Back on The Rock after Island Hop 2015 was cancelled and I couldn't make the Spring Work Weekend happen this year.
Traffic and road construction was brutal on the drive up ~ added a solid 40-minutes to the trip, then there was virtually no parking at Miller's Ferry. Busy weekend, I'm guessing...
Anyhow ~ lot of familiar faces. As always, I can't remember anyone's names, because, you know, I'm just awful at remembering names.
Tomorrow's task is going to be chopping wood and moving it from South Bass Island to Gibraltar for the fire ring.
I haven't seen it yet, but I'm guessing this is going to be the woodpile we'll be working...
We'll see how it goes.
Another day of volunteering at Stone is resigned to the pages of history. Like I posted yesterday, back at the LEINWC for a whole bunch of work.
I teamed up with former Stone Lab Director Ed Herdendorf and tackled the task of tightening up a bunch of bolts on the picnic tables and benches before we helped to dig out & level off a space to place some pavers for a display to rest on. Some minor cleaning up in the yard before heading inside to help with the reorganization of the storage room and cleaning the displays.
Resting on one of the displays was one of my favorite natural science books ~ Ohio's Natural Heritage. I was extolling the virtues of said book and Dr. Herdendorf said to turn to the chapter on the lakes and islands... One of the authors was Charles E. Herdendorf. Me: "Wait, you!?! You go by your middle name then?" I told him that I'll have to bring my copy for him to autograph next time :-)
Back on The Rock, we had a typical Saturday evening - wine/cheese, dinner (regular lasagna, not just veggie!), a talk on Jay Cooke ~ Financier for the Union in The US Civil War and now, winding down with some reading.
A group went across the bay to PIB. But you, my dear readers, know I am so not interested in that. So, I read!
It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year... The Spring cleanup was canceled due to how late the ice was hanging around in the Lake & Bay; so yeah, first time back in 12 months.
Things seemed, at first glance during our pizza dinner, very much the same as usual. (Still have wi-fi in the dorms ¡YAY! ~ hey, that was a big thing for me last year. Didn't have to trek up to the computer lab at 0300 to post these).
More and more of the volunteers are starting to look familiar to me (though I'm still terrible with names), as I've been doing this for a few years now. (Going through the blog, it looks like 2012 was the first time back after Fishing in 2009.)
(I'm still *REALLY* big on parenthetical statements...)
Signed up for helping out at the Lake Erie Islands Nature & Wildlife Center again this year ~ saw Jackie's name as one of the group leaders, so I thought it would be nice to stop over and see her again. Plus, It's kind of a trend now ~ 2 trips in a row at the Lighthouse now 2 at the LEICWC, so I can do something different next time!
The water was pretty rough, but not the worst I've dealt with. Big cold front coming in, temps dropping from near 80 today to a high of 51 Saturday with some high winds. Good stuff!
Otherwise, the schedule looks to be the same as previous years. There's definitely something to be said for routine!
Back home and watching the rain fall means that it's time for the final post of the work weekend.
The rain was a drag and made everything feel so bloody damp - but, there was no freezing through the night, so it was easily survived :-)
Because of the rain, we didn't get to do the Tweet & Treats hike around Gibraltar - so a few of the workers set up in the Research Building. Downstairs in the ichthyology lab, we dissected a few perch (including plucking out their little hearts and placing them on our wrists to watch them continue to beat in time with our own pulses - weirdness) after hearing Chelsea give the brief class lecture they usually do as an outreach activity.
Upstairs in the lecture hall, we played with some snakes and viewed a handful of other local critters (salamanders & turtles) before hopping on the Gibraltar III and departing for the places we call home.
As always, it was a nice weekend spent on the Lake outside of tourist season while giving a little time to help out and support all that Stone Lab does for so many stakeholders.
... And it rained all day ...
Given that I was at the Lighthouse the last 2 times I was here (and the 2nd undid much of the work we did the 1st time), I couldn't bring myself to sign up for anything at that location.
Today, 3 of us and our group leader Chelsea went to help out at the Lake Erie Islands Nature & Wildlife Center over on South Bass Island, where - lo and behold - the project manager was Jackie ~ my group leader from the 2012 Island Hop Lighthouse / Butterfly Tagging adventure (photo page HERE). Small community up here...
