Just on a whim and to check the health of my next door pond, I took a potatoe rake and a 5 gallon bucket to sample the shallows. In just a few pulls with the rake through the weedbed, leaves and muck, I dredged up several nice critters and put them into the bucket with some pond weeds and muck. After getting them home I took a second bucket of fresh rainwater from the rainbarrel and started sifting the pond muck for aquatic lifeforms. Of course the 5, 3, and 18 month old kids gathered round and the littlest squealed and stomped in delight each time something got netted and put in the clear water. Emma was dancing and squealing -"Sish!" when a few bluegills appeared. Seems they were snoozing or hiding in the weedbed and were trapped and caught when I dredged them into the bucket. Among the other critters found were numerous dragonfly nymphs, damsel flies, scuds, waterboatmen, four bluegills, a spotted Newt and a whopper of a leech 2 inches long. Thought I'd take their pix with some flies mixed in and then sent them back to the pond later. Hope you frozen water folks get warm fuzzies.....enjoy!
Steve





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I fish, therefore I swam.