yankee?

You're an honorary Southerner by virtue of your Nobel-worthy work with mutant bluegill. You also get points for starting the premiere website in the universe for that greatest of all fish, and for being a pretty decent fisherman from what I hear.

Chris, I hear ya, My wife is from Joizy and I offered to move there. She laughed and said I'd shoot some one within a week for being an &%@^R##$. I almost do every visit. They're just lucky they don't wear PVC!

Give me a hint on whether yes or no will get me more gills!

Actually, seriously, I don't know what consititutes a 'yankee'.

Are Nebraskans Yankees?

Bruce that is almost political.

IIRC, Nebraska, Iowa, Ks, and Mo. were pretty much split in the cival war and never really chose a side till late in the game. East and north are generally considered yanks, southeast and south are southerners, Ne, Ks, Ia, and Mo. are Midwesterners.

Texans are, well Texans. Californians, Jhap, nuff said!

Cecil, Not yet, it should be coming soon. GFLakechair has been on vacation with Harvey, had to plan a trip with him if she had a trip with me, how silly. She should be home today, hopefully when she turns her computer on and there is a message from the fishkillers. The water is 54 now, that should be near perfect, and the SD came up 4'2" which I consider to be quite good, the lake looks good. The water is a little high, so a slight concern about shutting off the outflow.
Thanks for the compliment Sunil, but NOBODY can take the place of the BOS and Fav Guy. I bet I can twist his arm to come down here to watch Fish Kill II for the day! I messed up the quoting part, I can't figure out how to fix it.

When I was out there yesterday I noticed I have 2 frogs living in my rocks. They were hanging out under leaves in the water. Brown looking body with black spots, and his head and neck out of the water was green. It was very fun watching them, and they didn't seem to be afraid of me. Not really little, maybe the body measures about 4" long by 2-1/2" wide. There were no frogs until I put in the rocks. Where will they go for the winter?

Something tells me this is not a compliment.

It's a joke Cecil. As soon as you get out of the city everybody is pretty much the same. I had some family that lived in upstate New York and that was a nice area.

Fights on!!!!

Will someone tell me where the frogs go in the winter? I found some Michigan frog photos, and I think they might be Leopard Frogs, but the spots are smaller on my guys/gals?

See, 2cat, if you had Boy of All Seasons, he could answer that in a heartbeat.

He's real cute & cuddley.

I don't think I could take it Sunil, in fact, I have noticed that I am sleeping much better since lake season is over. I was waking up all night during the summer, now I'm sleeping like a baby.

OK. It's all right.

I think I have a lead on a job for Young Blood in Nepal.

Boy, I was upset because it was 47 degrees and misty this morning.

BTW, don't ever ask a man if he's from Texas. If he is, he'll tell you about it. If he isn't, there's no reason to shame him.

Selling Tilapia to Sherpas?

Tilapia? Did some one say tilapia?

2cat:

Hibernate in lake bottom mud.

That's good to hear. You never struck me as regional xenophobe so that's why I was shocked!

Thank you Esshup:
Would the frogs go out where it is deep, or stay close to the shore where it is sandy? They also like to hang out where I have some flat flagstone propped up over a tube. I really like them. I had the metal bottom of an outdoor cat cage at the water's edge last year before I could shore everything up. They were under there and when they croaked it was very magnified, like you would expect to see a huge frog. It was funny.

2cat -- let me start with a disclaimer that I'm not a frog expert. However, I've noticed something with the leopard frogs here. I think they tend to leave the smaller wetlands that are likely to go anoxic during the winter, and move into the bigger lakes that do keep oxygen during the winter. I first noticed this because there is usually a good bite on big walleyes in fall in our lakes, and when we check stomach contents, they are really feeding on those frogs. Usually that happens about now, but as we have an inch of snow on the ground instead of being 60+ F as we should, who knows what is happening this year.

Holy Moly Dr Dave. Stop kidding around. The frogs have a collaborative interest in a condo complex in Boca Raton, Florida. That's where they all go for the winter.

2cat: I'm deferring to Daves' wisdom!

jhap:

esshup: As I said, I don't know much about frogs. I believe you were right -- hibernate in lake bottom mud. Probably best if there is some oxygen though? I believe there can be some oxygen transfer across the skin in frogs? Again, I'm showing my ignorance rather than my knowledge. Or maybe my laziness in not doing a search.

Dave:

You are absolutely correct about the oxygen transfer thru their skin.

Well, they don't breathe through gills do they? Next fish kill is coming, and if the chemical doesn't bother them we should have a good population of them next year as there are no predator fish that we know of, we "think" only the carp survived.

Only when in the tadpole stage.