Fish are back

[Jon]

Had a great dive today!

They finally turned the water back on at the local power plant so that means the fish are back! Add to that a sunny day, warm temps (for Wisconsin in February) and I even imported a dive buddy from Milwaukee- my father-in-law cancelled his charter for today and came in to dive.

Saw lots of buffolo, carp, musky and northern pike- even got ahold of one of the carp for a while. Shot only pictures today, but at least it was nice to get back in the water again.

Jon

 

[Akoni]

Nice photos Jon!

 

[lungfish]

Thats dedication.... freediving in early Feb in Wisconsin. Nice pics!

 

[spaghetti]

Nice pics, Jon. And i also love your enthusiasm: my parents live on a lake and i often enjoy freshwater spearing. I'm curious about fishes and techiniques of you lake.
Is it legal to spear pike in you waters? My parental lake is full of them (pike species: esox lucius). Then eels, tench, perch, kind of mullet (leuciscus cefalus cabeda), carps (queen carp and mirrored, but i don't shoot them) and also plenty of american balck bass (micropterus salmoides), which were introduced in Italian lakes in a.d. 1907.
What about you? Which fishes do you hunt?

 

[Jon]

Only things leagal in my part of the state are rough fish, like carp, and pan fish, like bluegill and crappie. I shoot mainly crappie since you can get a nice filet off of them. Ted spears carp just to rid the lakes of them- they're non-native and really screw up the ecosystem around here. The school of fish you see is a naitve buffolo which is a rough fish. The carp that I grabbed is nono native and was introduced early last century.

We saw some musky but you can't shoot any game fish in Wisconsin. Out in North Dakota, where Fred lives, and in some other western states you can spear almost anything- game laws out there are so liberal I bet you could spear a deer if you wantedrofl - just kidding, sort of.

We still hand grab the msuky to play with them for the camera sometimes, but not to eat. I guess it's the ultimate version of catch and release!

Jon

 

[spaghetti]

I had to link my on-line english dictionary for crappie and bluegill: do they belong to the perch family? (centrarchidae perciformes)? We have a fish like that we call sunfish or sunperch. It's very bony but tasty: use it for soup.

For rules it seems i'm luckier than you: my lake is allowed for spearfishing everything all along the coastline (153km, much smaller than your lake, but the biggest in italy: it's on the southern edge of central Alps). But why are they so strict in Wisconsin? Endangered species or what?

 

[Fondueset]

Nice John,

I've resorted to pictues of my fins - I've got stunning visibility here <>100feet a few days ago - but the fish are all out deep. I gather you're in an inland lake there - which one and wherebouts?. The carp resting on the bottom is what we have here - intro'd back in the 1800s I believe - the others I've never seen up close. Odd looking. Winter arrived today - intense winds out of the north, at least a foot of snow and temps in the low 20s - wind is the problem - hard to get into the water without being cold - that and huge waves Cold water diving is a blast!

 

[Jon]

Local fisherman get bent all out of shape when they see you hit the water with a speargun- they think you have an unfair advantage. There are plenty of days we go out and I nver even take a shot- usuually because of crappy vis mid summer and you don't see anything. There are so few spearos around here, and so many sportfisherman, that trying to talkk them into changing the laws is like pissing into the wind. I have a hrd enough time dealing with them when just teaching scuba classes, no spearguns around, let alone try to tlak to them when i have a stringer full of fish. :head

Ted can be more specific on the genus but crappie and blue gill all seem to be realted to me. I know that it is leagal to spear perch, but not walleye- even though they are cousins in a taxanomic sense. I am not sure how they came up with whats a game fish or not, but that's how the laws read. There are some nice lakes in some of our norhtern most counties that would be awesome to spear in, but no spearfishing of any kind is allowed there. In the surrounding states its a rough fish only, not even pan fish, as far as whats considered leagal so i feel fortunate to live here in that regard.

Here's some shots I took of crappie and bluegill so you can see the difference.

Jon

 

[Fondueset]

We see bluegill (aka 'pumpkinseed') here , mostly in the inland lakes - out in the bay I see alot of rock bass, smallmouth, suckers and walleye in the spring - not to mention carp etc. I'm looking forward to getting in early this year and see what shows up. Fall brings impressive salmon and lake trout. Similar situation here game fishing wise. Spearguns are the most restricted - more so than bow or handspear. I wrote my state rep and never heard back. The DNR was kind enough to reply in detail and told me that spearfishing law changes of the sort I'm talking about require legislative changes.. Basically that means $$$ since that's all politicians care about. Since I seem to be pretty much the only freediver in northern michigan I don't see much happening law wise.

Cripes, lake trout and salmon are only available to divers in late october and november anyway - how big a problem could that be?

 

[Amphibious]

Great pics Jon!!!!

the water would be red very quickly if I saw all those carp!!! major pest, we shoot every one we see, losing the war I think....

wish we could spear tasty fish like Crappie and other panfish. Mmmmm miss frying up a bunch fo them for shore lunch.

Great Pics! more please!!

