Lake Carlsbad Kayak Trip 15-Mar.08

On 15-Mar.08 I planned to paddle from “the beach” at Lake Carlsbad NM to “the flume”.  The lake was drained in January to allow city workers and residents to repair their docking facilities.   I arrived about 10:45am with winds out of the southwest at 3-4 mph.  The river was refilled as promised and the water was cold but would probably not cold enough to cause “shock”.  It was obvious that the high winds of 60+mph the day before wreaked havoc on the Lake.  The water fowl consisted of  domestic geese and duck and a small flock of coots.  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.   There were also Red-winged Black-bird in the thickets on the banks. 

There were no obvious signs of fish feeding on the surface.  It will be curious to see how long it takes for the fish to fully rebound from the draining of the lake.   My trip took me 5.2 miles round trip from the beach to just short of the flume and back.  The total time was +/- 1 hour and 19 minutes with a maximum speed of 4.8 mph and an average speed 4.0 mph.  The wind was variable from 3 – 10 mph SSW.  The fastest part of the trip was the first half with the wind providing a strong assist.   The return leg was at times difficult slowing me to 2.3 mph and with waves breaking the bow. 

Great trip looking forward tot he summer….