May 07, 2012 12:13PM

Recent rain

Sollies Creek now has water in it because of the recent rain. It is not flowing though. It appears the creek has a 2nd berm where it empties into Lost Lake. I'd guess this 2nd berm is uncrossable by any carp wishing to enter Langdon Bay. If the Big Lake rises enough in level, this berm would be submerged, thus completing the link. I'd also say at the moment, Langdon Bay is still a holding pond. The entire subwatershed contributing nothing to raising the Big Lake's level. It's own system.

May 03, 2012 07:39PM

Langdon Bay gaining water

The recent rains have raised the bay level and we're about 2 inches away from the creek flowing. Algae has made an early return arrival this year but the apparent clarity of the water is high. At least one Blue Heron has taken up residence on the bay.

The Langdon Bay boat launch is open of course. The grade of launch where it matter is extremely flat and the low bay level can cause problems. Caution is advised. Please walk the path your trailer will take beforehand.

Apr 18, 2012 01:50PM

Sollie's Creek still dry

Langdon Bay is still cut off from Lake Minnetonka because of its low level. I'd guess that it needs to rise 3 to 4 inches before it outlets into the Big Lake. The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District has classified Langdon Bay as part of the Langdon Lake Subwatershed. The watershed is 1,055 acres in size while Langdon Bay weighs in at 144 acres.

Taking those two numbers we have: 1,055/144. Or a 7.33 maximum 'push' factor. If every drop of rain that falls moves into Langdon Bay, it would rise 7.33 times the rainfall in inches. Not every drop does though for a number of reasons. Lake Saunders may not be outletting into the bay if its level is down. Natural and artificial holding ponds may slow the movement down. I suppose the ground does absorb some of it too, but how much it does, varies throughout the year. We can say, this push factor is always at least 1.00.

The wildlife report for today is, the minnows are back, along with the ducks and geese. Our loon count for the year is holding at zero. There was no observed winter kill.

Apr 01, 2012 10:01AM

Black Lake in Minnetrista

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) names the lake West of Mound that can be seen South of County Road 15, Black Lake. It can also be seen by looking East from Gale Woods Park. It is bordered on the South be the Dakota Rail Trail and outlets into Lake Saunders by running under that trail.

It is part of what the MCWD calls the Lake Langdon Watershed. Lake Saunders is also in the watershed and outlets into Lake Langdon.

A number of good maps by the MCWD can be found here: MCWD  Also at this link, the MCWD does talk about the Black Lake and Lake Saunders outlet berms and possible problems with them. I've written about the Sollie's Creek berm, which can control the Lake Langdon Watershed's connection to the rest of Lake Minnetonka.

I'd be interested in further information about Black Lake, including fish populations.
 

Mar 18, 2012 04:03PM

Langdon Bay is Ice Out

With a bit of wind coming up this afternoon, the South East shore ice broke up enough for the bay to be officially Ice Out today.

Recent Langdon Bay Ice Out dates:

2011     4/10
2010     3/31
2009     4/06
2008     4/20
2007     3/28

I'd guess the bay needs 6 more inches of water level before it flows into Sollie's Creek. It is unusually low for this time of the year.

Mar 10, 2012 02:38PM

Sollie's Creek update

Sollie's Creek in at least 8 out of 10 years, will in Spring be flowing. Last year saw lower than average levels in Langdon Bay. The Creek has been dry for at least 6 months. The question is, will the Creek have its normal Spring flow this year? I believe sand drops out when the Creek is flowing and creates a flat berm at its headwaters. If the bay level doesn't rise to overcome that berm, the bay is cut off from Lake Minnetonka. With the low snowfalls this year, I don't know if the Langdon Bay watershed, which includes Lake Saunders will gather enough during the Spring thaw to breach the sand berm. The bay is roughly 140 acres in area so it can store a fair amount of Spring run off.

It assumed that fish including our carp, will use the creek to get from greater Lake Minnetonka to the bay, but that is not known. When the carp gather in Sollie's Creek most Springs, are they coming just from the bay, or are they Salmon-like, returning from greater Lake Minnetonka, through Lost Lake? I've seen them moving upstream through about 3 inches of heavily vegetated water, with half their bodies above the surface. Apparently quite determined.

Oct 21, 2011 04:02PM

Surfside

When I was about 10 years old, my Mom took us kids to swimming lessons at Surfside beach. This would have been around 1970. I remember the beach had an H shaped dock. The dock did not butt up against the shore, but was out there a ways, for kids to dive from and play on it. I remember Fritz Soule was the swimming lesson teacher, and would give us tests, such as swimming a certain distance.

