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Spearing/Clarity Report - Central Wisconsin

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Whopperhead

Wisconsin Speargun Hunter
Mar 2, 2007
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Went to Silver Lake today in Portage, WI. The vis was about 10', the water Temp was 67 degrees. The Fish- were plentiful but small. I saw Lots of Bluegills, bass and some crappies, Perch but all were to small to take a shot at. I did see a few Big Tiger Muskies and a big Small Mouth Bass. I thought I saw a Carp- but am not 100% sure. I will probably try Swan lake Next week some time- either Monday or Tuesday.
 
I rode around lake Monona today and it seems a little bit clearr than last month- I could see a whole 3'!

I stopped by the outlet and saw dozens of carp swimming around, as well as a bunch of panfish. The water still isn't clear enough to draw me in, but it's getting closer.

Jon
 
the_duckinator said:
I went fishing at Swan Lake in late august and that water was BROWN. Has it cleared up?
Click to expand...

Probably not - I thought I would check it out- I might end up going somewhere else. BROWN is not my favorite color. I'm hoping I will have my scooter powered up and will want to play with it.
 
Yeah it was opaque brown, not the best conditions for diving. The vis looked to be no more than a foot. :yack
 
Scott,

There's no spearing allowed, but have you thought about testing your scooter out in Devil's Lake???

Jon
 
Yeah- I thought of Devils Lake- and plan on taking it there too- especially on the west side- it gets fairly steep. That would be a great spot to play as there are very few boats if any there.
 
Up here in the REAL central Wisconsin vis is still no good, although we have a river dive planned for this Sunday, so we will see if the river will continue to be "old faithful".
 
We were out in Lake Ripley today- not spearfishing, but looing to raise a boat. Long day on the lake with no luck even finding it- sheriff gave us one set of GPS numbers and the group paying to have it raised had another. Needless to say the numbers didn't match and we need to go back with the Side scan sonar to see if it's still there- I guess it went down 2 months ago!?

Anyway, the vis in that lake sucks and all ambient light disappears at 28'- boat sunk in 45'. Surface temp was 71F' and bottom was 50F. I have to say that diving in Rock lake was better- much better.

Not sure what Devil's Lake is like, but might be worth a trip on Sunday???

Jon
 
I plan on going to Devils Lake tomorrow (Sunday) I should be there around noon. I want to give my scooter a test run. I called and asked about the vis- they said "It's Normal" compared to this time during other years. So, that SHOULD be about 20' vis. NO SPEARFISHING - just diving. I will be at the 'SOUTH' shore. I will be bringing my family along as well. Maybe see some of you there- I know Tass will already be there 'Hiking'.
 
Nevermind- I wanted to test the scooter to make sure everything was working. So I plug in the battery - NOTHING!!!!!! double check the connections- nothing. I'm very pissed!

I'm not diving tomorrow
 
Turns out I have to head back out to Lake Ripley tomorrow to try and raise that boat again.

We're bringing the side scan sonar this time, so if it really is there we should find it. Of course bringing it up in zero vis won't be quite as much fun as freediving with a scooter, but it pays better.

So, no diving Devil's Lake for me.

Jon
 
I was up in Stevens Point for the weekend and had a few hours of free time on Sunday. A friend recommended Lake Emily to me, as it apparently was very clear so I thought I'd head over there for a short spearing trip. The lake has milfoil up to the surface in twenty feet of water, and about 3 feet of vis. I couldn't see my hand with my arm extended. Needless to say I didn't see any fish and ended the dive after about 20 minutes. Cross that one off the list.
 
Reactions: fleshy
I was back in Lake Ripley all day Sunday and the vis on the bottom was almost 2'- with a flashlight!

It also stunk, and when we got done diving we had to wash all of our (scuba) gear off because everything smelled like rotten eggs. :yack

Looks like I get to go back for more fun in their later on this week- oooh, I can hardly wait.

Jon
 
DUCKINATOR! You were seriously misguided. I thought I had us established as the central boys. Turns out you were literally in our backyard, diving in one of the most overrated lakes, and we couldnt even help you do anything about it. Lake Emily is mysterious. It seems as if there are only a couple good days in it over the whole year. About three days after turnover, before heavy boat traffic comes in, the water has about 15' visiblity, and good fish diversity. After that. Not diveable. We would have taken you to the river with us, it was a good day. I shot one decent sized carp, and three suckers. My companions shot one sucker each. Plus we discovered a gas leak below the dam! So good thing we went. Fargus64 is out for awhile, he took off his finger last week in a football game against marshfield. Its back on now, but needless to say no diving for awhile. The river should still be good when he gets back though! Next time, drop us a line Duck!
 
Oh yea, and back to the milfoil problem in emily, you can pull milfoil there for $1/LB. Theyll stay as long as you want to pull. A team from divepoint scuba where I work, did it several times and came home with boatloads, litterally of milfoil and cash.
 
I'll be up in Stevens Point pretty regularly, as my girlfriend goes to school there. I was in divepoint on monday, it was a nice little shop. I'll shoot you a PM next time I head up there, maybe we can hook up for a dive. Who pays for the milfoil removal? I'd definitely take some out. Is it wet weight or dried weight?
 
There is like a warden station on lake emily. The guy that runs it takes you out on a boat, and "he" pays you. I dont know where the money actually comes from though. Ive only talked to him once. I only work on saturdays because of school and football, but I was there last saturday, and the saturday before for a kayak demo on the river. See my proud selection of jbls? Lol. Ive tried to convince the boss to buy different guns but he wont. Any of us would love to take you out on the river sometime.
 
I did. I dont know about that mini though. I'll talk to you the next time i come up. I might have to go talk to the guy at the warden station one day.
 
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New video I threw together of some clips I never got to use. The music is a little bit heavier in this one so......... hold on. I love the shot of Jon shooting the Carp with the sling- Nice! I hope to upload a HD version- but that takes a little bit longer.



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SZv-xIqICE"]YouTube - Wisconsin Spearos 2008[/ame][ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WphqDVlm1I"][/ame]
 
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Reactions: Jon
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