Spearing/clarity report 2012

[Jon]

I just got out of the water. It's still a balmy 34F degrees, but that was a whole lot warmer than the air was today! Air temps are around 0F, with the windchill factored in, so the water felt pretty good- at first.

Vis was a lot worse than last week- 5' tops. The winds have been blasting pretty hard out of the north west and pretty much everything is stirred up. Yesterday we had gusts up to 50mph, and that doesn't help diving conditions all that much.

With the cold air I thought that they might turn the outlet on, but I was wrong- once again. :waterwork I had thought about diving somewhere else, but the direction of the wind didn't really allow for it. So, I jumped in and made the best of it. I didn't see anywhere near the amount of fish that were there just last week. The only thing sizable was a single large mouth bass- who flew out of there just as I was raising my camera.

Things may not be great, but the lakes are still wide open and there are lots more places to dive than the past few winter around here. I have to say I've had enough with diving the Yahara and will only save that spot for when things really ice over.

Hope the rest of you are getting some dive time in.

Jon

 

[Jon]

I went for a bike ride today to check on all my favorite (local) spots. Things seem pretty bad right now. All of the lakes a re frozen over solid, the outlet has been off all winter long, and the Yahara river is running a nice dark shade of brown right now. No diving to be had without a long car ride or a chainsaw this winter.

Jon

 

[mkeen112]

Went to Lake Monona yesterday, it was really stirred up, couldnt see the tip of my spear. Did well on jordan lake though.

 

[Whopperhead]

What was the vis on Jordan? It's only about 8 mins from my house.

 

[mkeen112]

Im not really good at guessing distances underwater yet, but it was really good. Well beyond the range of my speargun. I never saw so many bass in one area before. The walleye were down on the slopes of drop offs. Panfish were sticking close to weed plumes for cover with schools of large mouth bass circling the panfish. Even saw a small northern cruising the bottom.

 

[Whopperhead]

Might be heading to Jordan Lake on Thursday the 5th. Not 100% we're we will be aiming for, but was thinking the South/West Corner of the lake......... Or the Middle and see what's at 89'.

 

[Jon]

My kids and I hiked around Devil's Lake today. The whole place was green and all stirred up. Vis looked to be about 3' or so, but we still shot 10 carp. Just kidding- spearfishing is now illegal in that lake.

Jon

 

[Meesch]

Been a while since I posted, had to take a year or so off but I'm ready to get back in the water. Has anyone been to Black Hawk Lake yet this year? I'm itching to go and try out the new GoPro and Black Hawk seems like the closest/best option. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mkeen112]

Just got back from a couple of hours out on Dutch Hollow lake. It looks like its settled down quite a bit. Visability was pretty good 7-8'. Shot a dozen nice size panfish. There are some dinner plate size crappies in there! Too quick for me tho.

 

[Whopperhead]

Jordan Lake - Adams County

Vis: 15-20 ft

Temp: 50 - 53 depending on what area you were in the lake.

Divers: Whopperhead, Tass and MKeen112

Vis was pretty awesome! I'd say 15-20 ft in most areas. The water temp was 50-53 depending on where we were in the lake. We had a boat and checked out 4 different areas. I saw lots of "FRY" (is that how you spell it?) and lots of Bass. There were several egg sacks, I spotted a few Hammers and a couple Perch. I even saw 1 good size Carp. I didn't know that lake had any carp, but I saw one. When I was getting my gun, it took off. It was good to get in the water and pee myself.


PICS: First 2 are of 2 different Large Mouth Bass in the Shallows. The Pic on the Right is of MKeen.

 

[Jon]

I just got back from a nice ride around Madison and had a chance to checkout the lakes in a number of different spots. It looks like there's about 15' of vis in Monona and at least 20' of vis on Mendota. I saw some huge walleye swimming under the docks off of the union, but no panfish. Lake Monona was looking pretty good as well and the outlet is ON! There was no smoke coming out of any of the stacks, but the water was flowing and there had to be at least 30 good sized musky swimming around in there. I know there were a couple of huge ones playing in the current as they dwarfed anything else in the area.

