Lake Doctor | A Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams Podcast

Liquid Gold | How Our Lakes Drive the Economy

• Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams • Season 1 • Episode 1

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Can investing in lake-front properties improve your financial future and your lake's health? On this episode of the Lake Doctor podcast, we chat with Kay Young, a real estate veteran with 36 years of experience in the Syracuse area, who unveils the secrets behind the magnetism of lakefront homes. From the allure of tranquil, family-friendly environments to the economic benefits these properties bring, Kay offers an insider’s perspective on why lakefront investments are booming. Plus, discover the essential amenities buyers crave and how the landscape of lake properties is evolving from quaint cottages to luxurious retreats.

But it’s not all about the glamour of lakeside living; we also dive into the heart of lake conservation. We highlight the tireless efforts of local communities, lake associations, and conservancies working to preserve these natural treasures. Learn about the crucial role of wetlands, the balance between development and preservation, and the best practices for safe boating and preventing cross-contamination. To top it off, enjoy a lively segment called "Fishing for Answers," featuring former environmental science students from Grace College, as they share their unique insights and passion for aquatic science. Join us for an episode that's as informative as it is engaging!

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to the Lake Doctor podcast. I'm your host, susie Light, and I get to share some stories and talk about our beautiful lakes with my friend, dr Nate Bosch. Nate, you received your doctorate degree from the University of Michigan in limnology right, that's right, susie.

Speaker 2:

So, unlike oceanography, though, limnology is the study of freshwater aquatic systems. Limnology is the Study of Freshwater Aquatic Systems. On this podcast, we're going to dive into some lake science. Meet the folks who are passionate about our lakes, like we are, and have some fun together.

Speaker 1:

You can learn more about the topics of this episode or support the Lilly Center's work by visiting our website lakesgraceedu.

Speaker 2:

In today's episode. We're excited that you are going to hear from Kay Young. She's a realtor in the Syracuse area and expert in lakefront properties.

Speaker 1:

We are so excited about today's episode. The doctor is in. Welcome back to the Lake Doctor podcast. We are so excited today We've got my friend Kay Young visiting us. And oh golly, kay, realtor around the lakes, expert in property around the lakes, tell us about yourself.

Speaker 5:

Thank you, susie. It is a pleasure to be here with both you and Nate. So I've lived at the lakes permanently for 60 years, grew up here in the summertime as a young adult and after my parents bought and my brothers and I spent idyllic time at the lake. I feel sorry for the kids today that they don't get a chance to be there more with all their activities. I've been a realtor for 36 years with the same company, so until a recent sale. So it's been a great life and really enjoy the lake.

Speaker 1:

So we hear a lot about people who dream about having a property on the lake. Tell us, what do people look for, especially when they want to have a second home or want to live on a lake?

Speaker 5:

Location, location, location, whether it be on one of the smaller lakes, that's quieter a lot of people like that. That's quieter, a lot of people like that. A lot of people want to be on one of our busier lakes that has skiing and wakeboarding and all of those activities. Most are looking for a family place. They want their family to be there. They want it to be a place where they can retreat and spend time.

Speaker 1:

And we've got a lot of second properties. So where do most of the folks who have a second property on a lake, where do they originally come from or where do they live rest of the year?

Speaker 5:

We have a large group that come from Fort Wayne, indianapolis, marion Muncie. We're seeing more Chicago people. They like to come this direction. I think it could be our tax base possibly. And then we have a few that are way out of the state, but they grew up there. They want to be there, they want their kids to have that experience, so they come back and spend the summers.

Speaker 1:

So folks are investing in the lake summers. So folks are investing in the lake. Is it a? Is it a more of an emotional investment, a legacy investment or financial investment?

Speaker 5:

I think it's probably a little bit of all three, I think for a lot of us it's, it's a legacy it's a. It's where we are. I always say that it's in your genes, but for some people it's strictly financial. Uh, but usually it's. It's a combination of all three lots of fun though.

Speaker 2:

Lots of fun, lots of fun are people typically looking for amenities on different lakes, like I know, some of our lakes have, um, you know, a restaurant on them or there's a marina or something like that. Are people people looking for those things?

Speaker 5:

Those are usually a secondary thought for a lot of people. They will look at different lakes and then they kind of compare does this lake have the things that they're looking for for their family? A lot of them come and don't even leave their property hardly on the weekend.

