Diving Sept 22??

[ILDiver]

bgill, tass and whopperhead...thanks for going out on the dive today. I can't believe whopperhead got 28 carp (something like that)! We made it to the big lake. The water was VERY clear when we got there. I would say at least 50'. But it was a bit brisk, a nippy 49 degrees. I was a bit discouraged with not seeing any fish and decided to paddle the canoe around. My wetsuit was not keeping me near warm enough for not seeing any fish. Then Whoperhead shot his 24.5lb carp. Ok, the fish are in, I should be too.

The vis dropped way down, the wind had picked up a little, but that's when we started seeing the fish. My first shot with the speargun was on the first carp I saw. It swam straight under me. Bang on, straight through and stuck to the bottom. The thing just laid there, I thought it was over. I started to pull it up and it decided to swim around some weeds an stir up the bottom. I lost it, my first carp gone. The second one I stuck really well and he wrapped the line around himself. I waited for help from Whopperhead. Once he saw the line around it he went down and brought it straight up. 16.5lbs for my first landed carp. The third carp I saw just swam by and when I got lined up he shot off an out of sight, I could not track it down.

I saw plent of shad, but never got one. I fired several times but way late. My first time handling a speargun in the water I just wanted to get some shots off. I could probably have hit some shooting from the hip, but the trigger was pretty stiff and I wasn't comfortable enough yet.

All in all it was a good day. With the great vis, there were no fish, but still good dives. A better wetsuit and I would have enjoyed it a little more. The fish were fun too!

Thanks for going out there with me guys and helping me get some spearing done!

 

[James Jay]

Then Whoperhead shot his 24.5lb carp.

Thats a good size carp. How hard did he fight?
Looks like you guys had a great time. More motivation for me to get my wet suit ordered.
I did manage to order the Freedivers manual today.

How deep were you guys hunting?

 

[ILDiver]

Outside the wall was 20'-25'. No Fish. Inside the wall, 3" - 10'. The 3" part is where the big ole prop was found. Guess the guy knows what the bouy is for now. Would love to see the bottom of that boat! LOL.

 

[Whopperhead]

As soon as I shot the carp- I let go of my speargun (it's attached to my float) and then Chase it down- I noticed I hit it low - so I got my JBL WOODY and put another spear in her head- It was a Big MAMMA- After I shot her the 1st time She took off maybe 20-25' and tried to hide in some weeds- The fish were in the shallows - 2'-8' - basically just had to SNORKLE and shot from the top- I may have dipped down to take the shot - I can't remember as I don't really think about that-

I have to give it to TASS - he's a Trooper - WE work Midnights at a Jail and he worked Last night - Came right to my house loaded up the Durango and headed to BGIll's then Dove all day - Dropped off a Table at my Sister-In-Laws then went home - WE got home at 8:30pm and he has To be at work by 11pm - SO he basically gets 2 hours of sleep. CRAZY!

 

[ILDiver]

8:30?? I made it home by 9:15 and I stopped an eat and got gas! Ya'll are slow! Either that or you stayed too long at the club.

The water was not nearly as cold once we started seeing fish!

And bgill is Dead Sexy! Git in my belly!

 

[Tass]

Regardless of sleep, I was very pleased with the day. The clarity outside the wall was the highpoint of my day, eventhough there were few fish. I think Bgill's picture should replace the old #1 reason to spearfish instead of bowhunting and I think next time Ildiver comes up to Wisconsin I owe him some grilled Johnsonville Brats. Thanks to everyone for the great company and safe day on the water. I was in bed by 2105 and got a solid 40 minutes before weaving my way back to work. Good training- right?

 

[bgill]

I just wrote a long reply and somehow "lost it"? Oh well.:vangry

What everyone else said!!!!:t

Nice to have met you ILDiver - Glad you got to stick a few fish.

And Tass...You ARE a trooper! I hope you don't fall asleep at work! That would mean that the "inmates" might be neglected...Poor inmates...Boo hoo hoo! :waterwork

BTW: Playgirl has just e-mailed me about my "pose" picture on the rock...They are offering me 2.4 million to never pose again! Man....I thought I looked quite svelt in my wetsuit - :t I know I FELT really sexy anyways!!!!!!!! roflEven ILDiver thinks so!!!!rofl

On a serious note: Seeing several different year classes of young perch was encouraging. I'm glad no one took any of the 10" inchers we were seeing. A 10" perch is considered small - in Lake Michigan anyways. Also suprise at the lack of suckers? I did'nt even see one...Usually I see several.

 

[ILDiver]

Um...that dead sexy line

was too be read with a scottish accent it make you think of the fat dude in Austin Powers. Sorry bgill, but I was only kidding :duh LOL

Tass you better get some sleep dude, those were carp you saw, not mermaids bro. :hungover And Brats are on the menu for lunch today! ...ya jerk

 

[Pinggene]

Looks like you guys had a great outing.

