Wisconsin spearfishing?

[Big Lemon]

Anybody out there know any good spearfishing lakes in SE Wisconsin? Know you can spear rough fish and panfish. Catfish too I think. Getting back in the water after a long dry spell. Need to get a little practice before making some trips to the Gulf and the Keys next year. Not the same I know, but gotta start somewhere. Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions. Greg

[Jon]

Hi Greg,

There are a couple of guys who freedive, and spearfish, in the Chicago area. I've dove with Jim beofre(freedivechicago on here) and have taken him out on some of the wrecks off of Milwaukee. Santiago is onther spearfisherman who lives down by you and dives other places as well. There are also a couple of guys, John and Seth, who live in Illinois, but further west.

This isn't the best time of year to spear in the southern part of the state due to the crappy vis. Later on in the year we'll start jumping back into the Madison lakes and shoot pan fish, and maybe a carp or two. Lake Michigan is pretty restrictive, only rough fish, so not that great for Spearing. It does have great vis and soem nice wrecks in it to freedive on- the ones in Chicago are also all fairly shallow.

Take a look through my old posts on here for other info about the area- there are too many of them to link up to this post. Also make sure you look up "Freedive-a-palooza" so you can see where we gather every summer, and maybe agian this fall.

Hope that helps,

Jon

[Big Lemon]

Jon,

Thanks for the input. I'll search for the old posts. Man, does that stringer of crappie look good. I'd like to get into some of that. Makes me want to fire up the grease. Don't know about those carp, though.

[BladeRunner]

You never told me about FreediveChicago I could have had someone freediver and spearfish with awhile back during my trip. I was asking you about place to dive back in July!

Originally Posted by Jon

Hi Greg,
There are a couple of guys who freedive, and spearfish, in the Chicago area. I've dove with Jim beofre(freedivechicago on here) and have taken him out on some of the wrecks off of Milwaukee. Santiago is onther spearfisherman who lives down by you and dives other places as well. There are also a couple of guys, John and Seth, who live in Illinois, but further west.

This isn't the best time of year to spear in the southern part of the state due to the crappy vis. Later on in the year we'll start jumping back into the Madison lakes and shoot pan fish, and maybe a carp or two. Lake Michigan is pretty restrictive, only rough fish, so not that great for Spearing. It does have great vis and soem nice wrecks in it to freedive on- the ones in Chicago are also all fairly shallow.

Take a look through my old posts on here for other info about the area- there are too many of them to link up to this post. Also make sure you look up "Freedive-a-palooza" so you can see where we gather every summer, and maybe agian this fall.

Hope that helps,

Jon

[Jon]

Sorry,

I thought that he was out of town at the time.

How did your trip work out? Did you get to dive, or at least paddle?

I spent every Thursday night out kayaking with a local shop this summer. About half way through the season I quit bringing my surf ski and started renting a tandem so I could bring my 2 year old along. She had a blast and now can hardly wait to go kayking again next summer- could have something to do with all the snacks I loaded her down with and the ice cream we went out for after we were done.


Jon

[khel]

Not sure about other SE Wiscosin lakes, but visibility at Lake Geneva is getting better with every day. I would say it's about 15-20ft atm, and there's lots of fish to spear - too bad I've never done it, but I hope to try it this fall

Also make sure you look up "Freedive-a-palooza" so you can see where we gather every summer, and maybe agian this fall.

So, Jon, when are we having "Freedive-a-palooza" ??

[Big Lemon]

Not sure about other SE Wiscosin lakes, but visibility at Lake Geneva is getting better with every day.

Can you shore dive on Lake Geneva? Seems like I remember reading somewhere that you can only dive from a boat.

I went up to Racine Quarry today and the viz sucked....2 ft. tops. Cold too, at least to this southern boy (I grew up in Louisiana and Florida).

I'm not going to let that stop me though. I've been out of the water too long.

[khel]

Originally Posted by Big Lemon

Can you shore dive on Lake Geneva? Seems like I remember reading somewhere that you can only dive from a boat.

I went up to Racine Quarry today and the viz sucked....2 ft. tops. Cold too, at least to this southern boy (I grew up in Louisiana and Florida).

I'm not going to let that stop me though. I've been out of the water too long.

Here's the extract from local regulations.

Skin Diving

* It is unlawful to engage in underwater skin diving or swimming with use of swimming fins outside a marked swim area or beyond 150 feet from shore unless the location of such swimming or diving is marked by a diver's flag.


