[Big Vern]

In this month's issue of On The Water there is a four page article on the Mystic Lake in Arlington. This is where I grew up! My parents live right on the lake, and my whole life I never saw any fish there outside of the alewife during their run and carp gumming the bottom. The author now reports that stripers follow the alewife up into the lake on their run, and there are plenty of largmouths, smallies, and pickeral. I am shocked. There has been a major cleanup project associated with the lake, but this marks quite a turnaround, and it also probably explains why there have been two Bald Eagles hanging out in my parent's backyard on an almost daily basis. What a shock to me. Huh - I guess you never know.