New Forum - Who is from Wisconsin?

[fleshy]

Looking forward to meeting ANY of you! Ha Ha. The only member on here that I ever met was pinggene, and we had a good time out in door county. Regrettably at the time I was poorly equiped (wetsuit with massive tear from neck to crotch, and the water was probably in the low 50's. So we didnt stay in for long. Now that all of us central guys have top of the line gear though, wed love to host, or see some of you guys around here. Best diving is done early in the year too, so we are comming up on that! Not to say afterwards we wont do lake michigan or river diving with anyone who wants to stop by.

 

[claf04]

hey, i've been spearfishing in wisconsin for two seasons now and never even thought about going on Michigan. Until this winter my buddy commented about it so while investigating i stumbled upon Wisconsin Spearfish Hunters. And now i think i might have to go every single day this summer starting in June. Great vids. i'm guessing there whopperheads and company.

I'm looking for tips on lake MI. I've heard that the currents and undertoe can be overwhelming at times. Is this true? Are any places worse then others? All i've ever fished is the Waupaca Chain and some of the few legal lakes up north. If you want help with either of those i'd be more than willing to advise, even though i'm still studying the chain.

thanks for the help looking forward to the '09 season
Chris

 

[fleshy]

All i've ever fished is the Waupaca Chain and some of the few legal lakes up north. If you want help with either of those i'd be more than willing to advise, even though i'm still studying the chain.

thanks for the help looking forward to the '09 season
Chris

Howdy and welcome to the board. My friends and I live around Stevens Point and during the summer months we frequently go up to Door county to dive and spear. Im not as certain about your area, but we have been looking to dive at Sheboygan this winter, although it hasnt happened yet for various reasons. Ive done some diving on the chain as well, but find that its hardly worth fighting the boaters, and the law enforcement that they attract. Everytime you go there, one of the hundreds of crazed landowners, boaters, or one of the R&R guys will try and call you out. The end up calling the police who basically force you to quit. This sucks. Youve obviously had better success.

 

[FletchHR]

hey folks, just popping in to say 'hi'... long time no word... but I still dream in deep blue.

thanks for the vid. on blackouts, Scott... great reminder ... must teach my boys carefully.

I will take some diving/freediving classes when I'm in Croatia this summer...
can't wait to try out my light and my new spear from the picnic!

and yeah, watch out for that Chris guy... he's a smart aleck...

or is it alack?... whatever.

 

[claf04]

I've never had a problem on the chain. I think it's because i stay away from the big lakes like rainbow and columbia. I also stay close to shore since it drops to 40' pretty quick, and i'm not much of a freediver.

Does MI stay clean enough around sheboygan and manitowac in the summer with all the boat traffic, because i only have a cheap 2mm wetsuit so winter spearing isn't an option for more than 2 minutes at a time.

 

[unirdna]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the board. I know very little about spearing in your neck of the woods, so I'll default to those in the know. In Milwaukee, visibility in Lake Michigan depends heavily on the wind direction / water current. Some days you swim in soup, and some days are as good as being in the Keys. Jon understands the system pretty well. Maybe he'll have something to add.

 

[Jon]

Lake Michigan is a big body of water that can change on an, almost, daily basis depending upon the wind. If it's out of the east it's time to surf- for real! If it's out of the west for a few days in a row in can be spectacular.

30 years ago we never had more than 10' of vis on the southern end of the lake, but the northern end had days of up to 30' of vis. Since the zebra, and quaga, mussels have invaded the vis has gone up- way up! Summer time vis goes from 30'-70' and winter vis will go over 150'. Shipwrecks that I couldn't see my fin tips on 20 years ago now have 80'-120' of vis on a regular basis.

Shore vis is always worse than offshore on the deeper wrecks. There are times where you can look out and see the haze line out a mile off shore. vis inside that line might be 30' and vis outside that line might be 70'.

Another thing that changes vis later on in the summer time are the thermoclines. You can have crap vis down to 40' and then the whole place opens up once you drop into the cold water. I've seen vis go from 15' to over 100' in these conditions.

AS far as temps go it depends upon the season and the wind. Winter is always in the mid 30's and summer time is usually around 40F on the bottom. Surface temps in the southern part of the lake, or inside the islands around Door County can get into the mid 70's. A typical day on the lake around mid summer will have 35' of vis and 70F degree water down to 40' and then 70' of vis and 41F degree water the rest of the way down.

