I've seen both salmon and brown trout on in LAke Michigan, During certain times of year they come in to spawn and die. During that time you can pick them up and pet them. I've also done some search and recovery stuff on my scooter and had them follow me along at depth because they seemed to like the noise that my scooter was putting out.
You'll find carp along the break walls and shalow rubble close to shore. You can spear them if you want but I just stick with panfish since they taste the best.
Monday we had 50'-60' of vis at 150' without a light. The water was a beautiful blue color that reminded me of the ocean. I don't remember what the bottom temp was, since I was too busy working, but at
my 50' stop water temps were in the mid 50's at my and on the surface it was in the mid 60's.
IF you come up I would skip the Madison lakes and just drive up to Devil's LAke- short drive from Madison and the best park in the state. Water is only 45' deep, but it's warm and has at least 15' of vis- making it the best "local" dive around. No spearfishing allowed in that lake anymore- just changed the rule last year when they started planting trout in the lake.
I'd still give the hockey a shot. If it's too much you don't have to go back, but it's worth at least going once to see how things stack up.
Jon
