Madison Lakes Visibility Report

[unirdna]

All data recorded using a secchi disk.

For the week of May 25-31

Mendota - 32 ft
Monona - 22 ft
Waubesa - 17ft
Kegonsa - 11ft
Wingra - 7ft

 

[ILDiver]

I helped a guy in Panama City Florida, when I was stationed there, measure visibility in the bay at several points throughout the bay with one of those. Took water samples too. He was helping for some study of tides and water quality.

 

[bgill]

Niiiiiice....Keep it up! How do you find weekly readings? Or are YOU taking them?

 

[unirdna]

I'm the one taking the readings. I'll keep with the updates all summer re: Mendota. Once the rest green up, they rarely ever achieve diveable conditions again until November.

 

[bgill]

Awesome and Thanks!

Don't know how many times i'll make it up there before "green up"...Mendota IS an awsome lake and hold LOTS of MONSTER fish of all kinds! It deceptively looks alot smaller than it is...I used to icefish it alot...Lots and lots of walking and it would seem you went nowhere! We always fished for Perch in front of the "four doors"...but after the invasion of the "Vexilar" the Perch got smaller...After a few years I just could'nt reel up another "blown up" 6 inch Perch. It seemed such a waste that EVERY fish caught in 60 - 80 feet of water HAD to die...So I just quit going there then...

Do the Drum in there get any size to them?

 

[Whopperhead]

Ended up Shooting some Fish yesturday in mendota: 9 Crappies, 2 Bluegills, 1 Perch, 1 Sucker and 1 Carp.

Not sure what the LARGEST PERCH is but the one I got yesturday was 11"

One of the bluegills was 10.75" Which I believe is The Largest.........So, Far. I don;t think it's going to Last for long.

This Also Brings my Roughfish total to: 78

 

[unirdna]

Way to retake the bg slot, Scott (even if you tagged a female, chump ). I shot a 10.25 today. It's a matter of "when", not "if".....it will be mine . Wood lake won't save you....

Ya missed one helluva day. Wind was out of the S @ 5mph. Vis was ridiculous.

I've already shot a few 12" perch (not today), but didn't bother to record any of them (officially) because I don't see how they will have a chance against the L. Michigan pigs.

 

[Jon]

Whopperhead, ILDiver and I got out yesterday to do some line diving and play with the monofins. After waiting for all of the local scuba divers to get out of our way, we were there first:martial, we pulled anchor and moved in to spearfish. I limited out, which I was especially proud of because I did it with my new Hawaiian sling. :inlove

Today Unirdna, ILDiver and I went back out to Mendota and had an even better day- clam water and lots of vis! I had the gun today, but gave up using it after the first couple of fish. Since the water was so clear I decided to get the sling out again- and was not disappointed. I won't say they were the biggest crappie i ever shot, but I worked for each one and had a blast.

Water is hovering around 60f and the vis is at least 20'. i know it was better earlier in the week, but the wind we had yesterday really messed things up a bit- but not so bad that we couldn't dive.

Here's a few shots from the weekend.

Jon

 

[Whopperhead]

Man- I missed out! I asked that BG if it was a boy or girl and when I got no responds I figured it was ignoring me - Then assumed= Must be a Male


I figure I wouldn't keep these TITLES - but just setting the Bar.

 

[ILDiver]

I got 8 Drum and 1 Carp yesterday along with about 10 Crappie. Today I got another 8 Drum and 3 Carp and I bagged 13 Crappie. I could not ignore the Drum they were everywhere and I would see them around small mouth, so I popped them. I should have tried out my sling. I did use the poke pole and got one Drum. I doubt I get back up there for quite awhile. Not till August prolly, unless I can squeak in a trip mid to end of June.

 

[unirdna]

It was nice meeting you, Chris. Now that you've returned to the "land of flat, shallow, cess pools" I can tell you that my secret to finding the big fish is that I drop some chum down my pants before I jump in. Jon gives off the same smell, but doesn't need any chum.

So long as you always have neat toys to show us, we'll keep inviting you back. Really dug that float. If you get a chance, point me to where you got it.

 

[ILDiver]

I got the float directly from Technosport. I work part-time at a dive shop and we picked up OMER to carry. But it's a hard line to get moving in the midwest I can sell it for $98. I have to say though, if you find it online, I can't really compete with there prices. (Maybe I can for some shops OMER Technofloat, Floats & Float lines - ScubasWorld)

 

[land shark]

Its just about over for Monona she is green as all hell from head to toe. prob one of the worst blooms ever. The east side still had good viz and still clear under the algae the cotton woods are in full force along with the cyano algae just hours away from a bad smell. The carp are in and starting to spawn and forceing the gills off the beds today. The good news is they all seemed to be male blue gills the the b.g. spawn may not be hurt much. if its carp your afta bring your bows the next 2 weeks.

 

[unirdna]

Ain't that a bummer the way you go to sleep looking at a jewel and wake up to a slime pit? That's the Mad lakes for ya.

Waubesa is still holding, but barely. It seems to be on the same track as Monona. This first bloom is normal. Depending on the water temp, it can pass and leave a couple more weeks of clear[enough] water, or it can simply slide into greensville for the summer. Mendota usually bounces back for a bit - Monona usually does not.

 

[dotey]

i was just in that lake over by the outlet and it was great vis thats were i pulled my 16 carp out of ???

 

[unirdna]

The outlet always has potential to be "the exception" if the flow is on.

This first bloom is usually characterized by colonial (clumping) and/or floating algae (both eukaryotic and cyano) - not the true "green water" variety. Therefore, during these blooms, visibility is heavily influenced by wind direction - water currents.

 

[land shark]

If ya have never dove under a algae bloom now is a good time to try it. Its like dropping in on a big room

 

[Jon]

A few more pics from the past weekend.

ILdiver had his new GLIDE fin out. It's a tight fit and he had to go barefoot with it- the 50F degree water helped to numb his feet out so he could wear it for more than 10 minutes. I had a chance to try it out, with my 5mm socks on, and it gripped my foot tighter than a cast. The thing has some serious power behind it, but not the thing I'd want for all day comfort.

We also had two boat loads of scuba divers come and interrupt our diving. They were ALL over the place getting tangled in every line they could find. I even saw some of them swimming along the bottom in 45' water with a dive flag attached to 40' of rope.:head Dive flags only work if boats can see them. It was pretty humorous to watch them drop anchor on the habitat and then drift 200 yards before the anchor hit bottom. After 2-3 tires they just gave up and anchored down wind- thus, making their divers swim extra far.:duh

The wind was up and we had white caps on Mendota all day Saturday- Sunday was much nicer with the flat calm water and sunbathing coeds out on the docks:chatup

Surface temp was 59F on Saturday and 61F on Sunday.

Jon

 

[dotey]

looks like you guys had some fun maybe next time i can go with ya guys and get some vid of it all ?? :t but looks like a fun filled day

 

[land shark]

I even saw some of them swimming along the bottom in 45' water with a dive flag attached to 40' of rope.:head Dive flags only work if boats can see them.

It must be some kind of a fad I also witnessed the same thing on Monona twice now. over the last 2 years