[Fondueset]

A long dive today. The day started out clear but a steady wind out of the southwest brought an unwelcome arc of overcast. I continued my search for the winter haunts of our local denizens; which means long swims and deeper dives than I'm used to.

After 30 or 40 minutes I arrived over an area that looked promising. Bad lighting and mediocre visibility for this time of year, 15-22 meters, made it impossible to make out any fish from the surface; leaving the advantage with them. My first dive in that spot left me pleased and dismayed with many puffs of sediment, some quite large, and a pair of suckers who decided not to bother. On the next one I could just make out the bright ventral fins of a few bass, maybe 40 feet off in the dark haze. Given the amount of fish sign I figured this was probably a pretty good area. I tried to more or less hold station against the growing wind and waves during a longer breathe-up. Next dive revealed empty space where the bass had been, but as I turned there were thirty or more closing in and in their midst; a beautiful Walleye. Unfortunately a small but out of synch fin movement on my part spooked it before it came all the way in.

After a few more dives with plenty of bass but no walleye return I could feel the chill making me sloppy and, regrettably, decided to make the long swim back. On the way I did a few random dives and on one spotted a leviathan burbot. It was evidently sleeping off a large meal and I was able to do a couple of dives before giving up due to all the sediment I kicked up. This time of year the stuff just hangs and hangs.

A good twenty more minutes to shore against the wind - then the interesting experience of driving and then taking off my suit with very little finger strength!