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Spearing/clarity report 2010

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Anyone know or have a guess as to what the water temperature is in Monona or the other Madison lakes right now?
 
Mendota - 72 surface - 63 @ 10ft
Monona - 74 surface - 66 @ 10ft

Until the wind picks up, the warm water on top will be cultivating bluegreens.
 
Thanks.
I'll be spearing tomorrow in Madison w/ a friend and possibly Saturday too. I'll probably check Monona out 1st. Anyone wanting to join, give me a call.
 
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For what it's worth- i hiked Devils Lake today and dove in to check the vis.

West and south side 5 ft vis

Northshore (beach area) about 10-12 ft vis
 
South/west ends of most lakes right now are crap thanks to the NE wind we've had for the past 4 days. The wind is suppose to shift to the east this Sat, and then the south on Sunday. Deep hole in all Madison lakes was still 4+ meters this week. So, picking the clear shorline may require a bit of investigation.
 
Well, I had some luck. Found quite a few carp. Shot the decent sized ones. Haha, saw some real baby carp, quite a few under 12". Saw a lot of little panfish, some small walleyes, some small perch, a HUGE northern (at least 40"), and some bass (5 of which were just monsters).
 

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Went to door county this last weekend and spearfished egg harbor. Vis was a hazy ten feet due to high winds and direction Water was.....cold, but I only wore the top half of my wetsuit. We shot enough carp to satisfy our big fish needs. I even got lucky enough to shoot a carp that was 2-3 times bigger than the others we shot. :martial

Even though many people have told me that carp taste terrible and they are only good smoked, I filleted up a couple smaller ones to see for myself and I was impressed. I soaked them in milk for a bit to get rid of the fishy after taste, then seasoned them with some garlic herb wine marinade and lemon pepper, wrapped it up in tin foil, and tossed it in the fire. It actually looked like steak when I unwrapped it and tasted pretty good. I ended up snacking on it the rest of the night and then cooked it for my other friends when i got back. At least now I dont have to toss all the carp I shoot.

Here are some pics.
 
I went to Waushara County today the first lake the vis was about 2 feet. Very disappointing. It was supposed to be a good crappie lake. Too many water skiers over the weekend I guess. Moved to another lake, the vis was 15 to 20 feet. Lots of large bluegills, I got 9 that were 9 inches long and a few others that were average sized. I also got 3 perch the largest was 9 1/2 inches.

I met a couple young fellows with polespears heading in as I was heading out. The fellow I talked to was a little bothered that I had found his bluegill lake. Thus I will not disclose the name of the lake.

 
Went to blackhawk lake again, vis was amazing about 25-30 ft in some spots. Never got less than 10ft vis, even in the swampy parts. Brought home my first carp today, that was thrilling. I was swimming along and found a large area where all the weeds where knocked down flat(do the carp do this or something else..weather?) and saw 4 large carp. Taking advice posted i shot the biggest one in the head. The spear riccocheted of its head and he just kinda sat there begging to be shot again. So i shot him again, this time the spear tip went in about 3/4 inch and fell out. The whole time i'm attempting to kill him, his family is literally circling me like sharks. I decide my spear is not manly enough for the big one and shoot the small one(1-2ft, about 7-10 lbs) right through the soft gut. I got that one for sure this time and spent ten minutes stabbing wildly with a screwdriver through his gills trying for the brain. There was so much blood it lowered the vis to nothing for about 4 ft around me. Finally i found the sweet spot and the ******* fell. Needless to say i need practice with carp. I also shot 9 crappies and 3 bluegill...i got 2 bluegill with one shot also.
 
hello all I am new to this I had an account last year then my com broke so just wanted to say hey and if anyone wants to go diving i am in the kenosha area was up in stevens point if you want any good info on those lakes I know just about all of them vis and nice crappies so hit me up and I hope to be posting pics soon next sunny day I am going to explore there area down here for water to dive and go for a few gar that I know of.
 
Try the breakwall out in Lake Michigan once perch season opens. It's the only place I've ever speared around there. All the scuba diving I've done in that area has either been in Racine Quarry or out on the wrecks in the big pond.

Jon
 
thanks a lot Jon I went in the harbor and missed a few large carp because I was trying to shoot them at 5 feet when I could only see 4.

I think I may try a few of the inland lakes around here because I just cant go 11 days to go spear fishing, i have found some information about gar so I think that I am going to go investigate and see if the water is clear enough to see because that is just about the last fish species on my list in Wisconsin that I have yet to shoot with my new gun.
 
Watch for days when the wind is out of the west. That 4' of vis you have will open up to 70'. In the winter in can go well over 100'. The tirck is being able to judge the wind as it can change everything in an afternoon.
 
yeah I the day I went was a north east wind. but before I get back out to far I need to get new fins because last week I lost one that fell out of my buddies boat when he tipped it over so right now I am diving with one fin for the next few weeks till I get a check from my new job.
 
The first thing that popped into my head when I saw him jump was "now, how in the world is he going to get back?" He was weighted way too heavy to pedal back without fins. Very creative video - the camera angles and soundtrack are top notch.

BTW, Madison lakes are not recovering despite this cool snap. This marks the worst dive season in the past 10 years for these lakes. Clear-water lasted 1.5 days in Mendota. Horrible and depressing.
 
The Madison lakes still suck. As Ted mentioned, it's been the worst spring for diving in the 10 years that I've lived here. :head

I rode my bike to Milwaukee this weekend and the bike trail just happens to go right over Rock Lake. This lake has been crystal clear the last couple of times that I've been out there- thanks to the zebra mussels. On Sunday it looked like a brown mud puddle. I couldn't even see down 6".

A couple of scuba instructors I know have been doing training dives out in Lake Nagawicka, where we do the Freeze-a-palooa ice dive in the winter, and the said that the water was crap there as well. The only place I know that it's been nice is out on the shipwrecks in Lake Michigan. Of course, that is all dependent on the wind and a boat is mandatory.

One more season like this and i could sell my dive gear and just ride my bike instead. :waterwork

Jon
 
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