Spearing/Clarity Report - Central Wisconsin

[fleshy]

Here...Ill throw you a bone. Winks, Fleshy, and Baum of DB.net from left to right...the fish are actually a little bigger, and they look it in the other pictures, but this was the only one that showed all of us, and with this connection speed Im not going to try anything fancy.

Story behind the dive...

We were going to a little special place that pinggene showed me before he moved. I had never been there, and we dove it together with a friend a LONG time ago now. The vis was pretty good, Id say about 12 to 15 FOW, which is decent for bay side, and being so close to the shore. I was the first one out to the pillings that we frequent, and immediately saw a respectable carp. Took a dive on it, lined up the shot, :martial....safetys on. Oh well. The pilings go in an "L" shape, and as I worked my way around the elbow of it, I came on a school of carp at about 8'. There were 5 in the school, all decent, but one was definitely larger. Already on the bottom, I took up shooting position behind a rock, and BAM! My 120 RA TUNA was spotted. School breaks in all directions, and I push up from behind the rock, taking a ten foot shot on the big one as she made her run. The shot was poor, about halfway down the body, and the spear did not penetrate. Needing air I headed for the surface caught a breath making sure to give her plenty of bungee to play with, because I knew the flopper wasnt toggled. I dove down, grabbed the spear, and steered her towards the pillings. After a mini underwater fight, i was the victor having pushed the shaft through and toggled the flopper on the other side... Other than that we shot a couple drum and got some earstones (otoliths) as souveniers. All in all a great day.

Wed also like to thank jimdoe2you and the www.thespearfishingstore.com for making this possible. Who woulda thought some teenagers would be so damn well equiped.

 

[slimsteve]

Any one have info on Lake Geneva or Delvan? looking for something as close to WI,IL and IA line as possible for friends.

 

[Whopperhead]

Lake Geneva is Great- I like to go in at FONTANA area (west end of the lake) and cruise the piers. Not a good place to go on the weekends though. Alot of boat Traffic.

 

[Dannyk]

Re: Spearing/Clarity Report - Waupaca Chain-O-Lakes

Has anyone tried out the Chain-O-Lakes in the Waupaca area? I lived in Waupaca during my grade school years and remember very clear lakes with a lot of pan fish.

 

[Winks]

Here...Ill throw you a bone. Winks, Fleshy, and Baum of DB.net from left to right...the fish are actually a little bigger, and they look it in the other pictures, but this was the only one that showed all of us, and with this connection speed Im not going to try anything fancy.

So this was a little bit embarassing for me to come out with the overall smallest fish...i had to dive using the float which was constantly being tugged by brad or fleshy as they put huge carp and drum onto it, i finally got brad to take it and got a couple drum and a carp.

 

[Winks]

Re: Spearing/Clarity Report - Waupaca Chain-O-Lakes

Has anyone tried out the Chain-O-Lakes in the Waupaca area? I lived in Waupaca during my grade school years and remember very clear lakes with a lot of pan fish.

Yea, we have been trying a couple lakes in south eastern potage county and into the chain and we have found pretty decent vis for the most part around there. me and fleshy scouted the chain and got in by Hartland creek state park.. it was just outside the park so we could spear. We tried lake Monomin and that had great vis, about 15' and it had a couple nice drop offs. No good size perch or bluegill... The only spearable fish were two 14" crappies that Fleshy took out with one shot.. So overall great structure and cool to see but nothing worth shooting... Knight lake had about the same vis but we saw NO fish except for a 9" perch i shot but that was the only thing we would consider shooting and i was a little demoralized from a non eventful day. We also tried the "crystal river" and turns out the name is just a myth. Vis was a hazy 6' and only saw some suckers in it.
We talked to the ranger and he said the clearest lake in the chain is Marl Lake, but there is no spearing. Ive been to Sunset lake and the vis is probably 8'. Tons of Huge bass and during the short time we were there i saw some big crappie...Lots of boats though. There was a quarter mile long line just to put their boats in when i went there.

 

[fleshy]

Nothing. Gotta get to the big drink. ha ha MICHIGAN

 

[Dannyk]

Re: Spearing/Clarity Report - Waupaca Chain-O-Lakes

Yea, we have been trying a couple lakes in south eastern potage county and into the chain and we have found pretty decent vis for the most part around there. me and fleshy scouted the chain and got in by Hartland creek state park.. it was just outside the park so we could spear. We tried lake Monomin and that had great vis, about 15' and it had a couple nice drop offs. No good size perch or bluegill... The only spearable fish were two 14" crappies that Fleshy took out with one shot.. So overall great structure and cool to see but nothing worth shooting... Knight lake had about the same vis but we saw NO fish except for a 9" perch i shot but that was the only thing we would consider shooting and i was a little demoralized from a non eventful day. We also tried the "crystal river" and turns out the name is just a myth. Vis was a hazy 6' and only saw some suckers in it.
We talked to the ranger and he said the clearest lake in the chain is Marl Lake, but there is no spearing. Ive been to Sunset lake and the vis is probably 8'. Tons of Huge bass and during the short time we were there i saw some big crappie...Lots of boats though. There was a quarter mile long line just to put their boats in when i went there.

Thanks for the report.

I lived in Waupaca from 1960 to 1975. I learned how to swim underwater before I had swimming lessons. It was a great place to live as a kid. My buddies and I all loved skin diving in any water we could find, even the swamps that were close by.

