Spearing/Clarity reports - S.E. Wisconsin

[bgill]

Was out at racine yesterday 7/21 looking for clear water.The shoreline & breakwalls have about 100 yards or more of BROWN water the last couple a days - The water is or has been brown from top to about 20 ft. since the east winds kicked in. - 20 ft. was as deep as I went and water was still very brown.

Then I snorkled around in or near the Pugh marina/harbor area. Schwacked one HUGE carp with the three prong!!! He went about 20 pounds. Instant kill through the head and gill area...Was kinda scared to whack 'em with the three prong he was so big. But he did'nt move a bit after I pierced his face! Awesome! I did see a few decent gills but left them alone - Not many of 'em around.

Also saw alot of smallmouth and what looked to be some type of shad. Some of the shad were 14-16 inches. A few of the bigger smallies were pushing 5 pounds! Never got a close look. Only 2-5 ft. of vis yesterday & very spooky fish. I could not find ANY perch in the area. Wish I knew what the silvery shad looking fish were. They had a DEEPLY forked tail.

 

[bgill]

Was at Lower Genesee today - 7/23...I layed on the lake bottom in 45 fow on my third dive after a good relaxed breath-up. I then did it 5 or 6 times again...Bottom time was only maybe 10 seconds though...I know...Laugh...But thats good for me! In fact its my best so far. My goal this summer/fall is 60 fow and 30 seconds or more at that depth. Looks like I'll have to find another lake now!!!!

Anyhow the clarity is still amazingly good at Lower Genesee for this time of year. I did see some behemouth carp but was not really there to spear today. Was suprised to see a monster walleye in that lake too! Ya I know you can't spear walleyes. Just never seen one THAT big in Lower Genesee before.

 

[bgill]

Me and Whopperhead were at South Shore today (Lake Michigan).
The water clarity was pretty good once we got to the OUTSIDE of the breakwall.

Whopperhead got 3 carp 2 of them were close to 30 pounds! Also a huge freshwater drum was speared. We took over 70 pounds of trash -fish outta the big lake! Not to mention some dandy perch too...Mmmmmmm tastes so good! Also saw a Northern that went at least 40 inches.

I'm sure Whopperhead will post some pics or video. Thanks for coming down Whopper....We'll do it again soon!:t

 

[Pinggene]

Cool, can't wait to see the photos.

Gene

 

[Whopperhead]

Here's some pics from The Big Lake - The vis was Great! 25-30' and when you go to the bottom- vis was 100'. Really cool!rofl

--------Scott

 

[Whopperhead]

Here's a few more pics! - Wish I had a longer battery life on my camera!

-------Scott

 

[Whopperhead]

BGILL - Here's the vid from The South Shore.



-----Scott

 

[bgill]

Wow...Awesome video Whopperhead! I did'nt even know you took any video! Suprise suprise!

You shoulda been there today...Felt like I was Jaques Croustou (spelling?) You could've easily got a number of LARGE carp. At times they would come up to me in schools of 7-10 and stare me down from about 10 feet away! Some of them were like UPS trucks with fins! LOTS more fish of all types around than my last trip when me & Whopperhead went.

Several suckers...The usual small browns...A few big chins...And a crappie that was SO big I thought it was a sheepshead at first!

Lots of Alewife and lots of SUPER huge schools of very large perch. Got one today that went 15 1/2"!!!! My best so far. Easy pickin's.

My friend in the canoe got four nice ones too! None of the fish today were under 13".

Water Clarity came & went but was better down deep as usual.

The big schools were also down about 20-25 ft. Farther out and deeper than usual. If you found a big pod of alewife it seemed the perch were around somewhere close.

Got reports from friends both north and south of where I went....Seems the fish are "in" all up & down the lake!