Speaker 5:

You know they don't want to be involved in all of that Frigamorol and stuff. They want the quiet. So even on the bigger lakes like Tippie and Wawasee and Syracuse that do have the amenities, they may not use the restaurants, they may not use some of those things, but most do.

Speaker 1:

So have you seen the landscape, or maybe we should say the lakescape? Change over your career in real estate A lot. How so.

Speaker 5:

Bigger, bigger properties, bigger buildings, bigger homes. I grew up in a 1,150 square foot cottage. There were five of us. I have two younger brothers. That has been replaced by a 2,500 square foot home and that's becoming more and more the norm. There's no little cottages left on the bigger lakes Now. If you go to some of the like the Barbie chain, chapman, little Chapman, some of those areas, there are cottages, but most of them are becoming bigger homes.

Speaker 1:

So, as the lakes change in their landscape, lakescape, are there better lakes to invest in at this point, or Is it all driven by what I'm looking for in a lake?

Speaker 5:

property Basically what you're looking for in a lake property. Obviously, there's values that are different on each lake, but it's what you want. It's not necessarily what's the best investment, because they've all been extremely good investments, oh that's good to hear.

Speaker 1:

So lakes have an economic impact on our county. Could you speak a bit about that? What is the economic impact that we have?

Speaker 5:

Well, obviously the taxes and the tax base for our county is affected a lot by the lakes because the lake values are considerably more than they are when you're off the water. Last year there were approximately 900 properties sold in Kosciuszko County residential and condos. Almost a quarter of those had water access of some sort. They were either lakefront, channelfront or maybe what we call a boat lot, where you have a home that is off the water but you've got a place to put your boat. So with that amount of sales that are concerning the water, it makes a huge impact on your taxes and provides us with great schools. You have schools that are servicing, obviously, our year-round students but with a quarter of the people not using them, they're funneling money into the schools. Good jobs we have great jobs down, you know, especially in the Warsaw area, and up in all the areas I mean, it's been an economic boom for most of our businesses Parks in the county, trail systems in the county all of those have benefited from the fact that we have such a good, strong tax base.

Speaker 1:

So I know that you're involved in a lot of things, not just selling real estate, and what would you encourage somebody to get involved in if they live on a lake?

Speaker 5:

I think you need to be involved in your lake association in the community. There's so many opportunities in the summertime in the communities. In every one of them they have festivals, they have workshops. They have lots of things that you can get to know your community better. You get to know the area better, learn about your lake, learn how to take care of your lake. I grew up in the era where, after we swam all day, there was a cake of ivory soap on the end of the pier and we would take our bath that night on the end of the pier, and obviously we don't do do that anymore. But I think there's just lots of things that you can get involved in to learn about your lake and support your lakes with the Wawasee Property Owners Association.

Speaker 2:

How long have you been involved with that lake association in particular? I think I'm into 22 years wow, and that's been a great partnership with the Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams. Yes, what are some of the ways that you've enjoyed partnering with the Lilly Center?

Speaker 5:

We love being able to help you with lake tours the environmental tours. Yeah, and for a number of years we had our cottage walk, which would benefit not only the lakes and streams, but we helped with the trail system as well.

Speaker 2:

On that, I can remember annual cruises on the lily pad and talking a little bit about what's going on around the lake, science wise, and your newsletters that come out. We provide a lot of content for those.

Speaker 5:

Yes, and those have changed considerably over the years. We have a great professional doing those. He's a retired newspaper person, so we have great news in that.

Speaker 1:

So being involved in things like your homeowners association, lake association, being involved in things like festivals and parks? What other volunteer things have you been involved in? Things like festivals and parks, what other volunteer things have you been involved in? I happen to know an answer to that, but tell me about it, Kay.

Speaker 5:

Let's see. Well, obviously, with the Lake Association, I'm chairperson of the Trails Association, which we have been. This is our 20th year for the trails which we have been. This is our 20th year for the trails and we have, I think, around 12 miles of trails in the Syracuse area and I drive Meals on Wheels, which I've been doing for about 36 years.

