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Local knowledge is of utmost value when it comes to understanding lakes

Here’s an underwater view of scrap wood slabs from a former sawmill. The slabs were discarded into Pike Lake in Price County, Wisconsin. The wood slabs were mostly hemlock. (Photo courtesy of Steve McComas)

I’ve been working on lakes for more than 40 years, and one thing I’ve learned is that not all knowledge comes from books. The best tips, observations, and insights have come from longtime anglers and lake observers. It’s local knowledge.
A few years ago, I was having a beer at a northwoods tavern with some locals, and the discussion veered into the old logging days. Little Bearskin Lake (Wisconsin) had a lot of shoreline log cabins, and I asked why. The backstory was that at the turn of the century, loggers went on strike, and the boomed logs on the lake froze into the ice over winter.

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