We had ice out yesterday in SW Michigan. Had a more 'typical' winter in MI this year with a little below average snow but at least had cold enough weather and some late snows to allow the snowmobilers to get some action. There was opportunity for ice skating and ice fishing which was appreciated as the last 2 winters felt more like balmy spring. Fortunately while we still had some ice some family came over and helped erect a very tall light pole fitted with a double barrel LED light.
We have always had a two light setup (double stack LED) on a bull horn on a pole on the west side of the pond but there just wasn't enough light on the east side to help cover the shadows. The night time hockey players noticed this. I had been watching for a cheap used street light pole or even a hops pole. I found a guy who had a stash of used fiberglass streetlight poles. He sold the 20 footers rapidly but had 2 of the 40 footers that no one knew what to do with. I should start a new thread to share all the pictures of the 'redneck' pole moving apparatus and also of our comical efforts to try to lift this pole using manpower alone and some ropes while the heavy light was already fastened on the top.
We got it up somehow but now of course the light angle is pointing too close to the ground at the base of the pole. I have no idea how to fix that yet but now the ice is melted so it doesn't matter that much.
I didn't see any ribbons yet but look forward to seeing them. We had a fish kill right when the cold hit and we also had some heavy rains. I also saw a very late heavy algae presence in the water so algae crash may have been the culprit as well. I think since many size classes are represented here probably most/all of my remaining perch dying so maybe we won't see any ribbons at all this year. There were some very nice size ones in the mix!
I'll post a picture if I can. (i uploaded to attachment manager and hovered, clicked embed but it won't let me embed in the post, frustrating...
Funny how the predators just leave them alone! I would have thought they would be eaten by scavenger animals or even turkey vultures?
Hope others can post here when they see the perch ribbons!
