Dear Readers,
When I was elected to the LDC Board this past July, I spoke about wanting to restart the Lake Damon Newsletter to have an outlet to share information to our community on a regular basis. My hope in doing this is to strengthen our
community and encourage more engagement. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes on the board and committees through out the year!
I encourage you to reach out if you have any questions and please consider contributing to this newsletter in the form of photos, ideas, or articles. You can reach out to me at cscatko@gmail.com or 315-725-8144.
Best,
Christine Willis
21 Farmhouse Road (camp #66)
Dam Committee News
$136K Grant Awarded!!!
The LDC board is very pleased to announce that the grant application that was submitted this past spring for dam engineering and permitting funding through the Mass Dam and Seawall Grant Program has recently been awarded $136,500!
In the meantime our engineer, Dave Battista, from Haley-Ward is working on finishing the preliminary dam design which should then give us some idea of construction costs for the future repairs.
If you have questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact anyone on Dam Committee.
Thanks,
Bruce Schwartz
A huge THANK YOU to Bruce, Kam, and Cyndi for all their hard work on the grant application process. They will now be moving forward on a construction grant.
What does this mean for the community? Any grant money lightens the financial burden of the dam repairs on individual stock holders so we can continue to have our beautiful pond!
Land Committee News
Don Emerson Road Work Party
On September 21, Don Emerson Rd had a work party to tackle a problematic section of the road. Many thanks to the 13 participants and to Tom and Kam Oborne for the use of their skid steer, which made the task so much easier.
Protect Your Trees!!
Beavers are currently preparing for winter. If you are one of those people who think, “Beavers never come into my yard,” then this could be your year!
Wrapping trees in wire fencing, and smaller bushes in chicken wire definitely works.
Our new trail is ready for hiking!
The Land Committe is pleased to announce that a new hiking trail is now ready for use. Ethan Fenn, with the assistance of Doug Fraser, have cleared, marked, and extended an LDC perimeter trail and created walkways over the wet areas. It is now passable!
The Committee will be hosting a public kick-off hike at 2:00 on Sunday, October 13, starting just south of 13 Farmhouse Road. We expect to be hiking for about two hours, looping around to our original starting point using the new trail and parts of the existing perimeter trail through that area. We hope to see all you hikers there!
Guided Hike: Start: 13 Farmhouse RD, When: October 13th, Time: 2pm
Buildings Committee News
The farmhouse is owned communally by all stockholders. As landlords we are required to do maintenance and fall/spring clean ups at the property. To save money and not hire out this work we volunteer to do it ourselves. Please consider joining up to help! Many hands make light work. If you can’t meet up on Saturday October 12th but have some time to donate another day, please reach out to us and we can give you a task.
CLEAN UP + WORK PARTY; Where: The Farmhouse (outside); When: October 12th, 2024; Time: 1pm
Lake Committee News
Hilltown Charter School on their science exploration field trip that has been conducted here every other year for 14 years.
Fishing On The Pond
I haven’t spotted any humans fishing on the pond during the recent stretch of gorgeous Fall weather and I assume that most people consider the season over after Labor Day. 2024 has been a banner year for fishing and several anglers have boasted of boating the biggest bass of their lives. Whoppers topping 8 lbs. have been reported, photographed and released. I’ve personally landed more largemouths this year than in the previous 20 years. Should I attribute this success to the overall good health and diligent management of the lake, or to the expert tutelage from my 12 year old grandson on modern techniques of bass fishing? Many of my best fishing experiences here have been in the Fall when I seemingly have the whole pond to myself. The fish are feeding frantically and fattening up for the long winter ahead. Bass have been biting on big rubber worms, or what they now call “soft plastics”. I use weedless hooks or rig the worm so that the point of the hook is buried in the body so it glides through the salad.. Cast into weedy areas, let it settle for a few seconds, then retrieve it slowly with light twitches and short pauses. Black crappies will take small spinners pulled steadily through areas with light vegetation, especially in the evening while you’re enjoying a glorious sunset. ( Last week I caught a 15″, 1.9 lb. beauty; maybe not “pin-worthy” but an impressive panfish nonetheless.) Big bluegills can be caught at any time of day using good ol’ garden worms and a bobber, or small soft plastics. Pickerel are apt to grab anything you throw at them as long as it sparkles and moves. Personally, my biggest bass ever was caught on a small worm the morning after Halloween; 6 lbs. 12 ounces! So don’t stow that fishin’ rod just yet. The weather has been perfect, the scenery is spectacular, and the fishing is fantastic.
Met this guy on Bray Rd last weekend and he kept coiling and striking at me as I photographed him. What is your identification? Answer next issue.
Mike Frost