Hello from Wisconsin!!!

[Blazing Badger]

Hello All!

I just got back from a trip to Jamaica and I came back with an addiction to diving. I would like to get started spearfishing in Wisconsin. Anyone know of any good places to start (websites/people/places/etc.)?

Blazing Badger

 

[land shark]

Welcome aboard!. Carp are real challenge here you can spear panfish but must have a valid fishing liscense on you. New liscenses are issued at the end of this month. There are several other divers from Madison here as well. see you in the water.

 

[Jon]

Your going to need a good suit, at least 5mm, and a short gun, no bigger than a 75cm. Lake Mendota has the nicest spearing in about another month. The water in early spring can be up to 30' of vis. IF you wait until mid June it's all over- vis is down to what I call "negative retina".

There's a group of us who play underwater hockey on Monday nights in McFarland from 7:30- 8:30 if you want to meet other freedivers who like to spear a fish every once in a while.

Later on in the summer we head up to Waushura county to spearfish in the lakes up there. Lake Michigan is a great place to freedive on the wrecks- depending upon how deep you can get.

I also put on a little shin-dig called the Freedive-A-Palooza every July up by Black River Falls- Lake Wazee to be exact. This year's event is Juy 15+16 and we get freedivers from a 5 state range that show up to it. Lake wazee is the deepest, and clearest, lake in the whole state so she's worth the drive to get there. http://www.deeperblue.net/article.php/567/2/0


Jon

 

[Blazing Badger]

Wow, I love the internet. Good to see there are people into this in Madison.

What is underwater hockey?

I have the standard setup of fins/booties/snorkel/mask that I bought a few years ago when I got my open water PADI cert. I'm graduating in May, so for now I want to keep this on a low budget. Do you guys know where I can get a cheap suit and gun? Are there any classes in the Madison area for freediving and/or spearfishing? Thanks!

 

[khel]

Welcome to DB!

Good too see some more Wiscosin divers

You can order good freediving/spearfishing wetsuits from

www.eliossub.com ($250 or so) or www.diveskin.net ($190-200)

spearguns - www.leisurepro.com www.spearfishinggear.com www.flfreedivers.com

As for freediving courses around here - ask Jon, I believe he was teaching some

 

[Jon]

Badger,

Depending on what size you are (height, weight, shoe size) I may have some used gear to fit you. If you really want to get into it I may even be talked into parting with one of my spearguns- but she needs to go to a good home where she'll be loved and used more often than I can.

Underwater hockey is where we beat a weighted puck around the bottom of a pool with short sticks while holding our breath. It's a great way to keep in shape for freedivinf during those winter months. First time is free and it's $5 a week, for pool rental, after that.

Jon

 

[Blazing Badger]

Thanks for the input, guys!

Wow that looks like a ton o' fun, Jon! I will definitely join you guys for that, but it won't be for at least a few weeks. I'm graduating in May from UW, so my life is kind of hectic right now. I did accept a position in Madison, though, so I'll be in the area after school is done. I can probably join you guys two weeks from this coming Monday (April 10ish). I've never even seen a spear gun, so maybe you could bring some gear and get me even more excited?

Used stuff would definitely be the way to go for me right now. I'm 5'10", 175lbs, shoe size 9 to 9.5. Jon, do you teach courses as khel suggested?

-Mike

 

[Jon]

Yes I do Mike. I also happen to be the exact same height/weight and shoe size as you so I should have some used gear to get you started. Lakes should be opening up in the next couple of weeks and new fishing licenses come out the first of next month.

Maybe Jim, Nick, Ted, Jeff, Brian can post some ideas for a Carp-A-Palooza date. Last year we held it on February 26th, but that wasn't possible this year with the extra snow and ice we got.