During big winds in late July or August we get some pretty wild water conditions. If we get a bunch of days in a row of west wind we might have 70F degree water down 130'. This is because all of the surface water from the other side of the lake blows over here and builds up- kind of a reverse upwelling. The vis is never that great, only about 30' at best, but the water is so warm we'll dive in our swimsuits as deep as we can get.

There are some decent shipwrecks in Sheboygan and I know that there's a power plant there that pumps out warm water all year round, but the water around the plant is very shallow for a very long time. I'm also not sure how close you're allowed to get to it since 9-11. There are a few shipwrecks we sued to dive on off of the Zion Nuclear Power plant that are now off-limits because they are too close to the plant. One is an old minesweeper and the other two are old schooners.

My friend, Greg Such, has a dive shop and charter business up in Two Rivers and often knows what's going on in the lake. His business is called Shipwreck Adventures. He's not a freediver but an excellent rebreather and technical instructor who spends a lot of time on, and in, the lake. He will allow freedivers on his boat, but I don't know what he charges. Down in Milwaukee my father-in-law runs a shop and charter boat who also allows freedivers on board. His main boat is the Len-Der and he runs charters year round.

Door county has many shallow shipwrecks close to shore. There are also many islands and the only place where I've sen any serious currents. Sometimes we get long shore currents off of Milwaukee, but I've never found them to be horribly strong- unless you get by the relief gaps by the main breakwall. Those are kind of fun to dive because the water will flow in, full speed, for about 5 minutes and then go slack. After that it will change directions and flow out for about 5 minutes and repeat. It would be scary if you didn't know what you were doing, but I find them to be a lot of fun to dive in.

I've never heard of undertow issues in the lake, but we do get some big waves when the conditions are right- Sheboygan is actually known as one of the better places in the country to do freshwater surfing and they have a contest there every winter.

I'd say a 5mm freediving suit would work out much better than a 2mm.

Jon

 

[stish5904]

hey im from appleton....i dive with claf04. Ive been snorkeling/spearfishing on and of for about 10 years really have gotten into it in the last 3years. Have never really tried freediving my breath holds arent that great, but would love to get those times up and try it. In regards to spearfishing lake michigan. Are the regs the same as inland waters as far as roughfish and panfish only. Also is there anything that you reallty need to be careful about out there and watch for. We wont be diving too deep probably staying in 20fow or less until we get a little more familiar with the lake. thanks for all the help guys

 

[unirdna]

hey im from appleton....i dive with claf04. Ive been snorkeling/spearfishing on and of for about 10 years really have gotten into it in the last 3years. Have never really tried freediving my breath holds arent that great, but would love to get those times up and try it. In regards to spearfishing lake michigan. Are the regs the same as inland waters as far as roughfish and panfish only. Also is there anything that you reallty need to be careful about out there and watch for. We wont be diving too deep probably staying in 20fow or less until we get a little more familiar with the lake. thanks for all the help guys

Panfish regs are similar, with the exception of the perch limit (5 in Michigan vs. 25 normal bag limit). No gamefish - as usual.

You need to be very wary of boats and rip currents - neither have any respect for divers.

Now start working on your breathhold - the big, spooky perch are down at 25 feet.

 

[stish5904]

yeah gotta get those breath holds up i can get down to 25ft but only for ten or fifteen seconds maybe....also does a camo suit really help that much or will black work just fine. i've only used black and never had much problem

 

[unirdna]

The color of the suit doesn't matter. Any experienced spearo will tell you that it's all in the body language. Hunting fish is no different than "hunting" women. You gotta play it cool, and let them come to you. If they still don't want to get close....no worries - there are plenty of other fish in the lake.

 

[stish5904]

haha nice anology....that is what i have found to work the best especially on crappie just kinda sit there and eventually their curiosity usually gets the best of them

 

[fleshy]

yeah gotta get those breath holds up i can get down to 25ft but only for ten or fifteen seconds maybe....also does a camo suit really help that much or will black work just fine. i've only used black and never had much problem

I always used old rental dive suits from the shop until I came onto this forum and had better options made available to me. I found that fish were less skittish around me with camo, than with the black or bright colors of the rental scuba suits. This being said you are probably going to want a spearfishing/freediving suit anyways, and why not get the camo when it costs the same as a black suit? Theres just nothing to lose.

 

[honda2w]

New to the forum , from the Milwaukee area. Would like to get into spearfishing , have been doing some snorkeling for a bit around the locale lakes. Probably will have a bunch of questions. This site is great!

 

[Whopperhead]

Honda2w - Diving with others is a great way to learn. There are several other divers in the Milwaukee or southeast area. You should of attended the CARP - O - RAMA. Meet some other diving.