The DNR has sample nets setup all over the place and I had a chance to talk to a few of them. They said the water was running about 48F or 50F and they hadn't seen a musky yet. The funny thingis they have a sample net set up about 20 yards away from the outlet, but didn't see a single one.

The water might be a tad bit cold- as I'm down to only a 3mm these days- but, if I don't have to work tomorrow I'm jumping in with my camera to shoot some video. Things should be really nice in a couple of weeks,but I'm about to go under the knife (deviated septum) and will probably miss the whole season this year.

Jon

 

[Jon]

Just got out of a couple of lakes and it seems like Friday the 13th lives up to its name.

I first went over to the outlet to shoot some video of the musky I saw there yesterday, but it wasn't to happen as the winds really picked up overnight and the whole place is white caps and brown water. I also noticed that after my conversation with the DNR guys yesterday they decided to move their sample net right in front of the outlet!!! No way I was going to try and swim around that thing with crap visibility.

So, off I went to Lake Waubesa. Water was about 54F, but the vis was less than 2' and I didn't see any fish. I talked to a local who said that the lake had gotten up to 61F degrees a couple of weeks ago when we had that freak warm weather.

After that I drove up to Lake Mendota and jumped in off the leeward shore. Vis was a good 15' to 20', but the 20' plus I saw yesterday. I did see a couple of bass, but that was about it. The weeds aren't up yet and the water was 48F degrees. I was surprisingly comfortable in my 3mm suit with 2mm under vest. I thought for sure I would freeze out in no time, but I actually got bored before I got cold.

I Amy post some pictures later on, but there's nothing special about any of them.

Jon

 

[kalin]

Thank you Jon. It is so helpfull. I am eager to kill some carp

 

[Jon]

I checked put Waubesa again this morning, but the wind was too strong. So, I headed up to the south shore of Monona. Things looked good off the beach, but once I got out into it the vis was crap. Water temp was 52F- so, still a little bit early.

Jon

 

[honda2w]

Was wondering jon, if you can jump in on monona bay from the shore at all?

 

[Jon]

A good amount of it is lined with park so I would think tat you could. Every time I bike past it the shore seems to be lined with fishermen so I tend to avoid it. The water is warmer and shallower in there so I could see it being good for spearing. It's just that you would pretty much be on display if you freedive in there and I usually like to avoid crowds when I dive- especially if I'm spearfishing at the time. I guess if you stayed close to the rail road bridge you wouldn't get hassled too much. Just be ready for a ton of questions when you get out.

Jon

 

[Whopperhead]

Went to Jordan Lake today for a little bit. Water temp was 56. Vis was roughly 10-12. There were a lot of fish around. Mostly hanging in the 15-20ft water on the top of the breaks. I grabbed a couple for dinner

I saw a few Crappie starting to spawn.

 

[Jon]

I was out for a bike ride today and stopped by the outlet. The water was flowing faster than i can remember for some time now. There were a ton of fish swimming in the current- did I mention how clean the lake is right now? There must have been at least 100 carp and a dozen musky and northern swimming around. There were also a ton of pan fish, bait fish, and even a couple of soft shell turtles chasing each other back and forth.

Unfortunately, there were also a bunch of fishing boats sitting right on top of it and casting across the current. i don't know how a diver could get in there without pissing everyone off. I still can't dive (recovering from surgery on my nose) so it wasn't too heartbreaking.

Even though the outlet was on and the water was flowing; the stacks were not on. i assume this is because of the upgrade they did to the power plant overt he last two years, but now there's no sure fire way to figure out when to dive there unless you go down and take a look.

Jon

 

[Whopperhead]

I was thinking about checking out Monona (Outlet) or Waubesa on Thursday - Just for everyones FYI.

 

[Whopperhead]

Was at Jordan Lake (WED), pretty much same report as last time. Hundreds of fish on the edge of the weedline, water temp went up to 58. Bass are sitting on eggs.