Back in the saddle, bass and butterflies

After contracting COVID on my trip home from Canada in early August, it took me some time to get back into the swing of things.

I really didn’t feel bad, but it was nearly three weeks before I got a negative test, so I pretty much remained around home and caught up on my chores and naps. The day after my negative test, my brother and I took a trip to Lake Erie in search of walleye and perch, but that was a bust.

I debated all week as to where I should launch out of, Rocky River, which I’m most familiar with, or farther east, like Fairport Harbor, Conneaut or Ashtabula, where the reports were better, but the fish deeper.

I decided on Fairport Harbor, where we could always bass fish in the bay if things got rough, and it didn’t take long to get the first walleye on the line, but as it turned out, that was the only one. Some sheepshead and one perch rounded out our catch for the day, so the fishing was pitiful, but no one got sick, so that was a plus.

It was certainly a lot different than my trip to Bolton Lake in Manitoba, Canada, where the walleye fishing was as easy as catching bluegill in Ohio. In fact, I heard Freshwater Fishing Hall of Famer Gary Roach, known as “Mr. Walleye,” once caught 300 walleyes in a day at Bolton Lake. That’s Gary Roach, though, not me.

Silver Creek, where fish explode on bate at water's surface

After I struggled on Erie, I picked more of a sure thing for my next fishing trip, heading to Silver Creek with my brother for some after-supper top-water fishing, and wasn’t disappointed. We caught 19 largemouth bass and one bluegill in a little under two hours of fishing. They weren’t big, but they were fun to catch on light tackle, and it’s always exciting when fish explode on baits at the water’s surface.

We were fishing light-wire worm hooks and light plastics that we drug across the weeds, catching fish from as close as 6-inches from shore to 60 feet off shore. And, we really never moved spots, just fishing on the rip-rap along the dam the whole time.

The quick trip got me thinking about what Wayne and Holmes county people are missing by not having Shreve Lake to fish. You see, Silver Creek is nearly identical to what Shreve Lake used to look like, and hopefully in another year, will look like. Approximately 55 acres and roughly 30 years since it was opened to the public, Silver Creek has shore fishing on about half of its bank area, has a fishing pier, rents boats, features a launch area for kayaks, canoes and paddle boards, and is full of panfish, bass and catfish.

The lake, which is owned by the Summit Metro Parks and is just over the Wayne County border north of Doylestown, gets a lot of fishing pressure (especially from shore anglers). So, trophy fish are far and few between, but from a kayak or canoe, your chances of catching fish rise exponentially.

And, in the spring, the Division of Wildlife stocks Silver Creek with rainbow trout, which adds another species to fish for before the water warms up.

Two bridle trails, two walking trails and a picnic area also bring people to Silver Creek Metro Park, however, swimming at Silver Creek was suspended when Covid hit in 2019, and isn’t expected to return to the lake, which is sad, because the lake has 300 feet of beach area and a substantial bathhouse.

As I said earlier, every time I fish Silver Creek, I think of Shreve Lake, and can’t wait for the day fishermen there can enjoy the same experiences that many do now at Silver Creek. And, fingers crossed, dirt work on Shreve Lake should start in 2023, with the lake to open in 2024.

More: Butterfly Allyhttps://www.the-daily-record.com/story/lifestyle/nature-wildlife/2022/09/02/wooster-neighbors-create-butterfly-alley-to-

Unfortunate fact: Monarch butterfly count has dropped

Monarch butterfly enthusiasts all across America have commented that this summer’s monarch butterfly population is down from previous years. And, that’s surprising, as the count of overwintering monarchs in Mexico was above recent trends.

My wife, Jean, and I can report we have seen considerably fewer monarchs this summer than in the past, despite upping our pollinator plants and milkweed game.

We cut some trees and leveled some ground for a new section of swamp milkweed, along with Mexican sunflowers, zinnias, Joe Pye weed, cosmos and asters. The good news is that a lot of pollinators have taken advantage of our new oasis of flowering goodness. Bees, including I’m sure some from the hives four houses down the road, hummingbirds and hummingbird moths, along with many other species of butterflies and moths, have enjoyed the blooms.

One particular species has even helped the fish in the pond, as June and July’s Japanese beetle infestation became bluegill food. I would collect hundreds from the milkweed blossoms, and once I walked out on the dock, the bluegill would surface knowing supper was on its way. It got to the point I could feed them beetles out of my hand.

Along with all our potted milkweed plants and other patches, we probably have 1,000 common and swamp milkweed plants on the property, but with that comes a lot of responsibility.

We’ve hauled lots of buckets of water, used water from our well and pumped water out of the neighbor’s pond to try and keep everything alive, only to not have the monarchs cooperate, and for nature to work against us.

Deer keep eating all the asters and by late August, yellow aphids have sucked the life out of the swamp milkweed, despite Jean’s best efforts to A: wash them off, and B: squish them between her fingers. With it now being late in the season, she has cut back most of the swamp milkweed, and is now just depending on the common milkweed to feed the caterpillars.

Letting nature takes its course this year, and Tiger swallowtails

Another thing we did this summer was to NOT try and “raise” as many monarchs as in the past, and just let nature take its course. The monarch is part of the cycle of life, and there’s a reason females lay up to 500 eggs, because in nature, only about 10 percent complete the life cycle and become butterflies. Ants eat the eggs, flies lay eggs in caterpillars and kill them from the inside out, and wasps eat baby caterpillars. Certain birds, earwigs and stink bugs also prey on monarch caterpillars.

While this year’s monarch numbers are definitely down in our area, we have had an explosion of yellow Tiger swallowtail butterflies, which took advantage of all our pollinator plants. Tiger swallowtails use poplar and black cherry trees as host plants for their caterpillars. We also had a good population of Black swallowtails, which lay their eggs on dill, parsley and carrot tops. Jean raised three Black swallowtails from eggs, even getting to see how the caterpillar spins a saddle to attach its chrysalis to.

Any monarchs that are close now will the generation that migrates to Mexico, as they start showing up in the central region of the country at the end of October, and it’s roughly a two-month journey from this latitude.

Outdoors correspondent Art Holden can be reached at letsplabal@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Back in saddle after COVID, finally fishing with luck at Silver Lake