Swamps

I posted a couple pictures of a swamp I went hiking in yesterday and it got me to thinking.

Swamps have always been like a magnate to me, even when I was a little kid. I grew up in a small town and as I said before, my area is full of lakes. In my county alone there are over four hundred natural lakes and back then, that meant lots of swamps for a young kid to wander in.

There was a swamp about a block north of our house. It was like heaven to me. Lots of cattails, frogs, snakes etc. From my earliest years I was down there every chance I got. I am not sure if I remember it or if I just think I do from hearing the story but it seems my parents did not like me playing in "The Swamp" when I was little.

One time it seems I had wandered down there, I was about four years old. I came home muddy of course. You can't catch critters without getting a bit of mud on you, no matter how hard you tried. I am sure that at that age I didn't try to stay clean very hard.

My parents cornered me and asked me if I had been down to the swamp and I told them I had not. I swore to them I had been nowhere near the swamp and they could not get me to fess up. Finally my dad asked me how deep the water was and I was quick to point to my muddy knees and say, "It was this deep" Busted! I was teased about that for years.

About a half mile north of the swamp was Silvan lake. There was a drainage ditch running between them. In the spring it was full and we always looked forward to the big northern pike running up the ditch and into the swamp to spawn. The Swamp was only maybe three feet deep but that was plenty for them to spawn. To a young kid they like sharks and so big. Some of the bigger boys in the neighborhood would go out at night and spear any they could find but the DNR watch out for them. It was really amazing to see a ten lb pike laying in a ditch that one could jump across.

In the summer the swamp would eventually dry up and when there was no more than a small mucky area of water left, no more than the size of a wash tub, we would go down and catch every tadpole and salamander left and turn them loose in deeper water in the lake. I didn't like to see them die that way.

The swamp was full of cattails. In the fall, when the swamp was dry, we would trails through the cattails. We would make hiding areas and some times we would get together and play a sorta have a tag and hide and seek in them. We would tie cattails together across the trails and get someone to chase us. Man they would come after us, usually the big kids and in the twisting trails we would lead them into the trap and we would jump it but they would hit it wide open and go flying. It was a ball. We would go around a corner and out of their sight, sidestep into the cattails, letting the pursuer run by. We spent many hours in the fall in the swamp. .

Winter it would flood again and man used it for ice skating.

We would catch many snakes in the spring. It was like a right of spring and we would sometimes catch thirty or forty in an afternoon. I would never kill them but kept many as pets. I loved it when I caught a pregnant female as it was very interesting watching them give birth. We would always eventually turn them loose.

I like the swamps because it is really the area that you will always be close to nature. Watching them breed and take care of their young was always fun to me. I had my butterfly collections and insects.It is just me.

I have not changed much in my later years. I remember going to Florida. I would usually go alone and haul my bass boat. I would go out in the swamps early in the morning and come back just before dark. I didn't care if I caught any fish or not. I was in my element.

I have a cousin that lives on the St Johns river. I would put in at his place, head up river to Duns Creek and then take it up to Crescent Lake. At that time there was very few homes on the Creek but there were sure a lot gators. Gators, Eagles, osprey and an occasional Manatee. I would motor up to Crescent Lake and head to the left. It is an awesome area. Gators all over the place. I would cast near them and the suckers would head for my lure. I had a ball with them but sure didn't want to hook one. As I would be slowly motoring in the shallows I would occasionally spook an alligator gar. Now those suckers are big and scare the crap out of you.

It is a bird watchers paradise down there, as it is in any swamp if a person opens his eyes. There is always something going on. Always.

In the spring I used to get up early before school and go to the swamp and tap the maple trees. I didn't know what I was doing but I got sap out. I would drink it raw. Takes too much to boil down.

Yes I love swamps. That is where the wildlife is.