 

[Chris W]

Hi,
I am about 45 mins north of Portage and just started spearing a few weeks ago, I don't have the financing to get new equipment so I made all of my own. I made some +5' pole spears, a speed stringer, just made a dive flag, and I already had some snorkeling gear but don't have a suit or flippers. I spear mostly small rivers and a couple lakes for rock bass, gills, and some carp. I would like to get some flippers and increase my down time.
And this site is simply awesome

 

[JDP1292]

Hey all, new spearfisher here from just north of milwaukee, plan on building my own gun in the near future, gotta get the funds together and plan it out, just thought I'd pop in and say hey!

 

[Whopperhead]

Hey JDP! There are several spearos in your area. I even think there is a guy over there that builds his own guns also. I've seen some pics and the guns he builds look pretty awesome!

Lake Michigan is a pretty sweet pond to do some spearfishing in. You're lucky to live so close.

We'll see you around!

 

[JDP1292]

Awesome thanks! My biggest concern right now is money- as well as free diving. I'm not a terrible swimmer, I can hold my breath for awhile, but can't go down below 18' as my ears become incredibly painful.

Do you have any recommendations on things I could do as far as swimming practice in a deep pool while I'm at college?

Also, I'm thinkin about making my own reel for my speargun, so well see how that goes

Also looking for fin recommendations. Im 5'8", 145 lbs. I can't afford alot here, I am still a poor college student after all. Ideally I'd like to get into this at as low a budget possible, but obviously this may not be that realistic.

Here are my budgets right now for different pieces of gear, please let me know what y'all think.

Wetsuit: $150. Obviously won't be a custom, but i'm just looking for something 5mm, open cell, have been looking at some Cressi's
Fins: $50. Not sure if this is reasonable, for a beginner I would think so?
Gloves/Booties: ? No idea here, some advice would be welcome
Snorkel: $15
Gun: $200. Since I'm building it, it may cost more than I think, but I'm hoping to keep it under $200
Dive float/floatline: $50? Is this a reasonable range? Can't see it costing that much for a super complex one.

Total adds up to be a little over $500.. which seems extremely steep to me. Is there anything I can do to maybe lower these costs without skimping?

 

[Whopperhead]

JDP~ I understand the poor college thing. I ate ramen noodles and potatoes for about 2 years. It sucked. The thing with freediving/spearfishing, usually once you have the gear it will last you 5 years+. No expense in filling air tanks or other extra costs that come while Scuba. Here are MY recommendations:

Fins: Cressi Pro Star full foot fins: $49.99 (Basic Freediving fin that will last)

Wetsuit: You want a 2 pc, 5mil, open cell interior. (This should be LAW for Freediving in Wisconsin) I would think the cheapest you could go on this is around $200. This is a great suit for the price: MAKO (Yamamoto) 2 piece green camo wetsuits in 3mm, 5mm and 7mm

Snorkel: Go with a simple "J-Snorkel" I believe you can get them as cheap as $9.

Gloves and booties: HammerHead Spearguns The best Gloves and booties. They are open cell - get 5mm. And if you think you wear a Large Glove- go with XL - they run small. Gloves: $36, Boots: $20= $57-ish.

Float & line: You could make your own, if you do some thread searching you can find ones that people made themselves. Otherwise $30 could get you a float and go to a boat supply place and just get their Floating line. you should only need about 30 feet. Its cheaper than actually buying a "Float Line".

Gun: You want a gun about 75cm - 90cm. 75cm is about the ideal length for Wisconsin Waters - maybe a little longer for Lake Michigan. I still kill lots of fish in Lake Michigan with my 75cm. I use a Hammerhead and they have a new one out that runs $150.

Mask: go with a Low Volume if you can. If you can find it: AquaSphere mask is the best one I have found. They run about $40.

As far as you only being able to dive to 18' with pain. Stop doing that! lol. You're doing something wrong and you don't want to do something that is going to cause permanent damage. I HIGHLY recommend taking a freediving class. We are offering one July 27-29 at our FREEDIVING PALOOZA - it's put on by the best instructors in the world. They will teach you the techniques to get you diving to 66ft+ and have a breath hold of 3mins. This is a 2 day class that cost under $300!!!! This is an unbelievable deal. Will take your spearfishing to another level and could save your life. I will edit this, as I get more info for you

You should be able to get this decent gear for a little over $500 + $300 for the class - this isn't bad to set you up for life. Remember, this is why they make Credit Cards.............. :-D