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Originally Posted by Jan Orcutt
Very nice, Paul! Are there a lot of western paints up there?
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Oh yeah, there are a TON of them up there. I was really amazed that we only saw a couple. Normally those same "basking spots" would have nearly a dozen of them lined up. I was surprised we didn't see any hatchlings too. I don't know if it's too early or not, but normally if we went into the backwaters and bogs, you could see dozens of babies within 30 minutes. I have a feeling the increased traffic on the lake for the weekend may have had them hiding.
The ecology has changed quite a bit up there in the past 10 years. There used to be the occasional snappers floating around, and there were tons of bullheads and large perch too. I haven't seen any of those since they introduced walleye and tiger muskies though.
I just think that there isn't as much 'catch and release' going on, and I hope that the turtles aren't being collected, but you never know.