Lakes you Freedive or Spear - Wisconsin

[unirdna]

Hi Chris,

This is Ted - the guy across the bar at Wet Wendy's. I saw your trip advisor message, and thought I would pick up the conversation over here.

The overall best spearing in Wisconsin is done when the water temp is 50-70F. May1-June30 is the golden time of year when highly bioproductive mesotrophic lakes [read Madison Lakes] are clear. Clear-water lakes to the north and east are spearable all year, but never yield the panfish numbers/size that we see in the big lakes.

When things "green" up in Madison (usually in late June), we head to clearer waters.

 

[Whopperhead]

the golden time of year when highly bioproductive mesotrophic lakes

That's what I was going to say.

I took a week off of work in May - simply to spear the madison lakes.

 

[fleshy]

The lakes around here are good for 2-3 weeks, then we have to seek refuge in lake michigan or the river... :head

Speaking of michigan, does anyone winter dive in there? I dont have easy access to a boat either, which is a problem, but just thought id ask. Anyone know if that sheyboygan powerplant keeps the water open to shore possibly? Looking for an escape, but dont have the ability to do a ice dive, and the river we dive freezes over.

 

[Jon]

My father-in-law runs winter scuba charters out there during the winter. Len-Der Charters, Great Lakes Scuba Diving, Milwaukee Area Shipwreck Diving, Charters to Willie, Drege No. 6, Milwaukee Carferry, Norland, Gillen Tug, etc.
He's been doing it for decades and the vis these days, during the winter, gets to be over 150' on a good day.

If you're interested you need a drysuit and a second regulator- as in doubles, a pony bottle, or an H-valve. A simple octopus doesn't cut it. He can break through quite a bit of ice on the way out to the dive sites- it gets pretty loud if your below deck when he's driving.

Other than that, shore dives in Lake Michigan are anice time to hit the marinas and other places off limits in the summer time.

Jon

 

[Whopperhead]

I understand that the Sheboygan Power plant pumps out hot water everyday and keeps the ice away- far away- BUT the discharge is so powerful that it creates a undertow and is very shallow- From what I hear. I still plan on trying it out myself. I'm thinking there are LOTS of fish in that area.

 

[shoosh]

Hi Chris,

This is Ted - the guy across the bar at Wet Wendy's. I saw your trip advisor message, and thought I would pick up the conversation over here.

The overall best spearing in Wisconsin is done when the water temp is 50-70F. May1-June30 is the golden time of year when highly bioproductive mesotrophic lakes [read Madison Lakes] are clear. Clear-water lakes to the north and east are spearable all year, but never yield the panfish numbers/size that we see in the big lakes.

When things "green" up in Madison (usually in late June), we head to clearer waters.

Hellos from across the bar once again Ted and thanks so much...OK so I have about 3 month window then for SE Wisco and then have to head up north, got ya....Well I have some questions about gear but I suppose I should ask those in another thread.

 

[fleshy]

He's been doing it for decades and the vis these days, during the winter, gets to be over 150' on a good day.
If you're interested you need a drysuit and a second regulator- as in doubles, a pony bottle, or an H-valve. A simple octopus doesn't cut it. He can break through quite a bit of ice on the way out to the dive sites- it gets pretty loud if your below deck when he's driving.
Other than that, shore dives in Lake Michigan are anice time to hit the marinas and other places off limits in the summer time.
Jon

That sounds amazing, although Im looking more for spearfishing, and the whole marina thing. Ive never done a deepwater wreck in michigan or superior though, something that my brother used to do constantly... :head Ill never live up to him! Right now Im just looking for open water to shoot some fish. Im thinking the boys and I might hit up egg harbor, jacksonport, or sister bay in the door to hit those marinas.

I understand that the Sheboygan Power plant pumps out hot water everyday and keeps the ice away- far away- BUT the discharge is so powerful that it creates a undertow and is very shallow- From what I hear. I still plan on trying it out myself. I'm thinking there are LOTS of fish in that area.

Lets organize an event. This is something I could get a couple guys to go to, as its not that far away, and were all itching to dive after two months or three months out of the water!

 

[daverdive]

I've been Spearing Big Green in the past and more recently a bunch of lakes around Amherst: Emily, Spring, Sunset, Fountain, Bear, Adams, Lime(stained water; bad vis) Lakes. Most are pretty small and not too much boat traffic. None of the lakes have Carp, or at least I haven't seen any, most do have suckers.

Regarding the trout waters and spearing, a few years back a couple of friends and I were spearing in Spring Lake(portage co) and a warden pulled up as we were getting in and there was no problem with us spearing, and the lake is posted. My brother actually found a dead brown the next spring when the ice was receding, and we shot a couple of decent perch. The perch seemed to be less wary of divers in April then they are in the summer.

 

[fleshy]

I've been Spearing Big Green in the past and more recently a bunch of lakes around Amherst: Emily, Spring, Sunset, Fountain, Bear, Adams, Lime(stained water; bad vis) Lakes. Most are pretty small and not too much boat traffic. None of the lakes have Carp, or at least I haven't seen any, most do have suckers.

