by GYCE BUTLER
“We must give credit to the wind and the waves.” This quote was resurfacing in my mind, but from a different context than when I first heard it from my friend, Craig Duncan.
I was heading to take my daughter to school, and Haley pointed out that our aluminum boat was not beached on the bank behind the farm house where we had left it the evening before. If I would have known that the night was going to be windy, I might have tied it up better, but for now, my boat was located somewhere out of immediate sight on 27 acres of water.
April and May were busy months on the farm and the lake. Calving season has pretty much come to an end, and all the calves are worked. Our first church kid’s fishing day was a blast. We had great weather, a lot of kids, and a lot of perch jerking. The kids had a blast, and I loved seeing some of them catch their first fish. That is a smile I can’t forget. On our lake management efforts, we finished establishing our brush piles, started up our fish feeders, and had our second lake survey to cull out some more “unders” from the lake. On a cool April Saturday morning, Ethan and his survey partner Tye, along with Ethan’s GSP Reo, showed up for our follow up survey after visiting last fall. Since establishing our goals and a plan last October, we had removed 170 bass under 12 inches from the lake. The goal for this survey was to remove another 100 small bass. Our purpose for removing so many small bass is to lower the bass population enough so the bait fish population can thrive and support adequate growth in our bass. I was curious how our bass and our bait population would look after the winter. It didn’t take long to see our bait fish numbers looked great, and the lake was responding well to our fall and winter efforts. Our population of baitfish were showing strong numbers and quite the variety. We saw strong schools of Shiners, Red Ear, Sunfish, and fresh water shrimp. The bream had just started spawning, and the shoreline resembled the surface of the moon with all the bream beds. Another encouraging aspect from seeing such a variety of baitfish species was that the bass would not just adapt to one species of bait. This is good for the fishing, because if bass are only accustomed to foraging on one specific species of bait, then it limits what we can use for lures and what they will respond to. All of our larger female bass that we netted had already spawned out. It seemed that each time we saw a ball of bass fry, we would net a large female close by. Our largest bass that we netted was close to 8 lb.’s, and it was obvious that she had spawned out. We were successful in culling another 100 small bass. Since we have our bass numbers where we would like them to be, we wanted to give the baitfish population a boost to stay well ahead of the bass. We added 200 tilapia, and the purpose of adding the tilapia is 2-fold. First, they will help control the vegetation. Most of all, they will add to our bait fish for the bass to forage on. 200 Tilapia may not seem like many for the size of the lake we are managing, but they will reproduce every 35 days until November. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. We also stocked 5,000 Copper Nose Bream. No, this is not a typo. We actually added 5,000, and the cool thing about the strain of bream that we added is they can reach up to 2 pounds with proper nutrition. Since we are feeding the Purina Aquamax that has a 42.5 percent protein, these bad boys ought to blow up. I can’t wait for next year’s kid’s fishing day. Those Snoopy and princess poles will be bent, for sure! While we lowered our bass numbers, Ethan wanted to add 100 mature northern bass. These bass weighed around a pound and should adapt well. They will add some aggression when crossed with our Florida strain that are already in the lake. I’m thinking a big aggressive bass is worth the effort we are making. June is going to be busy controlling above water vegetation on grass mats and shorelines. It should make a good topic to reflect on in the third quarter.
With June upon us, there are specific dates each year that cause me to stop and remember one of my best friends, Charles Richardson. He is the man that I easily could have called Granddad, and he was the previous owner of the farm that Ashley and I now own. Early Tuesday morning on June the 6th of 1944, I can’t imagine what was going through his mind as he and his 386 Bomber squad, along with others, got the call to execute what they had been trained to do. In the dark of night, as they taxi’d out for takeoff, one of their engines failed. As he and his bombardier, Bud, thought that their part of the mission was done, they were redirected back to the hanger where another plane awaited them. After loading their replacement bomber, they caught up with the rest of group in the dark of night to reach the shorelines of the beach as the sun broke the horizon. All this was done with no GPS, no Siri, and no Youtube videos. Before Bud’s health got too bad to make the drive from Florida, for a visit, I would sit in Mr. Richardson’s living room and listen for hours of their stories from World War II. They would talk of listening to General Patton, living in castles, hunting rabbits for dinner, sneaking in to the officers’ quarters for a hot shower, and of course D-Day. In all the conversations I sat through, I never remember hearing a complaint of serving their country, flying their missions, or enduring what they did. I think they gave credit to the wind and the waves that moved them to each chapter of their lives. It gave them their story, a friendship for life, and a legacy.
You and I may never find ourselves flying a bombing mission on D-Day, but the wind and waves of life are, for sure, going to move us. Our lives will be formed with each wave and gust of wind. Most likely, they will move us to uncharted waters from time to time. I hope I do like my WWII buddies and give credit to the wind and waves and write the best story that I can with where I find myself. I encourage you to do the same. Remember, whatever chapter of life you are in, isn’t your whole story.
