I've seen snappers go for fish on the stringer a couple of times, and they must be old cuz they are as stubburn as an old man. You can poke them 3 or 4 times sometimes before they give up. At least we don't have to worry about sharks coming after our stringers in WI
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Lakes you Freedive or Spear - Wisconsin
- Thread starterPinggene
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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Ha! Thats true.. I was reading about bull sharks the other day, and in 1951 I think it was a dude came out of the water in lake michigan with one leg... So Bulls apparently used to be able to get that far upstream. Probably not anymore... but that would be pretty sweet.
This is awesome that there is a Wisconsin forum for spearfishing. I am curious if anyone spears any small rivers. I use a homemade pole spear, some cheep water shoes and goggles with snorkel, and shoot a couple rivers(not trout streams) and a few lakes around the Westfield area. I am just getting into it and will be looking into purchasing a 5mm wetsuit soon but everything else I can build. lol
Chris - there are a couple of us that live Close to you. Keep your eye on these forums to see when we go out. There are a lot of good diving Lakes around us.
Are you guys coming to the PALOOZA? Good Opportunity to meet people. PLUS we are offering a FREEDIVING CLASS. Should go check it out.
NSIMONIS and CHRIS W - you guys should get together since you will be close. There is a group of dudes up there that spearfish. Not sure if they still check in on DB. But I will send them a message and tell them to post something if they are. They MAY be more towards the Appleton Area - not sure though.
Looking forward to open water and started wondering what temp is "safe" to dive in without a suit? This will be my first spring of spearfishing and I don't know too much yet. I have a fairly high tolerance to cold temps. Just trying to figure out when I can get out again.
Thanks,
Chris
Thanks,
Chris
Hypothermia can be an issue at any temp I think. It's just a matter of "how soon before it sets in". I would say 65? Others can chime in. No Tax Returns for a new Wetsuit? It will last you for about 5-7 years if you treat it nice. I just bought a 3mm off Ebay (Elios, it's a $350 suit) for $60. If you are going to buy 1 suit it should be a 2 piece 5mm Open Cell Interior.
Yeah no extra cash for now, will be moving to Stevens Point another half hour away from my prime spearing spots. But for $60 I may have to start looking on ebay. Thats kinda what I was wondering the risk of hypothermia is what keeps me from going in open water right now.
Thanks,
Chris
Thanks,
Chris
Does any body know what the diving regulations are around milwaukee? I found some were on line that skin diving is prohibited, around the inside of the milwaukee harbor and on the out side of the milwaukee harbor. cant seam to find from were to were is considered the harbor. Was wondering were you guys dive around milwaukee and if you've ever been approached by the coast guard or dnr?
You don't want to Dive IN the Harbor - lots of boat traffic. Technically you have to paddle out to the other side of the breakwall and can't be in the channel. I've been on the other side of the breakwall spearfishing, when Coast Guard came by. They never said anything to me. I think I've only taken a Kayak or Canoe out to the Breakwall two or three times.
Careful diving around (south) of the harbor. The bacteria levels are really high and you can get sick. There are better places to dive than the harbor north or just south of Milwaukee. There are LOADS of Wrecks out there and Breakwalls usually hold some fish.
It depends when you go and how big a scene you make when you dive.
Technically, you are supposed to have a $100,000 bond on file with the city to dive in the harbor. They don't normally mess with you for diving, but if you are doing any kind of mooring work, or salvage work, they will come and check on you. They won't do this to harass you per Se, but competing commercial divers will send in anonymous calls to have them check up on you. I've always worked for a shop that has a policy so it's never been an issue.
Now, I've also taken (scuba) students diving in the harbor in the middle of winter. Sometimes we would just jump in off of South Shore and other times we would swim around under the docks at Mc Kinnley. This is the only safe time of year to dive here because there are no boats in the water. The water is also clear and you can find all kinds of cool stuff that boaters haver dropped during the summer months. I've found every thing from tools to dead cats swimming around in there during the winter time and never had an issue with anyone. The only cop I ever talked to was more interested in the argon bottle set-up I had for my drysuit than anything else I was doing. Winter time has never been an issue, but I would avoid it in the summer time.