Dan

 

[slimsteve]

Hey there all
I have been following your post and would like to introduce myself. I am Slimsteve and would be interested in hunting with you guys. I live in Iowa so WI is my closest option at a three hour drive minimum so any time you plan to head to the South I might be interested. I am definetly going to Lake Michigan for the weekend of August 22. Plan to get a room for Friday and Saturday somewher in the Milwaukee area. I will probably be hitching up with Reason (deeperblue). Would any of you like to come or have any suggestions for the Lake?
Steve

 

[fleshy]

Hey Slimsteve! Might I suggest you post around a little more? This is more for the central guys...for us getting to milwaukee would take around three hours too! If we go to lake michigan its in our Door County, which is the "thumb" or "baja" of wisconsin... Some of the other guys are already down in that area, and I would assume would be eager to dive with you. I might come down but I will be in door county on those days...

 

[Dannyk]

I am planning on going to Adams County tomorrow. There are four lakes in the east central part of the county I want to investigate, if the first one has enough fish I may not get beyond it. I am planning on from about 8:00 am to noon or so. If anyone can make it, it would be great to meet some of you. Send me a private message if you think you can make it.

Dan

 

[Winks]

Ever since ive been little my least favorite drive is to adams county.. I work tomorrow in the early afternoon and i dont think im gonna wake up that early for a dive... Let us know how it looks.

Me and Pelo checked out Long Lake which is in northern Waushara County. Running up to the water the vis look real good, it actually reminded me of lake side lake michigan. I hopped into the water and i would say it was a good 12' of vis, there was great weed structure and even came across a huge crib and a sunken boat. The only shootable fish i took was a 9" pumpkin seed and pelo shot a small crappie. Overall it was cool to see a lot of different species of fish and the was an abundance of good sized walleye, but the places we checked had no quality fish and pretty average quantity wise.. Plan on going there again and checking some big drop offs and finding some big fish, i have confidence of good size crappies there..

 

[Dannyk]

Adams county is the closest to me with lakes of any clarity. I am hoping the sand country produces the clarity and the DNR, lake reports of abundant panfish, come together for a fun day.

Dan

 

[Dannyk]

I had a fun day trying out some lakes today. First stop was at McGinnis lake. I only looked from the landing. There were a lot of small fish, but it looked like the visibility was low although I couldn't think clearly because I had to "go" (if you know what I mean)

Next stop after the restroom was Patrick lake. DNR said abundant panfish----- not anymore. I could see the bottom of the lake at all times from my Yak but I never got in the water because it just didn't look like it was worth the time.

Next stop was Fenner lake. This was an interesting lake, deepest part is 30 ft. I saw a large northern and some good sized blue gills and sunfish from the Yak, but I couldn't see very well at all when I got in the water. For some reason I can see a lot better above the water looking down than I can underwater with the mask. When I am in the water all the small sediment floating reflect the light back at me. I didn't see this sediment from the Yak.

I was going to check out Easton lake but decided to go to my brother-in-laws lake on the way home so I could see some big crappies. I did see a few there, but not as many as last week. They are still smarter than me though.

 

[the_duckinator]

Vertical visibility is usually better than horizontal visibility, but I'm not quite sure why. Maybe algae and plankton density decrease as you go deeper? Maybe unirdna can help us on this one.

 

[Winks]

I think for the most part algae would increase as you go deeper or just bad vis in general when you go deeper because when the alagae die they sink to the bottom and then bacteria gets to it and it decomposes, and for horizontal vis, it has something to due with the angle of the light when it tries to penetrate the surface of the water. When you look from the top of the water its just a better angle than if your at the bottom looking horizontally.. It just some crazy physics junk.

And one thing ive came to learn is that if your at a lake that looks like it has good vis dont assume, u might as well stick ur head under the water or take a quick swim to check it out, then you are for sure of the vis... and another is dont listen to the DNR's abundent, common and present because 95% of the lakes are abundant in panfish. And with spearfishing you usually hunt for quality so the best way is just to spend a day scouting a lake and see what you think of it.

 

[Dannyk]

Fenner lake looks like it may be a good one to check out earlier in the season next year. It was deep enough at the edge of the weed beds and I saw a fair amount of medium to large fish from above. I hope I can get out a few more times this year. I want to improve my hunting technique, so I just have to get in the water and try new things to see what works for me.

Dan

 

[the_duckinator]

Im pretty sure algae is most concentrated near the surface where the most sunlight and dissolved oxygen is available. When the algae dies it does sink...straight to the bottom where it is decomposed, hence the lesser amount of dissolved oxygen at lower depths. If you dive beneath the thermocline in August it's like dropping in on a big room. The cold water below is relatively clear and the water above forms a "ceiling" of murky water. This layering flips over in the spring and fall, which is called turnover.

The angle of light that you're talking about is called the angle of incidence. Time of day influences the angle of incidence. The lower the angle (earlier and later in the day) the worse the visibility. Higher angles (midday) provide for more visibility.

 

[fleshy]

Although "winks" science is a little off hes right. We have a lot of lakes that "layer" or whatever you will call it, where vis is decent at the surface, and then go to nil as you drop below the thermocline. Yes more algae will grown at the surface where there is sun, but portage county lakes are about zero visibility right now reguardless. As for "fall turnover" I would say, yes it occurs, or at least something that mixes up all the dead and dying plants that has a very similar effect.

 

[Whopperhead]

Was thinking of going to Devils Lake On Tuesday- should be taking newbie DUBZ (kyle) with and teach him the basics- like how to enter the water doing a belly flop- I think we should be there around 9:30 am ish. If anyone else is interested.