We helped out by pulling weeds and invasive plants from the Monarch Waystation and another garden bed (that will be transformed into a vegetable garden next year). After that, we were going to stain the deck, but the moisture / rain killed that plan - so we turned our attention to the inside where we cleaned all the glass cases for the stuffed critters, sills around displays and all the shelves where they keep literature / sale items. There were a few other little things like vacuuming, emptying dehumidifier containers and sweeping out the restroom, nothing terribly challenging - just time consuming and helpful to the LEINWC to have a group of volunteers to hammer through right quick.
Back on The Rock - shower, wine & cheese reception, group photo, dinner, opportunities to explore the island / souvenir shop (nice shirt this year, again!) and hear Jeff talk about the projects Stone Lab has completed over the past year or so.
Now, most of my fellows are watching some football game - so, I'm enjoying the peace and quiet to write this up, relax and do a bit of reading before drifting into a blissful slumber.
G'night, kittens :-)
Back on The Rock for another volunteer work weekend!
Unfortunately, while I recognize faces, I have a hard time with names. Once we settled in for our pizza dinner and introductions, I recognized the dudes I roomed with (and froze with) in Spring - maybe I'll tell that story later - as well as the dudes I roomed with for the 2012 Island Hop.
Photo: www.putinbayphotos.com
Matt & Jeff are still here. The buildings are still here and standing (though with a fair list of updates - INCLUDING WIFI IN THE DORMS!).
What else? I know I never posted photos from Spring, sorry. That weekend was really cold and miserable I couldn't muster the energy to write another post. Hopefully, this weekend will be a little better.
I signed up for landscaping at the South Bass Island Nature and Wildlife Center tomorrow, so it'll be nice to see somewhere new and different. Plus - Nature! So, yeah... Win.
This weekend's schedule seems to be in line with the others - so no surprises there. If you're curious what the weekend looks like, the Island Hop overview is HERE. According to the schedule, we're staring with coffee at 0700 and bouncing off Gibraltar at 0900 and back by 1700 for a bit of Wine (from the Lake Erie Region, of course) and cheese before dinner. An evening program follows at 1900 and then a bit of time for whatever (reading!).
Sunday will include the Tweets & Treats (birds & edible plants) tour of Gibraltar before departing and heading back to the places from whence we came. And those are the highlights of the weekend as it stands to unfold.
Tomorrow, I'll be embarking on the return trip to The Rock for another Work Weekend. I'm a little apprehensive on this one though - I have no idea what the weather is going to be doing up there. Today it was 75F. Tomorrow is supposed to be almost 60F with rain in the morning followed by a high of 45F & sunny Saturday while we'll be working. O_o
Yeah... I thought that islands were supposed to maintains relatively consistent temperatures due to the thermodynamics related to being surrounded by water. Apparently someone missed a memo on that somewhere along the line.
As I did with the last work weekend in Autumn - I'll be posting regularly while on the Island in the hopes of shedding a little more insight on what life is like at Stone for an alum that likes to help out and volunteer when possible.
I won't put a ton here today - just a few photos and a brief description.
View from the top of South Bass Island Lighthouse looking NW towards Green Island.
An old-time tractor by the sunflower field adjacent to the South Bass Island Lighthouse property where we went Monarch Butterfly tagging.
Our group leader (and Stone Lab FT/Seasonal Employee) Jackie pointing out features on the first Monarch we netted (I managed to net her after a couple of missed attempts) and preparing to tag her.
In case you were curious how, exactly, one tags a butterfly - here it is. A super adhesive little sticker is placed on the underside of a wing in the place that looks like a little mitten (it's covered by the sticker). The tag has a phone number and ID# that individuals can call should they find the tagged butterfly to allow for tracking of their migration patterns and success rates.
Since the view inside the tower of the Lighthouse isn't terribly exciting with the Fresnel lens removed - I took a quick parting shot of the ladder-esque (trust me, that set is steep) final segment of steps that the keeper had to climb regularly to check the oil on lamp and keep it clean.
By our powers combined - Katie and I did this porch. We repainted the porch, steps leading up to it and a ribbon of cement running all the way around said porch.
Of course there's a few more photos of the trip, some from inside the Keeper's Residence, more from on top of the tower and other assorted randomness from the Island Hop Weekend - but, I think this should be a decent little thumbnail sketch of the highlights of the weekend.
An early morning after roaming around Gibraltar Island until about 0200 means that I'm actually tired as I sit in the lab to write this.