 

[Fondueset]

Interesting - around here, out in lake michigan, carp are much less common than Freshwater drum. In the bay I see them primarily in spring and fall. These are the European carp and aren't considered a nuisance. Seem much less common than they used to be. I saw more lake trout this year than carp! You guys must be getting more of the asian varieties - the 'buffalo carp' john has in his pictures.

 

[Jon]

Here's couple more shots of the Buffalo. They were pretty thick around there, but are a native species so I usually leave them alone- from that lake anyways since they would be too polluted to eat. I have taken them out of Lake Mendota and a freind smoked them for us to eat at the bar after hockey- hmmmm good.

Fonduset, that nasty weather was the reason the charter was cancelled- your just on the opposite shore from us so you get the brundt of everything.

Here's a couple of shots I took on a typical winter charter. There's normally solid ice out to the breakwall, which is why we need the steel hull boat to break through it, but then it clears out into those 'ice disks' that I mentioned before. When you get out a few miles they water is normally clear- this winter there's barely any ice at all out there. The one nice thing about the ice disks is that they dampen the effects of the waves quite a bit.

Everyone reported 70' vis two weeks ago on the last charter. I've taken a tape measure underwater and have measured out 85' of horizontal vis in the winter time at a depth of 90'. That was a few years back before the lake went really clear so I imagine it's even better now. 20 years ago we were lucky to have 10' of vis.

Next weekend is ice diving. They ran a bunch of police divers through last week and the side of the lake was open but once you got out a little ways there was at least 3"-4" of ice. It's barely an ice dive but next weekend should be good. For some reason that weekend always has ice no matter what the rest of the winter is like- been that way for the past 28 years.

I know what you mean about being a lonely voice who gets no respect from the DNR. I feel lucky to able to spear what we can right now- and am worried that the anglers might have that taken away from us in the future.

The other big problem is lake access. That's one area the DNR, in Wisconsin at least, in on our side. They really fight for public access to all bodies of water. Sometimes it's only a flight of stairs, on some of the fancy lakes, but at least you can launch a dive kayak there and get to spots that other divers, and most anglers, can't- or at least won't put in the effort to.

Hopefully I'll get some photos from my father-in-law to post in the next day or so. It's a pretty rare day when I get to have someone actually take a picture of me for a change.

Jon

 

[Amphibious]

Carp (the Asian and Euro varieties) are not native to North American waters and compete (and are winning) with resident species for food and habitat. they also have a lovely habit of destroying marshes and wetlands (contact your local Ducks Unlimited for more info).

 

[Fondueset]

Amphib - ours have been around since the 1800s at least It's very strange how few I've seen lately. They also behave very differently than Jon's buffaloes. Here they are pretty skittish - they will often swing by for a look but won't stay and one wrong move sends them flicking off into the void.

Of course Jon's pics there are winter when I'm sure they are more docile. They look like great photography subjects! The Muskie shots you put up last year were also really awesome.

Mind you I'm talking open water - Grand Traverse bay opens into Lake Michigan. We do not have many carp in the inland lakes around here - in fact I've never seen one though I'm sure they are there.

There is alot of concern about asian carp - three species I think - with the silver-small-scaled one being the biggest concern. Huge filter feeders. So far they seem to think they've kept them out of the big lake - but if they do get in it will be a problem. DNR says one of these bad-boys equals about 10,000 zebra muscles per day.

Anyway - around here they are less common than they used to be - and have never really been much of a problem. Out in Lake Michigan this summer I saw exactly one carp! It was mostly Freshwater Drum - which seem to be feeding on the Zebra Muscles. Cool looking fish!

The DNR here plants Salmon, Lake Trout and various hybrids. They are ridiculously abundant and mostly die in the rivers. With our visibility hunting Salmon would be awesome - almost like blue water hunting. They have practically no curiosity and are big and very fast. There are alot of species that would be too easy to spear - but the big apex predators would be quite demanding. The laws are kind of like superstition. The two shots toward the begining of my site are the closest I've gotten to healthy Salmon.

Winter Visibility has been stunning here - over 100feet at least a couple of days. Last few days the weather has been fierce. I could dive but I'd be an ice block the moment I got out.

You can check my picture site for how it looks most of the year - down at the bottom are some fishless winter shots - including stunning photos of my new ice fins It's awesome swimming around right now - even with no fish. I owe it to jon for turning me on to the wonders of winter freediving!

 

[Amphibious]

yes, have been around a long time, imported as a food source I belive and went feral.

if youw ant to dive with monster carp head over to Lake St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario. would see MONSTERS every dive. very bigm, very bold. of course the Ontario Federation of Anglers just put carp on the gamefish list, so now they will never get rid of them. idiots! Spearfishing is also illegal in ontario

 

[Fondueset]

We should form a midwestern spearfishing Lobby. Figure out some way to show how much revenue it would generate. I know if they legalized salmon we could hold tournaments where I live - the visibility is awesome - generate a whole new tourist industry ,, we'd make millions I tells ya...millions!!

