Black Lake News
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NEWS FROM THE LAKE SHORE SPRING 2012 B LACK LAKE NEWS Meetings A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT All meetings are held on the second Monday of the month RON DULAK 989-733-2565 at 7:30 PM in Grant Township Hall. The Black Lake Association direction into the fish- May 14–Speaker Geof- (BLA) is beginning its 84th ery goals, objectives frey Steinhart—LSSU year as an organization and management June 14– 6:30PM POT striving to accomplish its plans for Northern LUCK. Bring a dish to mission as stated in its By- Michigan’s Inland Wa- pass. Laws. This mission is to terways comprised of, Caption describing July 9 monitor Black Lake for Pickerel, Crooked, environmental and ecologi- Mullet, Burt and Black August 13 cal changes and to pro- Lakes. September 10 mote activities which will enhance water quality, October 8 These are goals that we fishing, boating, safe navi- have met and now we gation, swimming and all have to look ahead to Ron Dulak and Erin McLean work Volunteers other activities enjoyed by maintain Black Lake as with the Lake Superior students those that use the lake. one of the most pristine planting walleye fish mats. President—Ron Dulak lakes in Northern Michi- During the past two years gan. Vice President—Virgil our association has taken which could serve as a Smith many steps toward accom- Last fall the BLA Board of fishing pier. plishing that goal. These Directors and the Fishery Treasurer—Cindy Tre- steps include: panier Committee held a meeting These potential projects 1. Working with the DNR with the DNR to discuss to stock over 344,000 will be discussed at the Secretary—Linda Smith some potential future pro- summer general meeting walleye. jects for the improvement where all of you can have Trustees—Erin Mc Lean, 2. Working with Lake of the lake. Some of the input . We definitely need Roger Selvig, Dick Hop- Superior State Univer- suggested projects are: your involvement. kins sity’s Aquatic Re- search Department , Membership Chairman– through a partnership Fish shelters around With a membership of over Sharon Dulak with Hammond Bay the lake 550 families, volunteers Angler’s Association, Walleye spawning are always needed. This Technical Advisor—Rusty to improve our walleye reefs year the BLA Board of Di- Gowland rectors will be looking to fill fishery. Improved boat launch- the positions of Secretary 3. Acquiring our 501-C-3 ing ramps at the state Secchi Disk Readings— and one trustee. There are tax Status. park Bob Williams also many chairperson- 4. Becoming an active Increased parking ships open. We need you Newsletter—Sharon Du- member of the North- spaces for cars and to volunteer to help make lak ern Inland Lakes Citi- trailers at the state this the great year it can zens Advisory Commit- park. be with your help. I am tee. It reviews and Banquet—Linda Smith A longer, more effi- looking forward to meeting and Kaye Hoefflin provides input and cient, enhanced jetty and working with all of you. Black Lake News W ATER LEVELS ON BLACK LAKE V IRG S MITH 989-733-8089 Water levels on Black Lake Circuit Court Order on August the point that the Smith Rap- order is used as policy for the have long been a topic of dis- 28, 1964. The order set the ids, not the dam, controls the operation of the dam. cussion and concern. During summer level (May 15 outflow from Black Lake dur- ing periods of high water.” this past spring, the water through October 31) at 612.2 The aging Alverno dam has reached a level of 613.8 feet feet above sea level and the This past years experience with water levels supports the required significant mainte- above sea level, causing boats winter level (December 1 nance throughout the years. and pontoons to float off through April 15) at 610.5 findings of the Corps’ study. During the time the lake level It is now at a stage where hoists, docks to separate and feet above sea level. underwater concrete must be property damage. The highest was 613.8 feet , the pond level at Alverno Dam was replaced and repaired. This recorded water level was 615.1 repair will require significant feet above sea level, occurring During the 1960’s, the US 610.0 feet above sea level. Army Corps of Engineers com- water level drawdown and on April 21, 1960. The lake prior notice to various agen- water level is documented with pleted a study to determine the cause of reoccurring high Alverno Dam was completed cies and Black Lake property a chart recorder located at the in 1905. It is 19 feet in owners. Although timing has Black River