The 2016 Boating Thread

[Savemeasammy]

St. Mary's. It was fun to ski in July. I was on Huck-it-baby's powder skis - so it was interesting! The snow was softened moonscape, but wasn't corn. It was worth doing. I'd never made July turns before.


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[dlague]

St. Mary's. It was fun to ski in July. I was on Huck-it-baby's powder skis - so it was interesting! The snow was softened moonscape, but wasn't corn. It was worth doing. I'd never made July turns before.


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Hmmm that peeks my interests!

 

[Cornhead]

Hit the mighty Susquehanna @ 6:30 AM, glad I didn't go out after work yesterday, Mayflies spawned last night, would've been out at dusk. I've been on the canoe while they were out, creepy, I'd get the heebie jeebies every now and then, bugs in ears, nose, mouth. Had to empty out the pocket of my tee when done.

That's not river scum, trillions of dead mayflies

 

[JimG.]

Hit the mighty Susquehanna @ 6:30 AM, glad I didn't go out after work yesterday, Mayflies spawned last night, would've been out at dusk. I've been on the canoe while they were out, creepy, I'd get the heebie jeebies every now and then, bugs in ears, nose, mouth. Had to empty out the pocket of my tee when done.
View attachment 20503
That's not river scum, trillions of dead mayflies

Dead? From what?

I wonder why the fish don't eat them. I know there are fish in the Susquehanna.

 

[dlague]

Dead? From what?

I wonder why the fish don't eat them. I know there are fish in the Susquehanna.

Mayflies die very fast after they emerge. Mate then die - hell of a post aquatic life. For the fish, where is the sport in eating dead bugs.

 

[JimG.]

Mayflies die very fast after they emerge. Mate then die - hell of a post aquatic life. For the fish, where is the sport in eating dead bugs.

Excuse my poor writing in my previous reply.

I meant that I wonder why so many die and are not eaten by the fish while they are still alive. I have big mayfly hatches at my house and I have never seen a mat of dead ones on my river like in Cornhead's pic.

 

[bigbog]

Usually, so many are, indeed, eaten by fish(trout or bass)....but with many spinner-falls(mayfly mating/laying eggs, then die)...the fish can only eat so much.... I've seen video of the Susquehanna hatches....incredible numbers, has to be the most intense hatch anywhere... The upper branches, and main branch... of the Delaware are just the headwaters of the Susquehanna. Amazing the length & breadth, in acreage/miles....of this one river system's hatch(Green Drake...aka Shadfly...y/n?)

 

[Cornhead]

Though not as dramatic as paddling through them in the air, it was surreal paddling through the dead flies on the surface. There were times when the entire surface of the water as far as I could see was covered with them. The surface resembling cooked oatmeal.

The numbers are mind boggling, and I couldn't help but relate my own life to a single dead mayfly amongst the countless others. As George Harrison wrote, life goes on within you, and without you. It's easy to feel you are the center of your universe, when in reality you're just another dead mayfly in a river full of dead mayflies. Life itself, in it's many forms, is the star of the show.

 

[dlague]

Excuse my poor writing in my previous reply.

I meant that I wonder why so many die and are not eaten by the fish while they are still alive. I have big mayfly hatches at my house and I have never seen a mat of dead ones on my river like in Cornhead's pic.

Got it!

 

[JimG.]

Usually, so many are, indeed, eaten by fish(trout or bass)....but with many spinner-falls(mayfly mating/laying eggs, then die)...the fish can only eat so much.... I've seen video of the Susquehanna hatches....incredible numbers, has to be the most intense hatch anywhere... The upper branches, and main branch... of the Delaware are just the headwaters of the Susquehanna. Amazing the length & breadth, in acreage/miles....of this one river system's hatch(Green Drake...aka Shadfly...y/n?)

So these hatches are like the ones you get on the Beaverkill in the Catskills. Clouds of mayflies. I guess you don't see dead ones in mats because the water is shallower and faster running.

Driving on 17 in the evening can require stops to clean your windshield with Windex more than once the bugs are so thick.

 

[bigbog]

So these hatches are like the ones you get on the Beaverkill in the Catskills. Clouds of mayflies. I guess you don't see dead ones in mats because the water is shallower and faster running.

Driving on 17 in the evening can require stops to clean your windshield with Windex more than once the bugs are so thick.

Yes....but I suspect there are stretches of the Delaware/Susquehanna that have mud bottoms with a little slower current flow than say the Beaverkill = often producing heavier hatches of that specific mayfly... Beats me why...they just seem to thrive, in greater numbers, on the slightly slower current...even in still waters(bogs/ponds/lakes) up here. Have a pic of them covering a parked car's windshield & hood in a lot in Greenville, just off the water(Moosehead Lake's southern end)...have to find it on a CD(will update when found).. Surprised, with the size of that hatch down there, that someone hasn't produced a B-SciFy/Horror flick from it yet...;-)

 

[Cornhead]

Fun paddle after work today. The usual route, nothing special there, the 4" of rain North and East of Binghamton Monday had swollen the mighty Susquehanna a whopping 4 feet. Judging by the mud on the bankside foliage the level has dropped 2 feet since it's highest point. Still 2 feet higher than last week.

With the high water I made the Rockbottom Dam in record time, a little over an hour. 6mph, is that good speed in a canoe? I have no idea. As I headed for home I barely noticed this

This is the first Snapper I've seen sunning on a log. I haven't seen any of the smaller turtles this year. They always drop into the water as soon as I get close. This guy wasn't fazed my my presence as I passed. I stopped an dug my phone out of my pack and floated right up to him for this pic.

Pretty good workout paddling back upstream with some actual current. Not too bad though, plenty of pretty slow moving spots right along the bank. There were a couple spots where I told myself the harder I paddled, the sooner the swift spot would pass. You do have to paddle hard enough to overcome the current, if not, you're on a liquid treadmill.

Winter is on its way, got home at 8:30, already starting to get dark.




Tiger lilies, and whatever the red flower is, probably a weed, picked along the bank.

 

[Bostonian]

So far a great season. Some photos from Winnipesaukee below!




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[steamboat1]

 

[bigbog]

So these hatches are like the ones you get on the Beaverkill in the Catskills. Clouds of mayflies. I guess you don't see dead ones in mats because the water is shallower and faster running.

Driving on 17 in the evening can require stops to clean your windshield with Windex more than once the bugs are so thick.

A pity that the water is too warm with a little too much pollution for trout.... Once you get that far downstream in a watershed and the water is quality bass water...trout have, most likely, been long gone for decades.... Once the climate warms so much, trout domains will dwindle to the northernmost and highermost altitudes in the Rockies...or until another glaciation-mode kicks in.. Would be interesting to see which happens, probably both...