 

[Jon]

We'll have to do it quick- before the lake dies.
I was talking to my brother-in-law, who happens to be a comercial fisherman out on Lkae Michigan, and he says they're talking aobut the lake being dead in the next 10 years- northern parts of the fishery have already collapsed and scientists are working on a date for the rest of it to come crashing down. Invasive species, zebra mussles are just the begining, as well as pollution has taken it's toll on her. Pretty soon all we'll have left is very clear, sterile, water. :rcard

As far as what fish i see in Lake Michigan, it really depend supon where you are. When diving in side the marinas themselves, usually looking for something a boater lost or doing a mooring job, I have seen musky, bass, northern and plenty of walleye.

I see lots of carp along the break walls- one day I paddled my dive kayak up and down the breakwall by south shore yacht club and counted 220 carp from the surface.

Out in the lake, on the wrecks, it's a different story. There's one shallow wreck tha tused to have these really big school of the largest lake perch I've ever seen- that died off about ten years ago. I see small sculpins on most of the wrecks as well as burbot everywhere- especially on the deeper wrecks. I have seen school of aelwieves form huge baitballs, just like in the ocean, out in water that's at least 60'. I have also seen salmon streaming through them and eating just like a shark in the middle of the bait ball. Big brown's come in to die after spawning so I see those at around 25'. I have alos come acorss them on scooter runs during some of our search and recovery jobs. I think they like the sound of the motor?

Swimming near shore, less than 10' I'll run across rock bass, bluegill, perch, and plent of crayfish.

One time I was running my dog down by the beach, I have a chocolate lab, and she go it an swam with this salmon for at least 20 minutes. It was the craziest thign I have ever seen. They would swim around in tandem bumping into eachother every once in a while. All of this happened in about 3' of water and other people gathered on the beach to watch as they walked on by. It was one of the strangest, neatest, things I've ever seen.

Our inland lakes have many more fish in them and these local lakes, in Madison, have some of the greatest concentration of fish that I have ever seen in an inland lake. I don't know why but there are just a lot of fish here- and not just by the hot water outlet in the middle of winter. It's just too bad the local lakes get so green that they actually turn black, below 10', in the middle of summer and stay that way for almost 5 months of the year.

Sorry for the long post.

jon

 

[Fondueset]

Interesting. This spring I plan to take my daughter out to freedive on a freighter that grounded off south manitou - be interesting to see what we find there.

Here the Sculpins have been almost completely replaced by round gobies - another invader. Too bad because sculpins are much cooler. The gobies are everywhere on the bottom. I've really just got back into this in the last couple of years - and the lake ecology has changed radically since I was first diving.

Provided pollution does not continue to run unchecked - I think we'll see some unexpected changes rather than the Sterile vision. I could be wrong - just a feeling. It would take a pretty complex combination of events to render the lake sterile for any length of time. In any case I sure hope not.

It's clear human beings have been awfully slow to wake up to their impact on things - and even to change practices in synch with natural changes.. Certainly no improvement there in the last few years - and alot of steps backward.

I've see the balls of alewives (another invader!) - it's a blast to get into the center of one. The Salmon feeding would be wild to watch! Maybe I should get back into scuba - it's just hard when I could be freediving instead!

 

[Jon]

There were a few musky there, but they were a bit more skittish than last year- of course I only saw 3 compared to 30+ at a time last year!

In Lake Michigan they now have a new mussel that is outcompeting the zebra mussel. It's called the quaga (sp?) mussle and it goes down quite bit deeper than the zebra mussels. I saw some pictures form a dive charter a good freind of mine ran out to the Carl D. Bradley last year. The whole wreck is now covered with these things and she sits in 370' of water! These quaga mussels also reproduce year round, vs. summer time only with the zebra's, so it's only a matter of time before they get replaced. The dramatic filtration rate of these new mussels was the reason given by the local scientists for why the lake will go dead in 10 years. They just out-compete all other species at this point.

We had NHK, Japanese form of PBS, rent out the boat a couple of winters ago to do a special on the zebra mussle invasion. They spent a few days around Milwaukee filming and then flew to Detroit to film some of your ducks that were eating the zebra mussels. Sound great at first until it was reported that the ducks were dying as a result!

One of the neater places I've dove, both free and scuba, is Tobemorey in Canada. Something about the bottom there causes the zebra mussels to attach themselves to the substrate but leave the wrecks alone. Very strange as all of our wrecks are now covered in a very thick coating of mussels and some, like the Carferry Milwaukee, are now starting to fall apart from all the extra weight.

You have quite a different bottom topography over on your side than the eastern shore. I had to do a salvage job over in grand haven a few years back and spent close 4 hours underwater staring at sand before I found what we were looking for. Very flat sandy bottom over there. On this side we have rock reefs, sand, silt, and some really wild clay mounds that often screw with the sidescan sonar and look like boat hulls- I've dove on more than one in search of a new wreck. We also have boulders this side of the lake that are sometimes as big as a house- was more of a problem with the old sidescan unit than the newer one that gives us a sharper image.

Jon

 

[land shark]

of course the Ontario Federation of Anglers just put carp on the gamefish list

those HOSERS :head