Speaker 1:

So Meals on Wheels, taking a meal daily to someone who can't get out to get the meal. But I also happen to know, because I was at the Community Foundation when you first came to serve as a board member. Talk about your role as a board member of the Community Foundation.

Speaker 5:

It's been a great nine years. When I joined the Community Foundation on the board I didn't know a whole lot about the foundation but have learned, and from almost the very beginning I had the desire there to do something to benefit the lakes that have been so good to me and to our family. So a couple of years ago we started a fund that will benefit the Lilly Center annually and as the fund grows they'll get more benefit and it's been great. I mean it's just been a great association not only with the Lilly Center but with the Community Foundation and I learned a lot about what they can do to help lots of organizations in the county. The scholarship committee has been very rewarding and the most fun part of it is the ladies luncheon that we do every other year. But that's a way to get the word out that just you don't have to be rich and have a whole lot of resources, you can still benefit your the things you are passionate about.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and lakes is something you are passionate about. It is, uh. That's how I first met nate at the Community Foundation, and Lakes and Streams became a very cherished grant recipient from the unrestricted funds. Now Kay and her husband started a fund that is an endowment fund and the purpose of that fund is to benefit Lakes and Streams. But there are other ways that you've benefited from CUNY Foundation and Kay as a board member. We thank you for your service.

Speaker 5:

Thank you, it's been a pleasure.

Speaker 1:

Would you say, legacy is important. You've got grandkids in the future, maybe great grandkids that are going to live on the lake. Talk about what you see as your legacy when it comes to the lakes.

Speaker 5:

I hope that, having grown up there, having had my father, grew up also on Wawasee and instilled in us the love of the water and of all lakes, actually I think it doesn't make any difference whether you're on Wawa Sea, whether you're on Papakichi, which is a no-motor lake, and there's a lot of people that like that because they think it's much more environmentally friendly for everyone. But I just hope that our kids, which my boys I have two boys that were raised around the lake and they're very much active in lake activities. And then we have grandchildren and we already have greats, and I just hope that at least a few of them will enjoy coming and enjoying the lake and maybe continue the legacy of the environmental effects and taking care of our lakes.

Speaker 1:

Nate, I know we talked about the economic impact of the lakes. Did the Lilly Center do a study about that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we did, and I think it might have been in part inspired from relationship with Kay and some of our other realtors. So we started to notice some of these stories, like what Kay was telling about earlier, of property taxes. But then you look at marinas and restaurants and grocery stores and the population of Syracuse goes from something of like 3,000 to 25,000 in the summer months or something like that.

Speaker 5:

There are weekends when it's more than that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so many of us would consider taking care of the lakes as the right thing to do for a variety of reasons, but others might need a little bit more economic incentive to see the value and the purpose behind taking care of the lakes. See the value and the purpose behind taking care of the lakes, and so we embarked on a study and we looked at a lot of real estate data, looking at taxes generated, like Kay talked about. We also interviewed a lot of business owners throughout the county. Some of those are lake specific businesses like marinas, restaurants that were on the water boat manufacturers and then others were lake-related, so maybe a grocery store, restaurant, hotel.

Speaker 2:

Those are going to be businesses that gain revenue from other than just lake traffic. But we asked each of those owners to look at what proportion of their annual sales were due to the lakes versus due to residents or visitors for other reasons, and so it's a conservative number based on how many people responded to our surveys and our interviews, and we found over $300 million comes into Kosciuszko County every year $300 million Wow. And that was already done a few years ago.

Speaker 2:

So we know it's much higher now, and yeah, and speaking of property taxes, over a quarter of our property taxes that come in to Kosciuszko County are from extra value that the homes have around the lake specifically. So at the time of our study about 60 million came in and about 15 million of that was due to the lakes, such that if those lakes would dry up it would go from 60 down to 45 immediately, because those values of those lake homes would adjust because there's no longer water out in front.

Speaker 1:

Wow, amazing. I know recently there was a festival in Syracuse and the license plate numbers from different counties and different states. You are attracting a lot of activity, not just local folks going to those festivals but out of state people?

Speaker 5:

Yep, we do have, and when you ask people where are you from and other lakes, they'll come to Syracuse from other lakes but Ohio. We have a lot of Ohio people, not a lot of Michigan people, because they've got their own lakes but Illinois.