So, otherwise saying, you can shoredive as long as you are freediving

p.s. let me know if you decide to check Lake Geneva - I'll try to join.

Nick

[Jon]

Nick,

Freedive-a-Palooza happened back in July. We'll have another one next July so just email me and I 'll keep you posted.


Greg, You can freedive Lake Geneva, but you need a boat, and a flag, and they love to give out tickets for any infraction. It is a very nice, and somewhat deep, lake with really clear water- for this part of the state. The only downside is the boat traffic. Going this time of year would be the best bet since it calms down after summer ends.

The best bet for good vis right now is still Lake Wazee, but it's a long drive form illinois. Lake Michigan has some really great vis, but this time of year it's rough almost all the time and the vis goes way down when the waves build up- which is why we get so many surfers out there during the next 6 weeks. I was talking to my brother-in-law on sunday and he siad it's been rough almost every day for the past month- he's a commercial fisherman out there.

The local lakes by me, in Madison, are starting to improve, but it will still be another month before I start diving them again on a regular basis.

One site you can check for other lakes is Lakesat.org as they have a very good system to check the vis on the lakes in your area.

Racine quarry was really good for a while in the 90's, after some divers dropped bucket full of zebra mussels in there to clean it out. Around 5 years ago it took a turn for the worst and now is bad pretty much all of the time.

You could give a call over to Pearl Lake, but the owner is NOT interested in having freedivers in his lake- which is tyoo bad since it would be the perfect playground. I've had tlaks with him aobut it in the past, and have had other instructors friends of mine go to bat for me, but he's just too closed minded to give it a shot. Maybe if he starts getting lots of calls he might realize that it would help his buisness?

If you have a dive Kayak, or don't mind a LONG swim in very shallow water to get to the good stuff, I would highly reccomend Beaver Lake in Waukeshau County. Very expensive, and hard to get on, lake but super nice for spearfishing and freediving. Not super deep but lots of fish and not a lot of boat traffic- forget about a full sized boat as their "launch" is a flight of stairs to get aorund DNR regualtions.
Hope that helps out a bit.

Jon

[khel]

Originally Posted by Jon

Also make sure you look up "Freedive-a-palooza" so you can see where we gather every summer, and maybe agian this fall.

Jon

Jon, it's your quote that got me thinking that there may be another one this fall

Originally Posted by Jon

Greg, You can freedive Lake Geneva, but you need a boat, and a flag, and they love to give out tickets for any infraction. It is a very nice, and somewhat deep, lake with really clear water- for this part of the state. The only downside is the boat traffic. Going this time of year would be the best bet since it calms down after summer ends.

According to local regulations and how WSP guys understand them, you need a boat and a flag ONLY if you dive more than 150 feet from shore.

Anyway, boat traffic is not bad at all since it got colder, though I'm still trying to stay away from swimming during weekends.

Originally Posted by Jon

If you have a dive Kayak, or don't mind a LONG swim in very shallow water to get to the good stuff, I would highly reccomend Beaver Lake in Waukeshau County. Very expensive, and hard to get on, lake but super nice for spearfishing and freediving. Not super deep but lots of fish and not a lot of boat traffic- forget about a full sized boat as their "launch" is a flight of stairs to get aorund DNR regualtions.

Btw, did you mean this Beaver Lake ?

[Jon]

Nick,

We haven't gotten back up there this fall, might have something to do with the $3+ a gallon gas that we recently found ourselves with? I'll let you know if we do plan another run up there.

HAve you been hassled by the local lake patrol for freediving without a boat? I don't exactly remember getting a welcome mat for those guys last time I was out there. If you can get away with shore diving that's great, but I know they can get pretty picky aobut things like flags- which is almost a $200 fine from what some friends told me after "personal experience".

What kind of depth are you finding if you stay within 150' of shore? I know the lake drops quick, but not that quick.

That IS the Beaver lake I was talking about. You need to swim past that entry point through a shallow bay (less than 3' deep) and then over a shallow sand bar to get to the good part of the lake. Working your way around the right side basin you'll find plenty of fish to spear.

Here are a couple of shots form tha lake.

Jon

[khel]

Originally Posted by Jon

HAve you been hassled by the local lake patrol for freediving without a boat? I don't exactly remember getting a welcome mat for those guys last time I was out there. If you can get away with shore diving that's great, but I know they can get pretty picky about things like flags- which is almost a $200 fine from what some friends told me after "personal experience".

