From the beginning....

I've decided to sort of "document my adventures". So the first thing I have to do is go back a few days....er...years.

For a little background, I started scuba diving while I was in the Air Force in 1993. I moved around a bit and got away from diving. In 2002 I decided to get back into diving, so I took an "advanced" class. It served the purpose, it got me diving again. I actually decided to do Rescue, then Divemaster. I changed dive shops I was dealing with for diving after several incidents with the other place. I like Do Dive In, the training is excellent, and I work the shop as a part time gig and DM for them. We have great instructors who care about diving, the students and our impact on the water systems.

After getting back into diving I discovered I really like to snorkel and "freedive". At the time what I thought was freediving was just some good snorkeling. I joined DeeperBlue in 2005 and tried to meet some people in Florida while I was there. I found no real interest. I got back to Illinois and discovered Jon and his Freedive-A-Palooza. I had just missed as I was in Florida during that time. I figured I would order some long fins and join them "next year". Well that did not happen. More talk, more delay, I still had no fins a year later and I was in Florida again at the time of the Palooza. Same thing in 2007, in Florida again. But this time I bought some fins at Florida West Scuba. I like those guys, Steve Thacker is a good guy.

So I had my fins and figured I would look for some training. Well, I didn't realize that the "Wisconsin Spearo's" had evolved as far as it did. So I looked for the next thing they had going. It turned out to be the Garbage removal day with 3 Devils Scuba at Devils Lake. I met cigarlung there and eventually Whopperhead. My first trip up there I had a little trouble locating people. I dove with Cigarlung, and did not meet Whopperhead until after the dives and back at the cookout.

From there it was pretty much on. I think my next trip was to the Yacht Club and 47 degree water. My first time to try spearing. Whopperhead loaned me a gun and floatline and we were off. That trip I met bgill and Tass. The water was amazingly clear outside the breakwall with 70' vis. But we were not seeing any fish in the 45 degree water. We moved back inside the break wall and the wind picked up a little. The vis inside the breakwall strated to reduce. That is actually when we started seeing fish. I was in the canoe until Whopper head got his first carp, I was rather cold in my Henderson wetsuit. But once fish were being shot, it became worth getting a little cold for.

The next trip was a big one numbers wise. We had seven divers. Half of the other guys were new faces to me. I met Nostres, Khel and Jon on that excursion. I shot a fair number of fish, I don't recall exactly how many. Mainly it was a good time meeting some of the guys from Deeperblue. And there were BRATS there! MMMMMMM....food and diving, NICE!

So then comes Golden Lake. So far it has been the best spearing trip in terms of fish vs time in the water. 6 hours in and some nice big 20lb fish. This was Wreckrunners first adventure into Wisconsin spearfishing. He thought we were making stuff up, or making it out to be more than it was. Maybe we do a little, but we don't have an ocean to crawl into, we make due with what we have. Most ocean hunters say they would not mess with our type of diving. But it is what we have, so it's what we do. We enjoy it and make the most out of it. It was a good time with Wreckrunner ther and bgil, Jon and Whopperhead. Kehl showed up for a little while too, even if he could only stay a couple hours, it was good he could join us.

Next trip for me was the famed "Outlet" There was 6 foot of snow on the ground and I'm considering getting into the water??? There were 3 of us for this trip. Dotey, Whopperhead's brother was along for the cold cold cold adventure. Everyting was good getting into the water. Four hours in and things were great. I was starting to shiver a little and figured it was time to get out. That is where it got painful. The float, fish, gun, lines, everything started freezing right away. I knew I had limited time and I HAD to get to my car quick. I started the trek to my car. By the time I got there my feet hurt! I worked quick to get my car started and get stuff off. Than I had to get my suit off without soaking the back. Eventually I got dry and changed and the rest of my stuff packed up. We went and got food and warmed up. That was brutal and I decided the next day diving the outlet wasn't gonna happen for me, so I drove home.

That's it, that catches this blog up to present day, next post will be a cut and paste of the latest Outlet trip.