I wish I could have been there. Oh well, some things, believe it or not, are higher priority...

Hope to get out with you guys soon.

Gene

 

[Jon]

Ted (unirdna) and I were going to hit that same area today when he informed me that his grandfather passed away yesterday. I know that they were pretty close and won't expect him to be diving any time soon- holding my breath was the last thing on my mind when I lost my grandfather 4 years ago.

I decided to head out on my own and spent 3 hours in the water just south of where you where at yesterday. I, originally, was going to try and enter by the wreck of the Volunteer, close to the break in the rubble wall, but my path to the water was blocked by all kinds of downed trees and brush so I couldn't
get through.:head

Next, I moved up the road a bit to the stairs off of Oklahoma ave. There's another, older, wreck off of there called the Sebastapol, but some fishermen were on it so I didn't check her out this time. I did swim out to the wall to take a look. They have really done some work on that wall this summer. In the past I could kayak over the top of the wall in at least a dozen spots, now I had to take off all of my gear and climb up it to take a look. I thought about jumping in on the other side, since it was so crystal clear, but couldn't find a way to get back up so I scratched that idea.

Vis next to the wall, on the inside, was less than 2'. I couldn't even see the end of my speargun. I swam back to shore and found that the closer to shore I got the better the vis was. The best vis of all was less than 50' from the shore- and that's also where I saw all the bass.

I never saw a single carp, you must have shot them all yesterday, but I did see quite a few nice sized bass and two shad- which I did shoot.

Water temp was 55F where I got in, but got up to 57F as I moved further north. I noticed that the water got clearer, and warmer, plus there where more fish the further north, toward the marina, I got. There was quite a bit of current as well. In the end I spent about 3 hours in the water- which was pretty good since I just had on my 3mm suit, with a vest.

After my morning I went down to help my father-in-law with a charter on his boat. He had a morning dive charter that went well, except that the waves were building up pretty fast. Around 2pm he had a charter for some old people who like to go up and down the river and listen to lectures by some city historian. The charter went pretty well since we didn't have anyone in wheelchairs, or walkers, this time. rofl

We had another dive charter going out at 4pm. I was going to go out on it, I had my scooter with and a 5mm wetsuit to get some nice dives in on some of the wrecks, but backed out when I heard the weather forecast. I can think of better things to do for 5 hours than puke off the side of a boat in Lake Michigan.

I also stopped by rock lake on my way home and it looks like it's clearing up. Water temps seem to be in the high 60's and will be warm for a while.

Jon

 

[ILDiver]

Jon, there were two carp left there for you. One had a big hole in it, top right just behind the gill plate out the bottom on the left side. The other just swam by me, like he owned the place! Hope to meet you one one of my next couple trips up there!

 

[Jon]

You can see from on top of th wall the huge difference in vis.

This sand bar is ususally under a few feet of water, but with the low lake levels we had this year its now exposed with a little bit of wind.

A shot of one of the many bass that I saw.

Loading up the people for a mid day charter.

One of the sites on the River Walk.

I didn't get many other shots because I was trying out a new speargun and it doesn't have a camera mount on it.

Jon

 

[Whopperhead]

More Pics I pulled off my Vid Camera

 

[Whopperhead]

Here's a Shorter/ lower quality Version - The HD vid I will load on a different site and post the link. DIVERS: Whopperhead, bgill, ILDiver, TASS. Song is a DIO done by "Killswitch Engage"

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi-TfFbnzEI"]YouTube - Spearfishing Lake Michigan SSYC[/ame]

 

[bgill]

Cool! I loved the music :inlove - You always find something appropriate!

Was that original Ronnie James Dio or a remix?

P.S. I picked up a Mare's hood and booties today! I'm ready to rock-nrofl!

Thanks for lettin' me borrow one of yours (hood) . Even though I had to Yak back to the dock & dig through your gear to get it! Then the worst part was swimming out about 100 yards WITH MY WEIGHT BELT ON AND NO FINS to RETREIVE my kayak after some teenage kids musta pushed it in the water! Pissed me off at the time...But I got over it once I got down to the business of freediving - well, mostly snorkeling that day!

Oh well - I could use the excercise anyways!!!!:t

I think I'll pre-dive Lake Geneva tomorrow or friday!!! I'll let ya know how it went! See ya! Probably won't make the Geneva trip with you guys. Good luck.

 

[ILDiver]

That's fine Dan, bail on us when we're in your back yard. We understand. It's ok. No hard feelings. We'll be fine...*sniffle* We'll....we'll....

 

[Whopperhead]

Heres the High Def Version - A little bit different Vid and Different Song.

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