Editor's Letter March/April 2021
POND BOSS
POND BOSS
Administrator

 

Awakenings

 

Writing this letter amid the harshest cold snap we’ve had in years makes me wonder what’s about to happen to our ponds. Much of the Midwest is in the throes of subzero lows and high temperatures well south of freezing. Those good folks are used to it. So are their ponds, safely sheltered under an existing layer of ice.

Not so much here. In north Texas, our pond temperatures have been in the upper 40’s, low 50’s most of this winter. A polar vortex (I love that name for some illogical reason) has dipped into the Lone Star state and we’re in the second day where the high won’t top the magic freeze number. In fact, our forecasters are calling for highs in the mid-teens over the weekend, with lows below zero. That happens about once every 15-20 years. My fear is our pond temperatures will drop so rapidly that fish will be impacted. Our friends in northern states have ice to insulate water temperature changes. We don’t.

We will in another day, but it will be a crusty layer and our water temperatures will drop more than 20 degrees through most of the state. We can say adios to threadfin shad.

Nature does what nature does and we adjust.

Speaking of adjusting, the queen and I sold LL,2. We’re packed, and the movers are coming in ten days. By the time you read this, we’ll be hanging out in our RV, poised for the next chapter of our lives. Yes, it will involve fisheries management. Yes, it will involve lake design. Sure, it will have lots to do with Pond Boss magazine. That’s my life, no matter where we live or where we might hang our hat for the evening.

Things are changing.

Our world is changing. Your world is changing. In the headlights, I’m seeing and hearing from people who are embracing it and growing with it. Just when we think we see the end of the pandemic, someone from the government tells us it may be another year before it’s managed. In the meantime, you and yours are adjusting and inventing a new normal.

It’s March. Your pond doesn’t know anything about a pandemic. It knows the days are growing longer, and its water will start warming. When that happens, ponds spring to life, so to speak. They do what they do, and we get to open our arms and enjoy nature doing as it does.

Let’s give a big round of applause to Spring, 2021!

A series dedicated to Bob Lusk's general musings about land, water and life.

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