Spearing/clarity report 2010

[Whopperhead]

ILDiver and myself will be diving the Madison Area Tuesday if anyone else is interested. Probably be out there round 10 till 1pm-ish.

Not sure which lake yet....

 

[Jon]

Damn! my wetsuit still has a whole in it and my next batch of glue won't get here until Wednesday.:head:head:head

Any chance you can bump it back to Thursday????

Jon

 

[Jon]

So how was it?

I finally got re supplied on glue and just patched up my suit. I'm hoping to jump in on Thursday and try out a couple of new guns. When I was out biking yesterday I noticed that the north shore of Monona was pretty messed up by the wind- which means that the south end of Mendota was probably pretty nice.

Jon

 

[Whopperhead]

Never went in the water. With the white caps, snow and blistering winds- we decided to stay dry. The West side of Mendota looked really good and actually by the outlet- I could see the bottom rocks. Might go back next Monday.

 

[Jon]

I spent about an hour in Monona today. i would have dove longer, but a tore a nice hole in my wetsuit sock just as I was walking down the beach into the water:head Add that to the 38F degree water and my stupid big toe froze out long before the rest of me!rofl

Water had about 8'-10' of vis and I did see one really nice walleye, but that was about it. I didn't go over to the outlet because the barge was out dropping pontoons in the water for the winter ice wall.

Now that the water is so cold I might decide to leave the spearguns at home next time and just bring the monofin instead. It's easier to stay warm when your out swimming around instead of lying on the bottom in aspetto.

Jon

 

[kalin]

I want to get in the water very bad now.Vladas?? or Scott or Jon?or anybody else?...if you getting somewhere please give me a call...if I am home I wanna do it...and happy 6th of December(Nicolas day) to everyone
Edit:
No diving for me--off to Arkansas Tomorrow

 

[Jon]

I was lucky enough to be able to jump in for an hour this morning. Water was 35F degrees and i have no idea what the air temp was. Vis was much hazier than i thought it would be. Over by the outlet it was really murky and the water was NOT on. Further to the east things cleared up a bit- to almost 10'. Lots of junk on the bottom, but no fish to spear. I did scare up a couple of pike, but that was it. The shoreline is iced up for the first 25 yards. It's not thick ice and I could break through it without too much trouble- it's just kind of a pain in the butt.

I may try and hit the western shore of Mendota tomorrow if I have time. I need to see if the patch job i did on my 5mm socks is holding first. i wore my 3mm socks, monofin, and 5mm over socks today and froze my toes off. My feet stay much warmer in the winter with thicker socks and mustang footpockets. A 5mm suit seemed to do the trick for everything else.

Jon

 

[Jon]

Here's a few more pictures from today.

The barge is in place,the water is off, and it's pretty murky in that whole area. Much better conditions away from the outlet than next to it.

Jon

 

[Jon]

Big changes in the lakes overnight!

I tried to jump in along the southern end of Monona today becuase of the wind direction, but when I parked my car I saw that the lake was completely frozen over!:head Well, as it turns out is not completely frozen over. There is a very small section of open water that extends along the shore between Monona terrace and Machinery Row bikes. The outlet is NOT on and is frozen over as well.

So, I ended up driving around Mendota looking for a spot to jump in. I ended up by the graduate student housing. There's a nice little beach that I used to use to teach scuba classes at that happens to be relatively ice free. The parking lot is a bit treacherous and I wouldn't suggest attempting it unless you have four wheel drive. I do so it wasn't a problem. There was only about 10 yards of ice to walk across and the vis was a hazy 10'. I could lay on the surface and make out rocks on the bottom in 11' of water if I stared pretty hard at them. there are still some weed beds up and a fair bit of junk lying around- like an old motorcycles frame!

Water was 36F and the air temp was dropping as the storm started to roll in. I didn't see a single fish- not ever a pike or a carp. I don't know that the lakes will be open much longer and the spearing is certainly over for this year. I did take a bunch of photos and will post them later on tonight.

Not sure where everyone else is diving these days, but in another week the only option I know of will be the Yahara river, cutting a whole, and making the drive to Lake Michigan. None of these sound to enticing to me right now and I'm ready to switch into ski mode.

One more season as bad as this past one and I'll be ready to hang up my fins. :head

Here's to hoping for a better season next year. :friday

Jon

 

[Jon]

Here's a few shots of the beach on Lake Mendota.

I also tried wearing running shoes with my wetsuit today since I lost my crocs earlier this fall while diving in Rock Lake. The shoes worked perfect over 5mm socks and helped me climb down the icy stairs.

Last pic is of Lake Monona. I can't believe it was wide open one day and nearly frozen over completely the next!

Jon

 

[Jon]

Here's a few underwater photos from today. Not the most exciting place in the world without fish, but it's the best we can hope for this time of year.

Jon

 

[Jon]

I put the snow tires on my bicycle and went for a ride around town today. Everything seems to be frozen up solid except for the Yahara river. Even the river didn't seem to be super clear up by Tenney Locks, but it did seem fairly clear down in Monona where it connect lake Monona to Upper Mud lake. The outlet hasn't been turned on all winter and I actually saw three guys playing hockey over it before this last snow storm.

So far I've put off the urge to jump in the river, and think that it will be a month or two before the itch to dive gets so great that I dive it.

I'm not sure what things are like in Milwaukee these days, but I used to dive the marinas in the winter time when I lived there. It makes for an easy access and there's lots of stuff to find there- especially after a summer full of drunken boaters dropping who knows what over the side. :friday

Jon