Let’s Keep Our Fingers Crossed

I’m a day late, I know, however, August 1 was the full moon, the full Sturgeon Moon according to American Indian tribes that lived in this region. The full moon of August seems to have carried the same name with other tribes in the Great Lakes region because August was when the fossil-like sturgeon fish was most plentiful.

It took a while, however, overfishing virtually wiped them out. They were thought to be gone from Lake Erie, yet, every now and then someone would come in with a fish tale about a prehistoric looking fish tail, almost three feet long, etc.

A three-footer would be only a small sample of what a full-grown sturgeon looks like. Fish measuring seven or eight feet are not uncommon; fish weighing more than the fisher who catches it.

Reports of small sturgeon being caught are becoming more common. What’s encouraging is that last fall a seven-inch sturgeon was caught. As every fisher knows, where there’s little ones there have to be big ones. Do we dare to hope? As tough as it might be, we who fish the streams leading into the Great Lakes might try doing so with our fingers crossed.

But this piece was supposed to be about the moon—the full moon to be accurate. If you missed the August 1 full moon, you will have a second opportunity this month; August 31 will be another full moon. We’ll experience the rare occasion of a blue moon, as the occasion of two full moons in the same calendar month is called. In fact, it’s so rare, it only happens once in a blue moon.

And if you’re into forward planning, the second moon in August is known as the Red Moon. So the blue moon is really the Red Moon. This is getting complicated, however, I have a full month to unravel the situation.

Stay tuned, film on the 31^st.