Are the fish running yet? What kind of stupid question is that?
I believe that question should be rephrased to ask are the fish swimming yet!
In past blogs I have stated that I grew up on a farm that was mostly rocks and sloughs. That explains why ‘running fish’ might confuse me.
Then I moved to our present home where sloughs are almost nonexistent and creeks, a river and Lake Traverse replaced the water holding functions of the sloughs of my growing up years.
After leaving home and attending college for five years (the five years is a story for another blog) my biology education introduced me to the fact that in the spring of the year in order for fish to continue their species they need to produce offspring.
To accomplish the important task fish such as suckers, walleyes and northern pike require the shallow waters of creeks or streams. They will leave the lake, enter the river and then locate a shallow stream. Entering the stream the fish swim as far up the stream as possible where the female’s eggs are laid in the shallows and the male fish fertilizes them.
The adult fish then return to the lake if the water is high enough. If the spring is unusually dry the water may be too shallow for the return trip and the adults will be forced to spend the summer in the stream. Hopefully a big rain storm will occur sometime during the summer and will raise the water level so the trapped fish can return to their lake home.
If the summer remains dry the adult fish will become a victim to nature’s food chain sooner then expected. I know, I know it seems cruel but that is nature’s way. 🙁
I learned about ‘running fish’ the first spring that I taught in Wheaton. As soon as the ice began to leave the lakes students as well as adults in the community could be heard asking, “Are the fish running yet?”
To this day I have not learned why they would be running and not swimming? Who can figure?
The next shocking thing I discovered was that almost every male in the county was involved in placing nets of various designs into the streams and creeks.
Of course it was illegal but that didn’t seem to matter. That famous quote we all used as we went through puberty was uttered by all the men in the county when they attempted to rationalize that netting fish was not breaking the law. “But everybody does it,” they would exclaim!
I was never won over by capturing fish in that manner. Can you imagine the shock to my students whom I stressed the importance of conservation to in the classroom if I were caught netting fish illegally?
I believe the descriptive word would be “hypocrite”. 🙂
There is a beautiful, bubbling creek bordering our property. In the early years it had several beaver dams slowing the flowing water. When the fish were running (now you got me saying it!) they were slowed by the dam and if we sat quietly and waited we could view northern pike struggling through narrow streams of water flowing over the dam.
Several attempts were made before the fish were able to clear the face of the dam and continue upstream to their spawning grounds. What an exciting struggle it was to watch.
Al a fellow teacher lived just upstream from our home. One spring he was curious to see if the fish were running. So he got some chicken wire and constructed a hoop net and placed it in the stream. He assured me that he was just going to leave it in for a couple days and see what kind of fish were moving through.
I of course wanted nothing to do with the hoop net. I didn’t even see the net or watch him place it in the stream. I had preached to my students about the ways of a good conservationist and wasn’t going to disappoint them by being implicated in spring fish netting.
He made one mistake when he told another friend about the net. Never share such information in a small town because it instantly becomes gossip for the small town kaffeeklatsches that meet regularly in the numerous gathering places in town.
Well unknown to Al who was busy teaching school the friend whom he had shared his hoop net information with decided to drive out and check on the hoop net.
To the young man’s amazement he discovered the hoop net was overflowing with northern pike!
So he did what any illegal sportsman would do he grabbed several and brought the fish to town and proudly displayed them at one of those many kaffeeklatsches.
Word spread like wildfire and soon cars and pickups were racing out to Al’s house each with five gallon pails to bring back a meal or two of fresh northern pike.
When Al returned home after a grueling day in the classroom he discovered his yard was filled with an assortment of vehicles. All were empty because their drivers were down the hill by the creek helping themselves to the fish in the hoop net!
Al had to quickly chase the fish thieves out of his yard and just as quickly remove the hoop net from the creek.
What was meant to be a simple sampling of the spring fish run had suddenly gotten out of hand. Al did plan on keeping a couple fish for a meal or two but supplying the whole town of Wheaton with fish was not the plan!
The rest of the afternoon and into the early evening hopeful ‘Wheatonites’ drove into Al’s yard but were quickly escorted off the property!
So the ‘out of control’ fish netting ended and I wonder how many Wheaton residents remember that day of illegal excitement? Probably not many since it happened nearly forty-two years ago.
That memory just gave me an idea. I have a shed filled with chicken wire netting left over from my pumpkin growing years and I bet if I googled ‘hoop net’ I would discover how to construct one. A fresh fish meal would taste mighty good right now. 🙂
On second thought my first students that I taught back in 1967 are turning 70 this year. I wouldn’t want to disappoint them or any other past students with headlines in the Wheaton Gazette stating “Retired Biology Teacher Arrested For Netting Fish”.
Especially from a teacher like myself that preached conservation is the only way to go. 🙂
Until next time.