GO DEEP....GO PRIMATIVE....GO POLESPEARING

 

[Whopperhead]

Bgill - You should of told me you were going - I had the day off! I'm trying to talk to my wife into going to see her sister tomorrow in Kenosha so I could go spearing. But so far she doesn't really want to. I gotta try. How were the bacteria levels today?

---------Scott

 

[Whopperhead]

Bgill - I forgot to tell you I think I left my Trident tip out on the rocks. I'm sure it's gone by now.

-------Scott

 

[bgill]

WHOPPERHEAD -

Probably not...Unless it went to Davy Jones ' Locker with a wave or something. Nobody really EVER goes on the rocks out there. So chances are it'll be there until one of US gets it. I remember where we went...How can I forget slipping on Poo-Poo rock! My leg is a tad bit infected but I'll get over it.:crutch

I'll probably be out over the weekend & I'll look for it. I gotta have a fish fry before I go back though...Already got 20 fillets in the freezer - But I plan on a fish fry on Friday. Hopefully my Cressi Sub Gara 2000 HF's will be in by then.

Let me know when you can get down here to do it again...Before long alot of the Perch (especially the big'uns) start to go DEEP & suspend much farther out into the lake.

However...Soon the Chinook Salmon start coming in & they are always fun to see...They look so mean with thier teeth sticking out all over...Its cool.

The UPS trucks with fins....They'll still be there! Man...I need to get a spear-gun JUST for them!!! They usually stay back a little too far for the pole spear...Maybe when I order my 7 footer I'll order a slip tip & some float line too!

 

[Whopperhead]

Bgill - I'll give you one of my 25' float lines - that'll save you some money- if you do decided to buy a speargun- the Beuchat's are fairly inexpensive. I'm not sure how good they are- I tried looking at their website- but it's in French. And I don't PARLAY VU FRENCH - I'll let you know If I plan on coming down there-

----Scott

 

[bgill]

Itching to get out....But I really need to take just another day or two off from freediving. 5-6 hours a day 4-5 days in a row with only a day off here and there for the last 3 or 4 weeks!!! Had to get me legs in a little better shape with the new "freediving" fins coming!

I'm lucky to have the wife and the job to allow me to do this...I'll be back in the water this weekend for sure!

I can use that float line on my polespear for now tied to a buoy for "UPS TRUCKS with fins"Haha!!! I'll just use my JBL double flopper tip on 'em!!!!
Hard to get close enough to them big bugger's though with just a polespear. But I DO sneak up on 'em once in awhile...Usually it's them that sneak up on me though!

 

[Whopperhead]

Bgill - I am available on Saturday. We could go slay more fish! If your looking for a dive buddy. Let me know what time and where (I can come to your house or meet you wherever)

------Scott

 

[bgill]

Out of Milwaukee today on Lake Michigan -
Varying conditions today as far as visabilty went. Anywhere from 2 ft. to 30 ft. depending on where in the current you were. The wind really started to cloud up the water at about 11:00 or so. Lots of HEAVY current and lots of suckers toward the south.

Alot of big carp around today....as usual. I did see the biggest carp I ever saw today though! He was so big he had a huge hump on his head. One of these days I'm gonna get set up to pole spear them hogs. This thing was'nt even that scared of me he was soooooo big. He had to have gone close to 40 pounds!!!!!!! Maybe even a bit more. What a sicko!!!!

Lots of Gizzard Shad around today too. Saw Livebaitboy & his buddies out there. Livebaitboy - I only saw big perch really deep today as compared to usual - Suprised to see so many boats fishing on the inside today. Maybe thats where you guys shoulda checked. Heres a pic of my catch this morning.

 

[Jon]

I was down there yesterday as well- not diving but out on the boat with the family.

My Father-in-law ran a charter out to the wreck of the Willy in the morning and they had 50' of vis and 43F on the bottom. The current kicked up and some other friends who dove the same wreck that afternoon had 20' of vis and 56F for a bottom temp- they also had 71F for a surface temp. I guess that the current brought in a lot of algae from across the surface of the lake as well- they said it was kind of like diving in snot.

