carp?

[Fondueset]

I think our Carp are probably cleaner - they tend to cruise at mid-depth in small pods along the Lake Michigan shoreline - and at a good pace. They also seem generally to be quite wary and will not return once spooked.

They look to be a different species than the Pics jon posted. When I was a kid I shot a huge one and it bent an 8mm shaft against the water! I measured it at the tallest part and it was 16 inches high - from just behind the pectoral fins to just ahead of the big dorsal one.

They are not common in inland lakes around here.

Sequence of carp shots here

Freediving shots

They're curious, but usually not amenable to any sudden movements at all. It is odd - I've seen far more Freshwater Drums than carp this year.

[Oldsarge]

More than one snobby angler has been embarrassed to find that the hard-fighting "trout" he hooked was a sucker. He was then even more embarrassed to find that after singing the praises of the cook over the delicious trout dinner to be advised that the area is "catch and release only" for trout and that what he had just eaten was sucker. The poor fish has bad press from its name.

[Jon]

I posted pics of a couple of different kind of carp. The one on the end of the polespear is the invasive carp that were brought over to be raised in pens during the Great Depression. Over time the escaped into the local waterways and have kind of taken over. The really big ones that Ted and I are pictured with are the Buffolo rough fish that are native to these waters.

We had a bunch of our beaches closed earlier this summer due to some "killer" blue-green algae. We normally only dive the local lakes, the ones 2 miles from our houses, in the late fall/ winter/ early spring. This time of year it pays to drive to other lakes- all of which are at least an hour away. I'm planning on doing a bit of wreck diving this Wednesday out in Lake Michigan, but that's more like an hour and a half away.

This is what our local lakes look like right now. As you can tell I've been spending more time kayaking on TOP of the water than swimming in it.


Jon

[Fondueset]

I'm lucky - five or ten minutes to the clinch marina - which is in Grand Traverse Bay off lake michigan. It's a great sort of artificial reef - with lots of fish - though boats are bothersome for much of the summer - and generally clear water. Visibility is in the 9-15 meter range most of the time. I don't think I've had a day that was less than 5 or 6 - and tht under heavy overcast late in the day. My daughter and I have our gear packed in backpacks so we can throw down on a moments notice. Our parking options are pre-mapped for contigencies based on time and season.

Right now the tourists are leaving and you kind of feel like you're getting away with something just slipping down the ladder they so conveniently left for us 2 minutes from the parking spot.

Some beautiful and secluded lake michigan shoreline is 30 minutes from here in the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore. Not alot to look at - wrecks here and there, fallen, waterlogged cedars, weirdly shaped marl (clay) and lots of rocks and huge boulders and occcasional timbers from shipwrecks. Mostly frequented by gobies, sculpins, crayfish and freshwater drums. We basically just hit the beach and swim out a few hundred meters to get into a little more depth. Visibility there depends on the wind - west wind usually means pretty stellar visibility if it's not too wavy. North or south stirs up the Marl - which gives teh water a 'milky' look though it's still often pretty good. Boats are rare out there - closest I've seen was probably 2 miles. It's rare to even hear them. Nice open feeling out there.

[Oldsarge]

I was in Duluth last summer. They have a beautiful aquarium there that treats the Great Lakes like the freshwater sea they really are. Fantastic! I'd have a hard time as a spearo there, though. Having giant, juicy landlocks and trout off limits would definitely try my moral fiber . . . such of it as there is!

[land shark]

Sarge
I agree about the bad rap, we have stream suckers here that require better water quality than trout need to survive. Many a time as a kid in the spring we ventured forth as a family to gather buckets full. The bag was usaully turned into a verity of tasty foods by my Mom. She would can them,make patties. Dad loved em smoked and she packed them in olive oil like sardines. more than one camping trip for trout found the morning filled with suckers and pancakes over the open fire.

I guess as I mastered the fly rod I just plain forgot about my past.

jim

[Fondueset]

I read sucker is sometimes marketed as 'mullet'.
Spearfishing laws in Michigan are ridiculous. Lake trout are practically the bane of the great lakes and not at all easy to get close too - yet from the laws you'd think divers might hunt them to extinction. Same with Salmon. I wish they'd get a separate set of laws on the books for freedive spearos.