Jon

 

[bjpete]

Hi Mike, Glad to hear that your in the Madison Wi area and would like to join us for some dives. Even though the Lakes in Madison (Mendota & Monona) have a limited season for good visiblity, there's always Devil's Lake where the visibility usually stays good during the summer, but you can't use spear guns there because it's in a State Park, but it's still a great place ti dive.
Later,

Brian

 

[Blazing Badger]

Jon, wow that's awesome news about the dimensions. I have attached photos of the gear that I currently have. What do you think? Even though my fins are the strap type, are those ok to start with? I'm definitely interested in getting a suit and gun for sure. Do you run your freedive classes through the dive shop you work for?

Brian, thanks for the info on state parks. I did not know there were restrictions.

I really can't wait to spear a fish...

-Mike

 

[Absolut_Walrus]

Hello everyone,


I was with mike in Jamacia and I too would love to get more serious about freediving and spearfishing. I have some experience, I have speared 20lb carp in Lake Michigan at the power plant in Sheboygan with a borrowed gun, speared a few panfish with a borrowed hawaiian sling in Cedar Lake, and I think I have accually snorkeled in Lake Wazee in Black River Falls. I even attempted to make my own sling with rubber bands and a bow fishing arrow, but it wasnt powerful enough to get through pan fish.

I am interested in the underwater hockey on monday nights. Do you do it all year long and if not did you start yet. I have every other monday off and this next monday is one of them. Where in mcfarland do you do this and if you just show up can you play?

Thanks,

AW

 

[land shark]

The Mcfarland High School pool. I believe its at 7:30 on mondays now
Im sure Jon will answer with more info because he makes all of them
The first visit is free. And you can't find a better bunch of folks to dive with.
Its a great time. Its 5 bucks a trip afterward to help pay for the rental of the pool time.

jim

 

[Jon]

Hockey goes September through the middle of May We play at the McFarland Highschool pool on Monday night from 7:30-8:30 and hit a local bar afterwards for food and drink. First time is always free and the gear you have will be fine the first night. You can come and see what others are wearing, and most of it isn't that expensive. We supply the gloves, pucks goals and can even bring some extra snorkeling gear along if you email us far enough in advance. After the first week it ranges between $4-$6 a night, depending upon how many people show up that night.

I teach a PADI Destinctive Specialty in Freediving through Pirate's Cove, in Milwaukee (414-588-6764) ask for Jerry, they can put you on a waiting list and as soon as I get 5-6 people I'll run another one- just need enough people to cover insurance costs. If you look up the AIDA course standards I've written the course to land right between a ** and a *** course. It's not and end all course, nobody teaches that, but a good foundation to teach you to freedive safely and get you some depth in a safe envoriment. you'll alos get to try out a variety of freedivng fins and monofins- made out of plastic, fiberglass and carbon fiber.

Don't worry about singing up for the course right away because we can get out and dive if you interested and I'll make sure you stay safe. The main thing I am looking for are reliable buddies that I can count on to go diving with me year round. I'm especially interested in people I can train to spot me so I can get hit some deeper depths safely.

Let me know if your coming to hockey next week and I can drag along some monofins and other toys to try out if you like. If your not going to make it I'll leave that stuff at home becuase it get's hard to lug it all around.

There's a lot of nice diving to be had off of Sheboygan- lots of great wrecks and clear water, plus some decent surfing if the wind is right.

Jon

 

[trux]

I wonder that you play UW hockey without any ear protection (as I see from the photos). Well, some 20+ years ago we used to play UW rugby in our Prague club also without any caps, but after there were several accidents with perforated ear drums, everyone in the club wears now protection caps. Such accidents happen much easier than you can imagine even if you play just for fun and rather watchfully.

You can use standard water polo caps or special UW rugby caps that are better dimensioned for the accidental hit by a fin of another player. It is rather inexpensive and definitely worth of the investment - broken eardrum can have lifelong consequences and can seriously hinder you in your future freediving and the normal life of course too.

