Nice days come before you know it....

Wasn't it not too many weeks ago we were getting hammered by a crazy amount of snow?   Weren't we living with solid days of rain putting us up, what, 6+ inches over in precipitation for the year?   Wasn't it just a couple weeks back where the Red Cedar Dam was letting water through at a fast rate with very noticeable raise in even the Red Cedar River below, while the larger rivers absorbed and backed up smaller streams?

This past week in Menomonie, WI, saw a lot more activity around the boat landings as the area started to swing into summer mode.   Several boats can be counted at a time nearly every day from one location, normally the more intense fishing fans disappear along the shoreline on the horizon or vanish upriver.

And up until just days ago the water clarity was absolutely great.

Really, once the ice broke up, Lake Menomin was really very nice.


Was this due to the extra water movement?   Was this due to colder temperatures?

Maybe since farmers weren't in the fields upstream due to wet conditions farm run-off didn't occur as heavily, or was moved fast enough with the extra water movement?


Things that people should take note of.  The seasons, that is.   Everything has an ebb and flow but if a person can't be in a position to witness it or doesn't pay attention to it it is all just lost in past days.


Maybe now that the general consensus is that it is nice outside, more people will be outside in Menomonie.  But every other bit of nature is going to be coming to life, too.   

The good green algae (not the bad stuff) is forming up now near the shoreline areas but the people who are coming outside are expecting a pristine white sand beach (that is heated and warm with clear water), even a little pollen floating on the surface has been observed to lead a person to react to the entire lake for even a little bit of real nature disrupting some sort of fake beach notion.


Perhaps that is why Lake Menomin can't get a better deal on this.  Menomonie pushes Wakanda park as the main event, and with the permanent advertising show on the baseball field fences, it has really become a big commercialized park.

What better feature than a big white sand beach on the lake?

Well, maybe if it has been built in a natural spot.  Somewhere where the river current was moving, or where natural deposition was occurring, building up a sandy beach.    Of course, where Wakanda beach is now, it just keeps on maintaining that 1950's beach.

Now that everything is coming to life this late spring and the summer season is almost on top of us, by the time anyone starts to really care about "the lake" the bacteria will be in bloom and THAT cycle will start again.

Lake Menomin

Lake Menomin on June 8, 2019.

Do you  think the Secchi disk has any real interfacing value as a user of Lake Menomin?