At this point of early summer it already looks like late summer on the water. The weed beds, a.k.a. macrophytes, in lakes and streams are fully developed and expanding beyond previous year's patterns.

Weeds for most fish are like woods to animals. Snorkeling over these weed beds in our relatively clear waters is very interesting. You can generally see down at least 20 feet or more especially before the boat traffic stirs things up. In some areas you can float over in your boat and pretty much see the major features along with larger fish.

Fish are pretty much like us. They go to areas with less stress and hopefully something to eat, like home. Weed beds are alive with organisms that little fish eat that bigger fish in turn munch on.

So in these relatively warm waters you'll see schools of minnows, miniature perch, bass, pike and so on up the food chain. Since 1994 most local water has a few layers of Zebra mussels on anything hard and if you disturb them you'll find clouds of creatures come floating out. Pretty soon the rock bass and perch slide out of the weeds to see what's to eat. That multi-layer aspect that the mussels create on every hard surface is a significant difference in water ecology.

The parallel in the woods would be a mature forest of 60-foot trees versus a brush lot with lots more density, surface area, food opportunities, security - in other words, increased habitat. Whether you are hanging around a woodlot or a weedbed, the edge is where lots of stuff happens for wildlife.

Fish can relax in the safety of the thick weeds and then reposition for the buffet. Big fish park in weed beds, like a road patrol car in the bushes, waiting for an easy meal ticket to go by. Energy expended versus energy consumed is the name of the game for most wildlife.

So just opening your yap with a short rush for lunch is good efficiency. That's why a weed bed edge or a depth break line, or other under water feature many times define where fish are and what they feed on.

Fishing the windy side of a shore or underwater obstruction generally concentrates the food chain in a zone you can take advantage of. Not only does the bait end up there because of currents but many times the water temperature and oxygen levels are more conducive to aquatic action.

If you look at the buoy (ourlake.org) recorded temperature you'll see that despite a warm air temperature the strong south wind dropped the surface temperature dramatically because it pulled up the cooler bottom waters. The temperature break line is clearly defined in the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes and often acts as another feature that defines fish action.

The increased density of cold water is so well detailed that it shows up on electronic depth finders sometimes. It is also marked under certain conditions with a scum line of debris when it surfaces with wind conditions. It also can be a mortal change for fish because their systems cannot readjust to the temperature or perhaps lack of oxygen these thermal curtains contain.

For all these reasons the lakes and rivers are really interesting to read and react to. We still need to get busier about phosphorus loading as the weed growth has accelerated the aging of our water. A family reported that their dog nearly drowned after getting tangled up in the weeds of Owasco. These current heavy rains are still washing lots of negative stuff into the lake.

It looks like there will be a Summit of Cayuga County, the city, and the watershed towns involved to get stewardship and stream budgeting in place. The effort we spend now will pay huge dividends for decades for better water for all users. Have fun and be careful out there.

Kozlowski, a local sportsman who is the president of the Owasco

Watershed Lake Association, is

The Citizen's outdoors columnist.

He can be reached at

alkoz@baldcom.net