Speaker 1:

I was surprised at the number of retirees from Illinois who are relocating to our, especially the Barbie chain. Yeah, and the Barbie chain in particular is kind of that quieter, kind of yesteryear sort of feel of the lakes right Well it might depend on what lake you're on, because Seacrest, and what is the long, there's a good sailing lake, irish, a good fishing lake, seacrest, a good skiing lake, big Barbie.

Speaker 5:

Well, Big Barbie is the only lake that you can actually go fast on. Yeah, so I mean, the rest of them are all 10-mile-an-hour speed limits, so they're all more quiet than Big Barbie.

Speaker 2:

But you have Coon and you have. Sawmill, you have Heron Banning. Yeah, so there's a number of lakes in there and a channel you can get on Tippy from there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, there's a number of lakes in there and a channel you can get on Tippie from there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's amazing. Our lakes are just an amazing resource. What would you like to see in the future as we help protect the lakes? Are there any places that you say we need to really focus on?

Speaker 5:

Nate would probably be a better judge of that. I think we need to worry about our wetlands. When you look at a lake like Wawasee, tippie the ones that have more of the boat activity. We want to be sure that we keep our wetlands, that we don't destroy them with the high-powered boats, and I'm not saying we should restrict them, but we just need to educate people where they should be running those boats. They should not be running those boats in the shallower waters. They need to be out where it's deeper.

Speaker 1:

I think education is key, though, helping people understand those wetlands act as a filter, so we were looking at erosion and how the wetlands can filter out any kind of sediment before it gets to the lake.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, those wetlands are. We call them sponges and kidneys. So sponges in the way that they can absorb flooding impacts in our community and kind of hold the water and then let it slowly percolate into the ground and recharge our groundwater. But they're also kidneys, just like kidneys in our bodies help filter. They filter the water and help clean up the water. So we definitely don't want to lose any more of those wetlands around our lakes.

Speaker 1:

And there's kind of like a pull and tug between development and preservation. How does a lake association help balance that? Can a lake association help balance that they can?

Speaker 5:

that. Can a lake association help balance that? They can If they see something or if, as a neighbor, you see something that you think is just not quite right. There are building restrictions. There are restrictions for a builder. For instance, if somebody's building close to the lake, there are ways that they need to be sure that the sediment is not going into the lake where they're digging up the—.

Speaker 1:

Those are those cute orange fences, yeah.

Speaker 5:

Soil fences yeah, a major issue. The lake associations, along with some of the other, the conservancies that are at Tippie and at Wawasee and Syracuse, have been known to appear at, you know, the county level and say, you know, we really just don't think that's a great use.

Speaker 1:

I love how the Lilly Center is positioning itself so that when there is some kind of emergency or some kind of thing that we really need to pay attention to, we've got experts that can help inform.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I recall just last summer we had a fish kill on Lake Wawasee that we responded to and looked into and there was a spill back a few years previous to that coming out of one of the channels into the lake, and so, yeah, so no, you're right, that's something that we're ready and able to deal with if things come up.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, I'm glad you're doing that. So, kay, what can lake residents as well as non-lake residents do to participate or protect the lakes Well?

Speaker 5:

obviously, if you're a lake resident, safe boating as far as you know, being in deeper water, if you have one of the boats that has more of a drag and that kind of thing. And if you're a non-lake resident but you boat, again being responsible with your trash and your actions on the lake. I mean, if you have been sitting on the lake most of the day, there are marinas where you can dump your trash. Also, at the public launch for Wawasee and at several of the other lakes, there's areas where you can not put things in the lake but put them in the responsible place and just being responsible when you're out on the water as far as your actions and not dumping things in and that kind of thing.

Speaker 1:

Nate, do we need to worry about, like cross-contamination, If I'm putting a boat in one lake and then taking it out and going to another?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure. So I would say, just because you don't live on a lake doesn't mean you're off the hook for taking care of our lakes.