If you have a kayak, I would check out the area on the outside of the break wall off of South Shore Yacht club. It drops down to 40' and there's all kinds of stuff that gets blown in there by thew storms. The clay banks on the bottom form interesting shapes that remind me off coral reefs- especially now that they're covered with zebra mussels.
As far as diving other areas close to shore, all i know is that we used to dive them and after 911 they are pretty much off limits. I've dove the water intake pipe off of Oak Creek and had a school of jumbo sized brown trout follow me around because they liked the sound of my dive scooter. I've also dove the water intake off of Bradford beach and can say that it is a very impressive site- the thing is huge! We used to dive a couple of shallow water shipwrecks off of Zion, but since they are so close to the nuclear power plant they are now off limits as well.
Your best best are going down to Bay view and diving either side of the rubble wall, or jumping in on the north side of Government Pier. No one should bug you in either of those spots, but the fisherman can be a pain off the pier and you need to watch out for duck hunters when diving off of Bay view. The pier is a nice dive because you can swim all the way out along it and then just climb up one of the orange ladders and walk back to your car when you're done. I've also done it where I walk out to the end and jump in so I can swim back to my car. The ladders are strong enough to hold me and a set of double tanks without a problem.
A better spot to go would be off of Atwater beach. There are two shipwrecks and plenty of fish in that area. My father-in-law just found the other have of the Appomattox two years ago and it makes for another huge section of wreckage to go site seeing on. The entry is pretty easy and there's not as much boat traffic there as there is closer to the city.
Technically, you are supposed to have a $100,000 bond on file with the city to dive in the harbor. They don't normally mess with you for diving, but if you are doing any kind of mooring work, or salvage work, they will come and check on you. They won't do this to harass you per Se, but competing commercial divers will send in anonymous calls to have them check up on you. I've always worked for a shop that has a policy so it's never been an issue.
Now, I've also taken (scuba) students diving in the harbor in the middle of winter. Sometimes we would just jump in off of South Shore and other times we would swim around under the docks at Mc Kinnley. This is the only safe time of year to dive here because there are no boats in the water. The water is also clear and you can find all kinds of cool stuff that boaters haver dropped during the summer months. I've found every thing from tools to dead cats swimming around in there during the winter time and never had an issue with anyone. The only cop I ever talked to was more interested in the argon bottle set-up I had for my drysuit than anything else I was doing. Winter time has never been an issue, but I would avoid it in the summer time.
If you have a kayak, I would check out the area on the outside of the break wall off of South Shore Yacht club. It drops down to 40' and there's all kinds of stuff that gets blown in there by thew storms. The clay banks on the bottom form interesting shapes that remind me off coral reefs- especially now that they're covered with zebra mussels.
As far as diving other areas close to shore, all i know is that we used to dive them and after 911 they are pretty much off limits. I've dove the water intake pipe off of Oak Creek and had a school of jumbo sized brown trout follow me around because they liked the sound of my dive scooter. I've also dove the water intake off of Bradford beach and can say that it is a very impressive site- the thing is huge! We used to dive a couple of shallow water shipwrecks off of Zion, but since they are so close to the nuclear power plant they are now off limits as well.
Your best best are going down to Bay view and diving either side of the rubble wall, or jumping in on the north side of Government Pier. No one should bug you in either of those spots, but the fisherman can be a pain off the pier and you need to watch out for duck hunters when diving off of Bay view. The pier is a nice dive because you can swim all the way out along it and then just climb up one of the orange ladders and walk back to your car when you're done. I've also done it where I walk out to the end and jump in so I can swim back to my car. The ladders are strong enough to hold me and a set of double tanks without a problem.
A better spot to go would be off of Atwater beach. There are two shipwrecks and plenty of fish in that area. My father-in-law just found the other have of the Appomattox two years ago and it makes for another huge section of wreckage to go site seeing on. The entry is pretty easy and there's not as much boat traffic there as there is closer to the city.