Tom Rockvam is making a request to bring Surfside's old name back to Mound Bay Park. I think that would be a good idea.

Jul 12, 2011 03:02PM

Loon sighting

Today around 1:00 in the afternoon, a Loon call was heard from on Langdon Bay. The Loon was seen by myself as well. It's official. Another visit by a Loon, perhaps indicating the Okay health of the Bay. So far this year, the Bay is quite clear. Zero fish have been caught from the boat launch area, but the minnow population in the same area is well above average.

Jun 12, 2011 01:38PM

Langdon Bay gets a passing grade

Good news from last year for Lake Langdon: "The study's C grade notes that a lake is typical of lakes in the seven-county metropolitan area. C lakes may not be ideal for swimming, boating, and fishing due to summer algae growth. A total of 25 lakes received a C grade in 2010.....Langdon Lake (up from an F grade in 2006 and 2008)..." - waconiapatriot.com/articles/2011/06/10/the_laker/news/news07.txt

While a grade of C may not sound like much to cheer about, it's at least a temporary improvement. In other news, maximum observed carp levels for this Spring, were around 10. Short of the 15 needed for an 'official' Carp Run to be declared. The carp have headed for greener pastures recently. Sollie Creek has slowed down to about 1/2 its prior flow.

May 22, 2011 01:55PM

Annual Carp Run not yet observed

Almost daily checks of Sollie's Creek this year have yet to result in the observation of a 'carp run'. In a majority of the years, carp congregate in the creek for a number of days. Today I observed perhaps 4 of them, who also saw me, and then headed into the bay. I assume they lay their eggs some years at the head of creek. I'd say there has been minimal activity there that year. I would also say that a Sollie's Creek carp run would be at least 15 carp in the creek or at its headwaters.

It may have to do with the creek's well above average flow this Spring. There could be other factors as well. Them finding better spawning elsewhere, or a change in their population.

In past years, with the creek having only a depth of a few inches, carp with height of 5 inches, measured from belly to the top of their back, have been observed, making their way upstream. Most of their bodies above water, and showing their survival, can't fence me in, behavior.

Apr 11, 2011 12:42PM

2011 Langdon Bay ice out

Langdon Bay was officially ice out on April 10th of this year. The past winter was unusual for the bay, as Sollie's Creek did flow all winter. I would guess at a rate of 10 gallons per second. In most years, the creek freezes over.

Jun 11, 2010 06:17PM

British Petroleum and Lake Minnetonka

Estimate of the oil spilled to date: 63 million gallons. Estimate of water in the Gulf: 643,000,000,000,000,000 gallons. I figured a 1/10,000,000,000 ratio.

1/195,000,000: odds of winning the Powerball jackpot. Comparing the percentage of Deepwater Horizon oil in the Gulf, to the odds of winning the Powerball, I get 6.3 X 10 to the 10th versus 1.95 X 10 to the 8th.

So if you played the Powerball, one ticket at a time, and at same time examined a gallon of water from the gulf, one gallon at a time. You'd be 31 more times likely to win the Powerball than to find that that gallon of water just examined was actually Deepwater Horizon oil.

Doing more calculations about the BP oil spill, I came up with this: Lake Minnetonka is 1.3 X 10 to the 11th power gallons of water. Using the 1/10,000,000,000 ratio from before, we then have 1.3 X 10 to the 1st power gallons of oil in Lake Minnetonka or 13 gallons of oil. This series of connected lakes is a little less than 23 square miles in area. I sure hope I am not off by a factor of 10 or 100.

Mar 31, 2010 08:20AM

Langdon Bay is Ice Out

The Bay is cleared. March 31st is the official date this year for 'Ice Out'.

Past dates for Ice Outs:
2009     4/06
2008     4/20
2007     3/28

Today I received a call from the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. They may be planning a mapping of the lake bottom for this year. We also talked about why the creek started flowing so early this year. This was a common thing this year for other creeks I was told. It's an interesting question. What causes creeks to resume flowing early, before there has been much snow melting.

Mar 29, 2010 07:46PM

Langdon Bay update

The Bay is hinting at going Ice Out. The rock thrown on the ice test though showed that the ice is still pretty thick. The minnows have returned in force and seem to be doing well. The creek is still flowing at a good pace. My estimate is 10 gallons a second.