Marina. There is water levels on Black Lake. Their study determined the height and was built using not been determined, it most also a gauge at Alverno Dam earthen constructions, timber likely would occur during the for measuring water level cause was a section of the Black River known as Smith cribs, rock fill and concrete. It fall , after some future Labor within the dam pond. Rapids, approximately 1.2 has the capacity to generate Day miles downstream from Black one million watts of electrical power. The dam is currently Legal water levels for Black Lake. The Corps’ study states, owned and operated by Black lake were established by “The Smith Rapids section is a channel constriction that River Limited Partnership. restricts the flow of water to The legal water level court B LACK L AKE S TURGEON S EASON The scene was set for the opening The second sturgeon was speared the season. He felt that 90 per- day of sturgeon season, Saturday, by Lance Williams from Cheboy- cent of the participants knew it February 4, 2012. The DNR law gan. It was also a tagged male. It was over within three minutes. enforcement officials and person- measured 53.5 inches and nel were waiting in the fishing ar- weighed 32 pounds. The time was Most of the fishermen and women, eas to report a catch as soon as it 10:02 AM February 4, 2012. 55 percent, were from northern occurred. The sturgeon fishing Hot Michigan, while an additional 38 Line was ready to be used, and The Hot Line was used, the can- percent were from southern Michi- lake wide cannons and sirens nons boomed and the sirens gan, south of M-72. Three percent were in place to signal the end of screamed. The 2012 season was were from Ohio, another three per- the season when it came. over. It had lasted two hours and cent were from Wisconsin, and the 2 minutes. rest were from the Upper Penin- There were 197 registered anglers sula and Alaska. on the ice, set up and ready to go. The DNR were pleased with the outcome. They felt that all the The season opened at 8:00 AM precautions they had put in place and the first sturgeon was speared to end the season worked well. at 9:30 AM by Ed Crawford of Tim Cwalinski stated that within Afton. It was a 58.7 inch tagged 20 minutes of the last sturgeon male that weighed 45.4 pounds. caught they had effectively closed Black lake news Page 3 2011 BLACK LAKE WALLEYE Lake Superior State S TUDIES University GEOFFREY STEINHART, LSSU Students at Work. With the support of the Black limited to the week of April 23 duction of walleye in 2100 Lake Association (BLA) and to May 7 egg mats collected. was very low. the Hammond Bay Anglers If this catch is extrapolated to Association (HBAAA) three the whole area near the state Lake Superior State University park, it was estimated that Larval walleye consume small (LSSU) students have been about 24,000 eggs were de- crustaceans, or zooplankton, conducting research on posited. While this is a rela- so Dana DePlonty collected spawning and larval walleye tively low number of eggs, zooplankton from near the in Black Lake and its tributar- sampling occurred in only a state park from April through ies. small portion of Black Lake, September. She is still count- ing and identifying the sam- so it reflects only a fraction of the total spawning effort for ples, but has found Daphnia The Spring 2011 walleye sam- the lake. species, one of the preferred pling was an overall success species for larval fishes. It as far as data collection, al- remains to be seen if the though the results were dis- Larval walleye sampling was Daphnia and overall zooplank- Alex, Luke and Dana collect heartening. Luke Kaiser con- conducted by Alex Ingersoll ton densities are conducive zooplankton. firmed walleye were spawning once a week from mid-April to for good larval growth and in the Black Lake study site the end of June 2011. A total survival. near Onaway State Park, but of 500 larval fishes were no walleye eggs were found in caught with yellow perch be- the Rainy River or the Upper ing the most abundant (80% The final results of these pro- Black River. Other eggs were of all larvae), along with a few jects will be presented at the found in the rivers (suckers in unidentified whitefish and May BLA meeting, so stay the Rainy and sturgeon in the minnows. No larval walleye tuned. All students learned a Black), so the egg collection were found. All larval sam- lot in the process and appreci- methods were effective, but it pling was again near the state ate the support of both the is possible that the high flows park, so it does not likely rep- BLA and HBAAA.