What kind of depth are you finding if you stay within 150' of shore? I know the lake drops quick, but not that quick.
Jon

I never had any problems with WSP guys, in fact, I've been swimming in front of their building for 3 years now, and never got even frown upon (hope it'll stay this way). Here's a picture of a peer by WSP building, that happen to be my favorite place for swimming and fishing as it's away from most of the crowds.


As for the depth - I'd say anywhere from 15 to 60 feet.

[Big Lemon]

let me know if you decide to check Lake Geneva - I'll try to join

Nick,
Weekdays are out. I need to see what's going on the next couple of weekends.

You could give a call over to Pearl Lake

Jon,
I went out there about a month ago. When I asked the guy in the shop about freediving, he looked at me like I was crazy. I wasn't sure when if he even knew what I was talking about. So when I said "without tanks" he politely told me that the lake was for scuba only per the owner. However he did say that you can "snorkel" in the swimming area which had closed a week before.
Looks like a good area though. Might give it a try next year for "snorkelling".

If you have a dive Kayak, or don't mind a LONG swim in very shallow water to get to the good stuff, I would highly reccomend Beaver Lake in Waukeshau County. Very expensive, and hard to get on, lake but super nice for spearfishing and freediving.

What exactly do you mean by expensive? Is there an entrance fee?
Also, what is a LONG swim? I think this the same place a Milwaukee dive shop owner was telling me about. He said somewhere between 200 and 300 yards.

Thanks again guys for all the info,
Greg

[Jon]

Greg,

I wouldn't bother to snorkel in the swim area as you can walk across it. It's all sand and not much else. I've taught lots of scuba classes in there over the years and there's lots of stuff to play on, but the owner is stuck in the past and won't let you in without a tank on.

Beaver lake has a simple flight of stairs and I think the boat launch only costs a couple of dollars to use. The lake iteself is surrounded by multi-million dollar houses. If they want to plant fish in the lake they need to have a public access, per DNR rules, so they got around it by putting in a flight of stairs as their "boat" accesss. The only time fisherman hit it is in winter when they can walk out on it. Right across the street is Pine Lake- the pricest place in the state. They had something similar but finaly broke down and made a new boat launch a few years ago for a limited number of boat trailers. In the past we would have to drop the boat off, using a 4x4 truck, and then park in the next township. while one guy waited with the boat I would run, or roller blade, the mile+ back to the boat launch. It was even rougher for the ice fisherman since some locals would spread nails across the acces point to take out the tires on their trucks and cars. It's still a nice lake to dive in with lots of stuff to be found and fish to be speared.

If you look at the map that Nick posted you can see across the two bays that you need to swim. You can do it, I have, with freediving gear on, but a tank would drag you down into the mud and make things really slow going.

Which dive shop owner did you talk to?

Other nice lakes to try in the next month would be Lake Nagawicka, Pleasent lake, Upper and lower Nehmabin, Rock Lake, and anything in Waushura county- by Red granite quarry.

We used to dive in Moose lake, which was really nice, but the only access point was bought out 10 years ago by a condo developer and I don't know of any way to get on there right now. It was a really good lake with lots of fish, not a lot of boats, and easy enough to swim around in a little over an hour. It also had some nice sloping bottoms that maxed out at 55' and even a shipwreck- left over from a 1930's CCC project.

Here's some shots of a couple of the lakes and our haul from the last time we went out spearing on Mendota. When she clears up she's one of the nicer lakes to spearfish on.

Jon

[Big Lemon]

Jon,

I'm definitely going to have to get up and try out some of those lakes within the next month. Not having a boat complicates things a little bit.

I had heard good things about Moose Lake so I went up to check it out about 3 weeks ago. I didn't realize that it was totally surrounded by houses. However, there is a boat launch with 4 parking spaces big enough for truck & trailer. The area is really small and swimming out through the boat launch would be the only option as there is private land on each side.

The weather was crappy that day and since I had my family with me I decided not to give it a try. My wife, 8 y/o daughter and 8 month old son would've had to sit in the truck. As we were driving back I noticed a dive shop just off the interstate and stopped in to take a look. That was the guy that told me about Beaver Lake. Not sure if he was the owner or not and I didn't get his name. Some other people came in that were paying customers so we took off. I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the shop. It was right off 94 just west of Milwaukee.

Greg