Regarding the trout waters and spearing, a few years back a couple of friends and I were spearing in Spring Lake(portage co) and a warden pulled up as we were getting in and there was no problem with us spearing, and the lake is posted. My brother actually found a dead brown the next spring when the ice was receding, and we shot a couple of decent perch. The perch seemed to be less wary of divers in April then they are in the summer.

Im surprised we havent run into each other! In the early spring I am in Sunset almost EVERYDAY, whether it be for a SCUBA class that Im assisting, or whether its just some of us "central boys" shooting up those monster bluegills. Unless I know you and you are just hidden behind your alias, we will need to get out and go diving. We are a younger group of guys but we have found a lot of "new" diving and spearing locations that yield carp, bigger fish, and these days better vis. (Emily has gone down hill A LOT in the past ten years.) We love Bear and sunset, and have dove the rest of those numerous times. Most of us are located in the greater Stevens Point area, so we do a lot of diving in the plover river. It retains its visibility year round, and has great spearing. I live a little bit closer to you, the town of sharon (custer). Youd be welcome to tag along for some dives this summer!

 

[stish5904]

so i dont know if the spearing panfish on L. Mich. is still a debate, but i just got done talking to the DNR less than five min ago and the told me that it is legal....i guess if this is still an issue i would just talk to a warden in the area that i am going to spear to make sure.

 

[unirdna]

so i dont know if the spearing panfish on L. Mich. is still a debate, but i just got done talking to the DNR less than five min ago and the told me that it is legal....i guess if this is still an issue i would just talk to a warden in the area that i am going to spear to make sure.

Nope, no longer a debate. We got our ducks in a row a while ago.

Thanks though.

 

[fleshy]

so i dont know if the spearing panfish on L. Mich. is still a debate, but i just got done talking to the DNR less than five min ago and the told me that it is legal....i guess if this is still an issue i would just talk to a warden in the area that i am going to spear to make sure.

Although the door county peninsula has yet to yeild the MONSTER bluegills the guys in the southern part of the state are claiming, DC has virtually every kind of panfish in HUGE numbers if you know the hotspots. Shot my biggest rock bass there.

 

[unirdna]

Yeah, those pretty northern lakes don't seem to yield as many fat bluegills. Strangely enough, the northern lakes DO have gigantic pumpkin seeds - they can rival the bluegills of the southern lakes.

 

[fleshy]

Arr! I meant to say perch. The perch we get on the peninsula max out at 12" and are all pretty skinny. We have better luck spearing perch inland, and we would prefer the fat crappies that we have around here to the tiny perch fillets. We have a lake "Sunset" which gets to be 40-50 FOW and in there we have very large bluegills that rival that of the southern lakes. They are also in massive schools. Could potentially be hundreds. In early spring when vis is 20-30 feet they extend past the range of vision. It was the first time for me that "safety in numbers" struck home. Your sitting on the bottom trying to find the biggest one and you just cant pick one.

 

[stish5904]

that is what it is like on the chain, some of the lakes we go on have some of the biggest crappie i have ever seen, if you know where to go. The key is to get off the main lakes and stick to the smaller no wake lakes. They are very skittish tho and that can make for some tough shooting but 14" crappies are not uncommon

 

[fleshy]

Ahhh... thats nothing! You come up here we will show you a good time at a little secret of mine. Crappies average 10", but MOST are in the 14-16" range. I will almost always shoot one fish everytime we go there that is bigger than anyone else's PR. Just an amazing lake. Although I was attacked by a 4 1/2 foot long snapper there once...

 

[unirdna]

14"s are nice for the wall and bragging rights. But, when it comes time for dinner, I'll fill my plate with the 10-12's"

 

[fleshy]

Yea, but this is seriuosly the best lake for that. I think winks posted the first time winch ever went spearfishing on here, they came back with probably around 20 fish and were only gone for maybe 2 1/2 hours. None were smaller than 10". Yes, I will take you there to prove it.

 

[claf04]

You know you did have a speargun with you. You could have speared that snapper and claimed self defense. Then make it into a giant serving platter for all those crappie.

 

[fleshy]

It was funny. I went to the dentists the other day, and the lady who cleans my teeth, her husband is a spearo. She told me that he was spearing one day alone and was attacked by a giant snapper. I asked her where it was and she said "Adams Lake" which is literally across the road from Bear Lake where I was attacked. I feel that the snapper just came in in attack mode because he could smell/feel the dead and dying fish that were tied to my stringer. Hence the mouth wide charge. I defended myself by putting my gun to his shoulder, and pushed him underneath me. I could have pulled the trigger in that one millionth of a second, but the time I had was dominated with one thought. "A creature this big must be almost 100 years old." Too much respect for an animal like that. Im unafftected by the attack, and so hopefully, was he.