Mar 28, 2010 01:02PM

H & R Block

Today's festivities at the tax office included a review of a new client's tax return from the prior year. He used H & R Block, though it wasn't the one in Mound, Minnesota. To see what I found click on the link. It's hard for me to believe that someone charges this much.

Mar 23, 2010 08:39PM

5th Annual Westonka Horticulture Day

This just in. Seems like a fun time:

Mar 23, 2010 08:24PM

Sollie's Creek Update

The Creek has been flowing for about a month now which is quite unusual. In most years a dry Fall season means that the creek will stop flowing for the year and only resume in the Spring as the the snow melt runs into Langdon Bay. This year was different as with only minimal snow melt, the Creek started flowing while temperatures were still cold . My guess is something caused the bay level to rise, perhaps global warming or heavy snow sitting on the ice.

The flow of the creek has been strong and my guess is a constant 20 gallons per second. No Carp, Catfish, Sunfish or Minnows have been observed so far this year in the creek.

Sep 03, 2009 01:00PM

Minnetonka Drive-In

From the Lakeshore Weekly News:

"(David) Bennyhoff, who started working at the drive-in when he was nine years old, said that after the repainting he did this year the drive-in looks just like it did in 1961, when his parents opened it as an A&W.

It runs the same, too. The car hops still take orders, and the frosted root beer is still served along with the burgers and onion rings. Most of what's on the menu is made from scratch."

http://www.weeklynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=10&SubSectionID=10&ArticleID=6497

I think we are fortunate that we still have this perhaps historic business in our area. The root beer still tastes great. It is one of the few  real drive-ins left around here. According to me, a real drive-in has a speaker that you talk into to place your order.

Aug 07, 2009 03:31PM

Langdon Bay Fishing Report

It's been a slow Summer for fishing on the bay. Fish are not hitting on corn, leeches or lures. The fish tally for the year is zero. Perhaps it all has to do with the winter kill that ended so many carps lives? One theory I heard about winter kills is that thick snow cover on the lake leads to low sunlight penetration into the water. While the fish give off carbon dioxide, the plants lacking sunlight, do not give off oxygen. The bay was oxygen depleted, so the theory goes. (I wonder if the death of the fish, also kills plants, as they are co-dependent?) Carp might be thought of as survivors, and their death might indicate other species having a similar demise. There was no observed annual carp run into the bay this year. Sollies Creek which connects the bay to Lake Minnetonka has been dry most the year. Bay levels are lower than average, but not extremely so.

On the plus side, the bay is much cleaner this year with visibility of a foot or more not uncommon. Weed growth seems somewhat less than average, and I don't recall observing any pea soup conditions that are normal occurrences on the bay. Perhaps the cooler temperatures and low rainfall have caused some of this. Less rainfall may lead to less run off into the bay, that may contribute to plant growth.

The Blue herons have been around all year, and they are my bay health barometers. I may have heard a loon call this year, but was sadly unable to confirm a visit this year.

Apr 16, 2009 10:49AM

Fish Kill Creek

With the passing of April 15th, the East shore of Langdon Bay has quieted down quite a bit. Sollie's Creek/Langdon Bay Creek has been temporarily renamed Fish Kill Creek. Over a hundred carp did not survive the Winter and their final resting place is the creek that flows into Lost Lake. The DNR was notified of the fish kill, but no alarms were raised, and can less carp really be a bad thing? No sunnies, crappies or bullheads washed up with the carp and we hope they survived the Winter. I can report that the minnow traps are active and productive. Now we are looking for some rain with the hope that that will flush the creek. The lake level is still good though.

Oct 20, 2010 04:08PM

Fans Rippin on Rypien

No posts for a good long while. This is as good a reason as any to add one. What a baby. Try playing some hockey…

Jan 20, 2010 03:10AM

Mound Boys Fall in Overtime

Boys Varsity Hockey Litchfield 3, Mound 2 [OT] Record: 8-5-3 11/27/2009 Mound-Westonka 3, Virginia 0 11/28/2009 Mound-Westonka 1, Hibbing/Chisholm 3 12/04/2009 Warroad 5, Mound-Westonka 0 12/10/2009 Mound-Westonka 2, Rogers 1 12/12/2009 Providence Academy 2, Mound-Westonka 1 12/17/2009 Mound-Westonka 3, St. Michael-Albertville 1 12/19/2009 Faribault 0, Mound-Westonka 2 12/22/2009 St. Louis Park 1, Mound-Westonka 3 12/28/2009 Mound-Westonka 6, Delano / Rockford 3 12/29/2009 Mound-Westonka 2, [...]