On 15-Mar.08 I planned to paddle from “the beach” at Lake Carlsbad NM to “the flume”.\u00a0 The lake was drained in January to allow city workers and residents to repair their docking facilities.\u00a0\u00a0 I arrived about 10:45am with winds out of the southwest at 3-4 mph.\u00a0 The river was refilled\u00a0as promised and the water was\u00a0cold but would probably not cold enough to cause “shock”.\u00a0 It was obvious that the high winds of 60+mph the day before wreaked havoc on the Lake.\u00a0 The water fowl consisted of\u00a0 domestic geese and duck and a small flock of coots.\u00a0 The coots were especially spooky probably because they were in unfamiliar waters… they usually just move out of the way a short distance but all were taking to clearing out by dozens of yards for a comfortable margin of safety.\u00a0\u00a0 There were also Red-winged Black-bird in the thickets on the banks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were no obvious signs of fish feeding on\u00a0the surface.\u00a0 It will be curious to see how long it takes for the fish to fully rebound from the draining of the lake.\u00a0\u00a0 My trip took me 5.2 miles round trip from the beach to just short of the flume and back.\u00a0 The total time was +\/- 1 hour and\u00a019 minutes with a maximum speed of 4.8 mph and an average speed\u00a04.0 mph.\u00a0 The wind was variable from 3 – 10 mph SSW.\u00a0 The fastest part of the trip was the first half with the wind providing a strong assist.\u00a0\u00a0 The return leg was at times difficult slowing me to 2.3 mph and with waves breaking the bow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Great trip looking forward tot he summer….<\/p>\n