After breakfast we were divvied up into groups and put on boats to leave the Island (or stay on the Island - dependent on one's work assignment). After making it over to South Bass we split up again and my group went down south to the Lighthouse. Having visited a couple of years ago, I was excited for the opportunity to finally get inside and see what it was like.
We quickly walked through the lower level before heading up the tower. Roughly 60' up, the view was pretty solid and we could easily see Green Island and the Mainland. Unfortunately, since the USCG put in the automated light adjacent to the Lighthouse the tower was stripped of its Fourth-order Fresnel and lay bare inside. (I'll post some photos when I make it back home tomorrow or Monday.)
After taking in the sights, we divided up again - Rich and Ed took the porch by the Tower, while I joined Katie on the porch off the kitchen. Things went pretty quick on the porch, so we painted the stairs and a stretch of concrete all the way around the porch before stopping to enjoy our packed lunches.
Renewed from onboarding some calories, we found the 1st coat of paint dry and hit it with a 2nd before moving to help Rich & Ed on their porch.
Then, it was time...
BUTTERFLY TAGGING!
As it turns out, the tranq guns were overkill (who would have guessed?).
Kidding aside, this is nearing the tail end of the Monarch migration - so, we didn't catch that many. The idea is pretty simple: you see a Monarch flying and capture it with the net then twist it off so the butterfly can't escape. Then you hold the net up and the butterfly will try to fly upwards - whereupon you reach in and trap the little critter holding its wings shut and pull it out to examine it.
There's a log sheet to be filled out with date, location, sex, wild/captive-bred and tag number. The tags are simple weather resistant paper dots (with a website, ID number and phone number on it for individuals to call when they find one) that affix to the underside of the wing with a super adhesive ummm... adhesive.
Once we finished making the rounds and were certain there were no more rogue butterflies to capture and tag - we returned to the Lighthouse to gather up our equipment, clean the area up and head on back.
A mental note was made to stop by the PIB Brewing Company.
On our return to Gibraltar, there was just barely time enough to hit a shower and run over to the Wine & Cheese event - where I randomly ran into one of my Comm professors...
Over to the stairs for group photos, back up to the dining hall for dinner (perch or veggie lasagna - and the aforementioned salad bar was back!). After dinner, Matt filled us in on all the renovations over the past year and turned us loose to do as we will.
I headed over to South Bass to try out the Brewing Co. (Pumpkin & Octoberfest are both pretty decent brews) while reading a bit. From there, I walked through the village in an attempt to find a coffee shop / place for dessert - a thoroughly fruitless endeavor. To interject briefly - I don't care for PIB - I find the whole scene to be very... Sad. Especially if you're looking to do anything other than go to a bar.
And now - I'm enjoying the solitude of the computer lab and contemplating how late I can sleep in without missing any part of brekkers...
We have a "Tweets & Treats" activity planned for the morning after brekkers - A walk around Gibraltar to identify birds and edible plants. Should be fun. Then back to S. Bass to the ferry to the mainland to the road that will eventually lead home.
Well - we've arrived, been checked in, assigned rooms and briefed following our pizza dinner. Beverages including wine and beer were provided for the occasion. In particular - there were some local beverages including Great Lakes (Cleveland), The Brew Kettle (Strongsville), Heineman's (Put In Bay) and Mon Ami (Port Clinton).
It's nice to be back here - there's been a lot of changes over the past 3 years & I'm looking forward to seeing more of them during the light of day tomorrow.
As far as work assignments go - I wasn't able to get my first pick of planting trees in the Swamp on Middle Bass Island. However, I did get my 2nd choice of working on South Bass Island Lighthouse (and potentially tagging some Monarch Butterflies - I have no idea how that's supposed to work...).
For those who know me personally, you know that I've long had an interest in the history of lighthouses and took a research trip for an article I was pitching to visit a number of Lake Erie Lighthouses in the Western Basin a couple of years ago. South Bass Island Lighthouse was one that I visited --- granted, that day didn't go quite according to plan since it was peak season here in PIB. With a bit of luck, this will give me an opportunity to get inside the Lighthouse while working on it and explore it a little better than I was able to back then.
The task at hand doesn't seem too complicated - just painting the front and rear porches. As long as it goes smoothly, it should be a good time.
Tomorrow is a pretty packed schedule and I'm having issues accessing the wireless. So, it looks like I'll only be posting a recap in the evening once I wrap up everything.
On Friday, 28 September 2012, I have the pleasure of returning to The Island for the Buckeye Island Hop - a volunteer work weekend.