Speaker 2:

Because everybody in Kosciuszko County lives in a watershed that drains into one of our lakes or streams, sometimes both, and so whatever you do on your property, water is always going to be carrying nutrients downhill, and the people who live around the lakes don't want to see extra nutrients in their lake because it causes more weeds and more algae to grow, makes the water less clear, diminishes property values, and so we want to all be partners in that. And so on your property, whether you're on a lake or not on a lake, you want to keep in mind what's flowing off your property. You don't want to excess nutrients flowing off your property, thinking about vegetation around the borders of your property to kind of intercept nutrients coming off, wanting to compost yard waste rather than letting it wash into a lake or stream through a gutter in a street or directly into the lake. If you live on a lake, you want to use low phosphorus or no phosphorus fertilizer so we don't get that phosphorus coming into the lakes to feed the weeds and the algae. And then about cross-contamination, like you asked about.

Speaker 2:

So boats and boat trailers that move from lake to lake can bring with them what we call hitchhikers, aquatic hitchhikers, and so these can be things like zebra mussels, historically, or more new would be something like starry stonewort, which is a newer plant that we're dealing with in some of our lakes. These are invasive or exotic species. They're not from around here. They come in, they don't have natural controls and so they grow out of control and they start to cause problems and diminish the recreational and aesthetic value of the lake. And so when someone's moving a boat from one lake to another, they need to make sure there's no they got to flush it out, they got to make sure there's no weeds dangling from, you know, the license plate on the trailer or some of the nooks and crannies around, especially the boat propeller and that. And just be careful and be a good neighbor for potentially moving things from one lake to another, which we don't want to see happen.

Speaker 1:

So, Kay, I know that aquariums are something that you've supported in the past. I hope you noticed our fish. I did. I'm going to let Nate identify what the species is. I'm going to say we've got Carl.

Speaker 2:

The crappie.

Speaker 1:

And Lenny.

Speaker 2:

The long-eared sunfish.

Speaker 1:

And Patty and Penny.

Speaker 2:

Those are yellow perch.

Speaker 1:

Okay and perch are the fish that your grandkids like to fish for. They are, because you like to eat them, I do. Okay, thank you so much for joining us today for the Lake Doctor podcast, nate. What's coming up next?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So our next segment in this episode is called Fishing for Answers. I'm going to be talking to three environmental science students from Grace College and asking them questions about growing up on our local lakes here in Kosciuszko County. Today we're playing fishing for answers with three of my former environmental science students. We have josh carter and eli. Welcome to the lake doctor podcast guys. Would each of you tell us a little bit about yourselves and then we'll get playing the game.

Speaker 3:

My name is Carter Shue. I was a student at Grace College in Theological Seminary under Dr Nate Bosch, I got to work for the Lilly Center as a research assistant and now I work for an engineering and consulting firm called Jones Pichu Rufinski and I'm a part of their environmental team as a aquatic scientist, and I grew up on Lake John, which is a private lake here in Kosciuszko County just upstream of Winona Lake.

Speaker 6:

Thanks, carter. Eli. My name is Eli Kitt. I'm a former student and former researcher for Lilly Center at Grace College. I grew up on Lake Tippie and now I work at Wellesley Boat Company.

Speaker 2:

Cool. Thanks, Eli and Josh.

Speaker 4:

My name is Josh Fisher and I was a part of the Lilly Center's aquarium team for a few years. This summer I'm working with the DNR out of Columbia City on their fisheries research team, and I grew up on Chapman Lake Good well welcome again to this segment, so I'm glad you're all here.

Speaker 2:

here's how we're gonna play the game. So I'm going to start this hourglass here and start the fish moving around. You guys all have fishing poles and you're going to pull as many fish to you as you can before the time runs out, and then each of these fish have a number on them that corresponds to one of my question cards here, and I will be assigning you some really sophisticated point values while we go through and we'll see who ends up winning. While we go through and we'll see who ends up winning. Sounds good, any questions?

Speaker 3:

I'm so ready, no.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 4:

Good? Are these legal to keep or do they need to be catch and release they?

Speaker 2:

will have to be released back to our pond here when we're done.

Speaker 3:

I'm so hungry, all right.

Speaker 2:

Are you ready, ready? Okay, here we go, come on.

Speaker 3:

Oh gosh, what is going on here?

Speaker 2:

Wow, you guys are not very good at fishing.

Speaker 4:

Hold on, I'm just going to hang out on this one, here we go.

Speaker 3:

I've never been very good at fishing, unfortunately Come on.

Speaker 2:

We should have had a fishing unit in one of the classes, I think.

Speaker 3:

Josh, your last name is literally Fisher. What's going on? That's true.

