[Fondueset]

Ever since I first spotted Walleye this winter - see start of this thread - I've been trying to find them. A couple of weeks ago I dove a new area about 1/4 mile East of my usual spot. Here I found a dropoff only 200 meters from shore. The local scubies say it goes down to about 35 meters. As I swam along on the edge i encountered a very large school of bass in one particular spot. I was getting cold and resolved to check the length of the dropoff out next time. Last Weds. I got in again - air temp was 24F (-4.5C) with very strong winds out of the south. I struggled against my float for most of the dive. The wind actually blew the flag off and the float was starting to ice up. I swam along the dropoff to the mouth of a local river - about 1/3 mile from my point of entry. Made a few deep dives (for me) but all I saw was a lone carp with a Lamprey.

On the way back I found an area littered with lumber from the days when this was a logging port. I was getting pretty cold but the area felt 'fishy' to me. I followed the feeling out into deeper water and once again found the bass - with a couple of large walleye mixed in. By then I was shaking from the cold and my times were crap. The swim back was an intense workout against the wind.

Yesterday was overcast, snowing and about -4c but almost no wind. The snow was mostly lake effect, and the overcast not heavy, so it was fairly bright out despite no sun. On a whim I went in again and swam directly to the area I'd found earlier in the week. I could actually see Walleye from the surface and had several very nice dives. There were bass, Walleye, suckers and even a Lake Trout or two. The Walleye were all in the 70-80 cm range and some of the larger ones were very bold. I was careful not to surface abruptly and they stayed around the whole time. This time last year I was resigned to seeing no fish for the entire winter! (be sure and zoom in on the pics after you enlarge them - you'll get a little magnifying glass icon when you move the mouse off of them, then back on again )