Sherman Lake

The weather has been unbelievably beautiful lately, making it hard to believe it's January. Saturday I led a group around Sherman Lake, AKA Sherman Island Waterfowl Management Area. Plenty of people were out taking advantage of the weather as the levy road leading to the park was lined with people fishing and the parking lot in the park was full of empty boat trailers.

We launched a little after 10:00 a.m. with what was left of the outgoing tide and headed south towards Mayberry slough. When we reached Mayberry cut we spotted an otter in the tule chomping on something for lunch. He didn't seem bothered as we watched him eat from a few yards away. We continued a little ways through Mayberry cut and then crossed over to the southeast edge of the waterfowl management area.

We paddled at a leisurely pace and took in the sights and sounds around us. In the distance we could hear the cracking of gunfire and we soon came upon the source... duck hunters in their blind surrounded by at least 50 decoys. I alerted them to our presence and we made safe passage as we continued on our journey. We were all getting hungry so we made our way atop the glassy water to a tiny island with a sandy beach to stretch our legs and fill our tummies. After lunch it was a short paddle back to the put in.



As for the wildlife viewing for the day, we were treated to another otter swimming happily amongst the tule, hundreds of coots, heron, cormorants and a few white pelicans and snow geese. No ducks but lots of decoys.  

I'm working on my calendar for the upcoming months so be sure to check it out. If there is a place on the delta you would like to explore be sure and contact me and we can arrange custom tours. I'm looking forward to lots of paddling this year and we are working on lots of exciting events we'll be announcing soon.