Speaker 4:

Oh, get rekt, I've gotten soft. We just electrocuted the section.

Speaker 2:

Carter and Eli are already up two, three and four. Open your mouth.

Speaker 6:

I just don't want to answer any questions.

Speaker 3:

He's not opening his mouth. I'm getting shaky man. I'm getting the cases of the shakes. No, no, no.

Speaker 2:

All right, let's leave the rest.

Speaker 3:

Eli how.

Speaker 2:

I know, look at this guy what.

Speaker 6:

Dialed in.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you were talking way too much over there, I think. All right, so we're going to go around, and why don't you guys just tell me one of the numbers on your fish? We'll go in the same order that you guys introduced yourselves, so let's start with Carter. What number you got there? It's got number 21 on it. Number 21, yes, all right. What's the most random lake or water related fact you can share with us today?

Speaker 3:

huh, that's it. That's it. What's what? Something that always comes to my mind is whenever it's a real windy day on a lake and you see kind of like streaks across the lake. I was taught by my wonderful professor that, oh gosh, I'm not even going to remember the name, but basically the wind is pushing the water and creating these spirals under the water, that kind of go through the lake, and so you see these streaks of spirals that kind of make the zooplankton and everything go all crazy, because they're all floating around. It was some guy's last name, I don't quite remember, but it's on the tip of my tongue.

Speaker 2:

That's worth five points. If you could name the name that's worth ten we're going to bring in the other guys, either you guys remember Lake mirror spirals. Oh, you got it.

Speaker 3:

All right 15 points for Carter.

Speaker 2:

Okay, Eli, pick up a fish there and tell me which number.

Speaker 6:

Let's do 17.

Speaker 2:

17. Keep it close to his. Okay, all right, which was the most challenging class at Grace College.

Speaker 6:

Oh, that's easy.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to forget the name of the class, but it was environmental analytical chemistry.

Speaker 6:

Oh yeah, yeah, we had a new professor and it was just a big struggle for me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there's a lot of intricate topics in there. All right, 10 points for Eli Environmental analytical chemistry. All right, josh, you don't have a whole lot of fish there, but you can pick one of them that you do have, number 12. Number 12. All right, let me pull up card number 12 here.

Speaker 4:

I think that I don't really feel like I'm home unless I'm close to some lakes. I went to school in Columbus, ohio, for a little bit at the start of my college career and that was a weird part of being out there that I realized as I was driving to visit home one day. I was like I've been driving for three hours and I haven't passed any water except for this like ditch reservoir off on the side one time. So there's something very grounding and very familiar about that, about being near lakes. I think that's because I grew up in Kosciuszko, where we have so many wonderful, beautiful lakes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, good, 20 points. That was a good answer there, josh. All right, carter, pick another.

Speaker 3:

Seven.

Speaker 2:

Number seven.

Speaker 3:

Number seven.

Speaker 2:

Okay, here we go.

Speaker 3:

Lucky seven. What's your favorite lake activity to do? Favorite lake activity, I think, while doing crazy boating sports is invigorating I I really tend to enjoy um kayaking the most because it's just super, especially on Lake John where I live, because it's very peaceful, there's not a ton of things going on, and so I enjoy the peace and the quiet of the lake the most. Even, you know the hubbub is fun, but I enjoy. You know I feel the most connected to God in that sense is fun, but I enjoy. You know I feel the most connected to God in that sense Just being able to be out in nature and just feel the stillness is something very special that I enjoy. So yeah, kayaking in quiet waters.

Speaker 2:

Good, all right, that was deep too. I'll give that 20 points as well. All right, eli, up to you. I'm going to step it up. Pick a number out there.

Speaker 6:

Let's do number one.

Speaker 2:

Number one. All right, that's the one right here. What was a highlight of your time as an environmental science student?

Speaker 6:

I think the day that we went to the bog was probably one of my highlights. I don't think that's a place many people get to go Right, I never thought I'd end up bogging around Nice. Is that really a verb? I made it one. Okay, all right, but yeah, I think that was probably one of my favorite days in your class. That was really fun.

Speaker 2:

And we were trying to, if I remember, sample down in the water below the sphagnum mat.