In a manner of sorts, this is a continuation of my Sport Fishing trip back in 2009 - since that is the trip that made me an Alumni of Stone Lab. As such, I'm going to return to posting over the next 3 nights and catching my followers up on the goings on up on Gibraltar Island and talk about the benefits of giving back through volunteering.
A .pdf outline of the weekend can be found HERE.
In short - I'll be leaving out of Port Clinton tomorrow evening and making my way to Gibraltar, where they will be serving pizza upon our arrival.
Saturday, we'll wake up, have brekkers, depart for our volunteer activities (where we'll eat a bagged lunch) then return in the early evening for a bit of wine & cheese (hopefully, something from the Lake Erie vineyards) before our lasagna & perch diner. Following dinner, we'll have the opportunity to participate in an activity before doing as we will for the remainder of the evening.
On Sunday - the schedule is very sparse: coffee/bagels followed by a proper breaking-of-the-fast, then on to a science activity prior to our departure. If I have the opportunity, I might take the opportunity to depart a little later from South Bass and run over the Heineman's Winery to pick up some Pink Catawba - an excellent medium-sweet Ohio wine.
And now that the weekend is outlined - all that's left is to go do it!
This one should be pretty short! Saturday, we got up, had our last brekkers on the Island and headed down to the classroom. We cleaned up the tables and work areas, organized the gear and put it away. Those who had borrowed rods / reels & tackle returned said items.
Once the room was looking presentable, we did our SEI's (yes - THE Ohio State University makes you do them, EVEN on the Island...), asked any final questions then began the exam.
Our exam was broken into a practical and written section. For the practical - we had to submit examples of our harnesses and rigs so that Prof. Snyder could see that we learned how to tie our knots correctly. The 2nd part of the practical was looking at slides and answering questions like: "what is this fish", "how do you catch this type of fish", "what is this item and how is it used in fishing", and similar questions. As soon as we were all done with that - we began our written exam. This asked questions on material we learned during the week - fish migration patterns, information about navigational tools, sonar, equipment, diseases fish in the Lake may be subject to, Lake Erie ecology, and the like.
Following the exam - we turned in our keys, grabbed our gear, and caught the water taxi to the docks on S. Bass Island where I hopped the Jet Express bound for Sandusky and headed home!
That was the last day on the Island!
I'll make one more post in a day or two with final reflections on the experience as a whole. Until then...
Friday was our big day out, Trolling the open waters of Lake Erie for Walleye. Unfortunately, we got a late start on the day because of a storm that rolled in during the wee hours of the morning and we had to wait for the lightning to stop. Sooo... as 11:00a rolls around we board the boats with our guides - Tournament Pros from the Western Basin Sportfishing Association - and head out.
Unlike our usual boat, the Gibralter III, these were small, fast, low to the water fishing boats. Needless to say, as it was windy and the storm was dying down, it was a little rougher ride than usual!
We trolled 3 or 4 locations using Dipsey Divers, Rocket Divers, Spoons, Trolling Harnesses & worms. As with the rest of the trip, the fishing was a little slow. We caught a number of Sheepshead (again...), Mike and I both caught a Walleye each, and towards the end of the day, we each got a Catfish or two. The Walleyes and one of the White Bass were all we kept.
I guess one of the other boats did not catch any Walleye, and another caught 3. One guy kept his Catfish. So, it wasn't too bad out there!!! Our pros showed us how to filet the fish, and obviously - it's something they've done before... Make a deep cut behind the pectoral fin, turn the knife towards the tail, drag it along the spine almost to the tail, turn the knife around, go along the skin back to your original cut, lay the filet down & cut out the ribs, then freeze it up!
It was a good day on the Lake - tossing a line, kicking back, and getting credit for it!
I personally would like to thank our guides for this trip and extend the gratitude of the class to the anglers from the Western Basin Sportfishing Association - thanks for a great day guys!!!
Well - I'm back in Columbus and exhausted. I will try to post in the next day or two about the trolling trip on Friday, the last day on the Island, and my final appraisal of the week @ Stone Lab :-/
Perch fishing in Lake Erie. We started out not too far from S. Bass Isl. and had some moderate success, but the fishies were small. We moved to a few other places but met w/ limited success in each of those, before finally returning to our starting point.
I reeled in an 11" Yellow Perch (tied for the boat leader board w/ one of my classmates), another one I didn't measure since it was only in the 6-8" range... We started throwing the little ones back, since we were getting so many of them...