Having couple of spare caps is useful not only for the case of damage, but also for occasional guests - nobody should be allowed to enter the game without a proper protection. Most of manufacturers offer full sets for clubs for a discounted price.

 

[land shark]

agreed Trux took a pretty good shot one night. the fin never touched me It was the recoil from the fin as she sprinted to the shot.

 

[Jon]

I actually have two sets of head gear- one and old wrestling set and another for water polo. We have a few really good players who join us who wear them, one is going to the world's this year in England on the Women's team, but for the moast part it's a VERY recreational league. We have people who range in age form 12- 60 and we keep that in mind when we play- so it's no where near as rough as it could be.

The club has been playing for over 25 years and have never had an injury like that. That doesn't mean nothing ever happens, I caught a puck in the mask one night and it popped the lens right out of my Sphera and cut my cheek- plus I got a pretty good shiner out of it.:blackeye We had another guy, Danny, who caught a puck in the face and smashed the lens on his mask- all the more reason to buy a Super Occhio type of mask that you don't have to worry about that happening with.

I do know that head gear is required for any kind of offical competitions and those from our group who go to them have them.

Jon

 

[trux]

...We have people who range in age form 12- 60 and we keep that in mind when we play- so it's no where near as rough as it could be.

The club has been playing for over 25 years and have never had an injury like that. ...

Yes, that was the exact way it was in our club with the UW rugby too - as for gender and age or level of experience, it was very mixed too, and long years there were no serious accidents at all. However, once we got two of them in a relatively short period - the club decided that it is simply not worth of the risk, purchased two sets of caps and now everyone is wearing them. The game does not need to be wild at all - broken drum really happens due to a nearly passing fin more easily than you can imagine. One of my friends broke his ear in 0m depth when teaching his son snorkelling - the boy just kicked once unexpectedly near his head. I admit that in this case it was his own fault - he should have been able to keep in secure distance, however when playing a UW game, you cannot always keep under control both the puck/ball and the distance of coplayers.

If your ear is worth of $15 to you, I strongly advice never starting the game without the ear gear. An accident takes just an unlucky fraction of a second and you may be very sorry for the rest of your life that you did not protect yourself (or instructed others to do so). Also, if some of the kids or a newbies suffers an accidents and it turns out nobody warned them about the risk, they (or their relatives) may get very angry against you or against the club, and take legal steps. It is simply not worth of the hassle, and although I think that here in Europe people do not use legal battles to fight each other as often as in the USA, and although I consider the health and security aspect much more serious than the legal one, it is also important to count with it.

 

[Absolut_Walrus]

Count me in for underwater hockey this monday (tomorrow). I will try and convince mike to put school work aside for an hour and come with me. I have fins, snorkle, goggles, and a swim suit, let me know if I need anything else. I look forward to meeting everyone.

AW

 

[Jon]

Sorry guys but we've been canceled for tomorrow night.

Here's the schedule for the rest of this season:

We will not be playing underwater hockey this coming Monday, March 27.

We will play Monday April 3 and Monday April 10.

The pool will be closed April 17.

We will play on April 24, May 1 and May 8.

I also drove by Devil's Lake today, while I was out skiing at Devil's Head, and she's still 3/4 frozen over. The entire east shore is free of ice and I would freedive it- but not scuba. It won't be long now before everything starts opening up.

As far as the head gear goes I like my water polo cap that I bought from Swimwest the best. I also have a wrestling head-set with a football helmet chin strap on it that works pretty well. It is a bit more claustraphobic for me so I usually stick with the water polo cap. In Offical games it's also important to have a mouthpiece on your snorkel as well as headgear. I have even found it better to use a snorkel with a soft, rubber, bottom instead of a hard plastic one in case you get your head bounced off the bottom- it's a lot easier on your teeth. :crutch

Jon

 

[Absolut_Walrus]

Thats to bad I was looking forward to it. Maybe I will be able to make the tenth, the third is opening day at miller park and I got tickets.