Speaker 6:

I don't remember. If you remember, tyler, we had to come up with a contraption to get under the bog to find that water. I don't remember if it worked. No, I don't think it did. We gave it a good effort, we did give it a good effort.

Speaker 3:

It still hasn't worked.

Speaker 2:

No, even yeah, since you then these guys were in the class, and still we have not gotten that sampled yet, so we'll keep working at it um all right, 15 points for eli. Let's move on to josh again. You still got more fish there, josh number 16.

Speaker 4:

okay number 16.

Speaker 2:

Wow, let's go here.

Speaker 4:

All right, what was a valuable lesson you learned in school that you still remember hundreds of slides on PowerPoint presentations and used them for effective studying and and a really big binder for his labs and that was a challenge until I think I got pretty good at it by the end of like the third class that I had with him.

Speaker 2:

So assimilating a lot of information in a short amount of time. Yeah it was a challenge. Okay, good five points for Josh. Let's go back to Carter.

Speaker 3:

What's your number Three?

Speaker 2:

Number three pontoon or wake boat.

Speaker 6:

When I'm at work. I have to say I prefer the wake boats. They don't always ride as smooth, but I think they're easier to drive. Today was a brutal day on the water, like a constant 20 mile per hour winds. The pontoons just blow around so much like you can back up either way on a pontoon. Some inboards just back up one way, but I'm much more comfortable on an inboard.

Speaker 2:

Okay all right, good, all right, 15 points for that. That was good justification. I like that, even bringing in the personal angle to it. Here Is there one that you haven't, do you mind?

Speaker 3:

No, go for it, ok, thank you. Anyways, question 10 would be great.

Speaker 6:

Question 10. Let's give some to him.

Speaker 3:

Oh you. All right, you're a good guy.

Speaker 2:

What was the weirdest or strangest thing you've experienced on the lakes?

Speaker 3:

I think as a kid. So I had an infatuation with river monsters and Loch Ness monsters and funny things like that. And on Lake John I remember I was fishing one day and I thought I saw this weird thing come out of the water and I was like, oh my gosh, there's a monster on the lake. And I got all freaked out and I went to talk to my mom. I was like there's a monster in the lake. And I don't actually think there was a monster in the lake, I think I just didn't know what exactly I was looking at. I think it might have been either, like because we have a lot of Asian carp grass carp, I think, invasive and they get really large. I was a kiddo when I my grandpa caught it for me. But I say I caught it, but I was eight and it was literally my size, it was like almost four feet and so that was nuts.

Speaker 2:

Um, could have been a bow fin maybe too, because they've got that long. That's true, that's true.

Speaker 3:

So that is the mystery that will always irk me on lake john is the elusive loch ness monster of lake john, as they call it all right.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's pretty interesting. All right, um, that was kind of lame. That's only five points.

Speaker 3:

What.

Speaker 2:

What number we got? Number four, number four. All right, number four. If you could choose any lake to be home, which would you choose? This is very fitting, because you were just talking about home, yeah.

Speaker 4:

I mean, I have experience with Big Chapman Lake being home. If I could choose any lake to be home, maybe I'd mix it up and choose Lake Baikal. Whoa what Russian Lake? Russian Lake, very deep, if I remember correctly, yeah, 20% of all the world's fresh water in that one lake.

Speaker 3:

Impossible, crazy, pretty interesting yeah.

Speaker 4:

I'd have to gain Russian citizenship though, and I'm not sure how that works, but it'd be a cool lake. Maybe I could move Lake Baikal to Indiana.

Speaker 2:

All right, so let's reveal the scores then, from our little game here. So in third place we have Josh with a solid score of 20 points.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2:

And second place is Carter with 40 points, and that means Eli, our champion, with 45 points. It was a pleasure.

Speaker 6:

So, thanks for playing guys.

Speaker 2:

Great to be here. Well, hey, thanks guys for playing Fishing for Answers together. As our viewers can see, all the fish have gotten back in the pond safely and we've crowned a winner. So thank you guys for joining us.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Lake Doctor podcast. Join us next time. It's bound to be fun.

Speaker 2:

Listening to this podcast is the first step to making your lake cleaner and healthier. Visit our website for full studies of our applied research and discover some tangible ways you can make a difference. Join us at lakesgraceedu.

Speaker 1:

We'll see you next time. The doctor's in. Thank you.