Most of the guys were catching more Sheepsheads - and promptly tossing them back. And a few White Bass were also hauled aboard.
This was also my first experience w/ keeping a fish I caught and cleaning them. I tried out a couple of techniques and have 2 fillets and 2 basically whole fish that were just beheaded and cleaned... I guess you snap out the spine and rip out all the rib bones once you cook them...
Friends are pouring in suggestions as to cooking instructions. We'll see how that goes.
Today was also our last set of lectures. Tomorrow we will be out Trolling for Walleye w/ some tournament pros. Should be a good learning experience and a chance to do something I doubt I would otherwise have an opportunity to pursue.
Up early again and spend the day over around Kelly's Island. The Lake was pretty rough and tossed us around quite a bit on the way out there, but surprisingly - the bay we were in was nice and smooth. It rained off and on during the morning, but nothing too bad.
I managed to land another Sheepshead (Drum), brought in a 13.5" Smallmouth, and am top of the leader board in the Goby Derby - 5.5" (go me!).
The morning was a little more eventful with guys making some catches, but as the day ran on - it got slow and the boredom was visible from a few of the guys, myself included... We moved out over a shoal, but again, success was limited. Plus the water was fairly rough as we were no longer protected by Kelly's.
We came back and learned about the usefulness of GPS and SONAR devices - an interesting lecture with a lot of technical background (a little overkill for an EDU PAES class, but is useful knowledge nonetheless).
For dinner we had some tacos and the always amazing salad bar ;-)
Following that, John Hageman - the lab manager - came in to talk to us about Lake Erie Ice Fishing (again, mostly walleye). Great presentation, good overview of the gear and techniques, but just a little too warm to go out and try them!
In all - not a bad day.
well - the fishing was no good today :-(
We went out for bass and tried a bunch of locations. Nothing doing... 3 of my group managed to hook smallmouth bass, but they all shook the line before getting in the boat. I reeled in the first one to the boat - a Sheepshead - nothing worth looking at, so as soon as he was de-hooked, he got tossed overboard!
The rest of the day was met without success worthy of discussing. We caught some more Sheepsheads and perch - which were given to our boat cap'n Al so he could bait his raccoon traps at home (???)
The lack of success obviously bored many of us and made for a pretty long day....
When we got back, we had a nice long lecture on Lake Erie's ecology, and lake ecology in general. Following that, we discussed year round fishing patterns and migration habits of Lake Erie sportfish and how to "Fish Smarter". This was all about using technology and information about spawning and feeding habits to our advantage (when combined with an understanding of basic fish biology, effects of temperature, oxygen needs, and underwater geography.
Really looking forward to a good night's sleep - so I doubt I'll be posting again today.
The $3 for the water taxi (per person, each way) is well worth it!!! The night life in Put-In-Bay does not disappoint and the band playing was AMAZING!!!
G'night kiddies!!!
I only have a few minutes so this should be fairly brief.
Not a lot of action on the Lake today :-( One of my classmates reeled in a 26" Walleye!!! (If I can get a picture from Prof. Snyder - I'll post it later). A handful of perch were caught and tossed in the cooler and a few Freshwater Drumfish (Sheepshead) were caught and promptly tossed back into Lake Erie....
There was a great breeze coming in from the NE and the temp was solid - I was comfortable. Sunny, mostly clear, mid 70s. Great weather to be out on the Lake.
We moved around quite a bit as we were not having the best of luck. Plus, some of the shoals we were trying to hit were pretty small and the current and wind made it hard to stay on top of them....
For lunch - we all just tossed some bottom bouncer rigs on, sent them over, stood up the poles, and hit the wraps, fruitcups, cookies, and chips. Not too bad of a lunch!
Heading back to the classroom in a couple and we're going to be tying up harnesses - which we'll get to keep and use as a reminder when we're back home thinking of Stone :-D
Today's going to be Structure Fishing for Walleye: reefs, ledges, and other formations... Stuff like that. Prof Snyder said that the message boards from other cap'ns aren't looking too promising - apparently everyone's having issues catching stuff right now. But there should be some pan fish catching, maybe a few walleye, and a bit of moving around trying to find something!
Come back and we have 2.5hrs to make up rigs and knots and stuff like that. Little bit of dinner then back out for small boat and shore line...
Expect a post tonight for a recap of the day :-)
