This year, spring came on March 30. Traveling back from Lima, I saw a male redwing blackbird flying over a marshy area across US-33. Nothing against the female redwing, it's just that the male, with his bright red and yellow wing bar, is easily distinguishable at 65 mph. The female is a slower paced identification process. She looks like a song sparrow on steroids. Check for them hiding in cattails while the males jockey for territory and dates. The paddle came later that day. Three other sea kayak program people and I went to Griggs. The wind was from the north at 20 mph. Temps were below 35 F. Light snow squalls accompanied us as we paddled up to the Fisherman's Wall to see where Riverside Drive was collapsing. The nice thing about the weather was that we were all dressed for immersion!

Now that spring is well underway and summer knocking at the door, look for redwings and paddlers all over the place. Speaking of jockeying for territory and dates, I'm still looking for that boating chair replacement.... If you have a love for administration and get satisfaction from program development and management, I've got a volunteer job for you . . .

John Lane is the Boating Activity Chair.
Unfortunately for us, 2003 will be his last year
(bribes don't seem to phase him . . . )
Please contact John if you're interested in the position.

We've all been watching the weather, and the TV weathercasters, intently this winter. Now that spring is coming, we'll keep watching for hints of rain and whitewater.

Next time they show the big map of Ohio on the TV, cast your eyes westward. Just a fuzz east of Indiana and north of the middle of the state, you should see a big blue dot. On the map, it's a big, blue rectangular dot. In real life, it's Grand Lake St. Marys. This story is about GLSM and my last paddle of last year.

Waiting to get underway.

Grand Lake St. Marys lies about 45 minutes south of Lima. To get there from here, just take US 33 west through Wapakoneta then US 29 west to Celina. Celina sits off the northwest corner of the lake and you can get your bearings there.

This part of the Northwest territory was an important link between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. The St. Marys river saw heavy commercial traffic. Eventually, the trading post Simon and James Girty developed there turned into the town of St. Marys.

Starting in 1837, GLSM was dammed and dug as a feeder for the Miami-Erie canal and for years it held the record as the largest man-made reservoir in the world. A jigger of whiskey and 35 cents a day was pay for the diggers, who suffered from malaria and other ailments. GLSM was connected to the canal via a 3 mile feeder. With the incursion of the railroads, canal traffic became less profitable and the regional economy tanked until oil was discovered in the late 1890's. The regional oil boom occurred in the Tiffin-Findlay-Cygnet area and crude was pulled from the Trenton limestone formation. GLSM had oil wells scattered on islands throughout and a rock pile in the east-central portion of the lake marks the last producing well.

Today, Grand Lake St. Marys is a 13,500 acre state park lake well known for fishing, hunting, boating, camping and swimming. Panfish catches are excellent and duck hunting is available in 90 shoreline and stilt blinds scattered in the western portion of the lake. The lake lies in a major waterfowl and songbird migration route. A state fish hatchery is located on the eastern shore.

Last November Joan and I visited my sister's family in Lima. We skipped out of church and headed south to GLSM. What started out as a sunny windless day got chilly and gloomy almost as soon as we put on the water. We picked the southwest corner of the lake because it had the most variety, with a couple near-shore islands, a fishing pier and game refuge. We put in at a boat ramp on a canal that led into a bay and then around to Windy Point. One foot waves spanked the hulls and slopped muddy water onto our decks. Duck blinds dotted the shore and flanked the fishing pier and islands. We paddled out to Safety Island, the furthest from shore. I'm pretty darn sure Safety Island and its nearest neighbor both supported oil derricks but we didn't explore them; we rested in the boats and watched Canada goose decoys bobbing in the waves. Since it was early afternoon, little was flying and we only saw a few hunters sitting. We took a tack into the wind and explored a string of stilt blinds. These are sort of a drive-in blind. They accommodate up to a twenty foot boat and a couple hunters. The boat is pulled into the blind and camouflage netting covers the open ends. The hunters sit in plywood boxes attached to the frame and pop up to shoot when their quarry comes close. We found an unoccupied blind (there were many to choose from) and played follow the leader through it. After the game, it was back to shore, peeling off of steamy paddling tops and heading out for fast food in Celina.

So, a short story and a long history. There are pluses and minuses to GLSM from a sea kayaking standpoint. It's a big lake, with 52 miles of shoreline to explore. Unfortunately, there is a population of unlimited horsepower boats (300' from shore no-wake zone) during good weather. For Columbus folks, it's a long way from home _ about 100 miles _ but, if you lived in Celina, the lake would be a playground. I'm not overly tempted to go back but, if somebody really wanted to go check out that rock pile in the eastern lake that marks the last producing oil well, I might be up for a road trip!

Check out GLSM on the web at www.ohiodnr.com/parks/parks/grndlake.htm