I understand the water was flat clam yesterday morning but kicked up a bit today.

Jon

 

[bgill]

Was out at Lower Genesee Lake a few days ago tryin' out my new toy. I bought a S.O.T. Kayak for freediving/spearing. It works awesome. Now I dont have to lug around my canoe when I go freediving/polespearing by myself!

Suprisingly the clarity at Lower Genesee was decent for this time of year. especially considering all the rain we've had....and are STILL getting.

I'm waiting for things to clear up a little and some west winds before going back to Lake Michigan. Probably looks like chocolate milk and smells like sewerage right now. Its hard to beleive such a DIRTY lake can have 100 ft+ of vis at times. I scraped my leg pretty good on some rocks out there with Whopperhead over a month ago....:crutch still not completely healed up yet!!!! Had to beat the infection down before it would heal at all.

Douglass...If you read this let me know....Your the only experienced kayaker I know. I could use some knowledge concerning kayaking. Maybe you'd like to get together again and do a paddle/dive spot search!

I'm all out of perch fillets....Time to re-up as soon as the vis is better!

I'm just getting over a nasty inner ear infection. I was feeling like I was on a boat all day and was getting woozy...Finally went to the doctor a few weeks ago & got some ear drops. Feeling alot better now. The ear infection was also probably due to the extreme cleanliness of our Lake Michigan water. :hmm

I wonder how many millions of gallons af RAW sewerage was dumped during these record breaking rainfalls & river crests?

When I lived in SoCal and was a surfer dude I got alot of ear infections too...not too many guys out when there was a stiff south wind. Probably because of all the sewerage that got pushed north from Tiajuanna. But oh......them were the good ol' days! Sun, surf, sand, chicks, and ice cold Coronita's!!!!!!:friday

If I could do it all over again....I would'nt change a thing...'cept the sewerage ofcourse!

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bgill]

Lower Genessee's clarity is fading fast and Middle had an algae bloom since last time I was there.

I Followed the deep weed edge all around the lake. Got a few decent crappies. Most of them I saw were small. Bigger bluegills were suspended in 37 ft. of water at the 18 ft. depth. The wonders of a Vexilar! Thats where I got the bigger crappies too! They were hanging out under a huge school of minnows.

I was having a hard time staying afloat & tired myself out finning - I forgot my farmer John & only had my shorty. I was DEFINATELY negatively buoyant. I need to get two more weight belts! One for the shorty & one just for skin. 15 pounds was just too much with only the shorty on. Wore me out pretty good after a few hours :blackeye.

:vangry The darn rubber weight belts are nice - but a major pain to remove or add any weight.:vangry

I had maybe 6-10 ft. of vis today compared to last weeks 10-15. Also I lost my sunglasses somehow.

If you dive or fish out of a kayak....Hook a line to EVERYTHING you want to keep!

 

[bgill]

Just got back from the clear and UNCROWDED waters of Lake Geneva. I am now totally relaxed again! Weekdays only!!!!

The Water Safety Patrol building and grounds are being sold - So no access there pretty soon. I however made an effort to secure access somewhere else close by. All it took was a asking and a smile & I was in.

I ended up giving that little old lady & her maid eight big rock bass and two of the biggest bullheads I ever saw. The maid went bonkers over the size of the bullheads! They had to be close to 15 inches! Yes...They were bullheads....Not catfish. Catfish are illegal to spear.

Anyhow...Great day to be alive...I had a blast! Saw tons of fish of all sorts but never found any big crappies. Vis was decent for this time of year. A good 10 feet or better. :t Best part was that I did'nt even have to heft my kayak & all of my gear down the hill at the Water Safety Patrol building. It was nice to practically drive right up to the lake to unload & load all of my stuff!!!:inlove
__________________
Go Primitive - Go Polespearing

 

[bgill]

South Shore Yacht Club 8/3/07 - Vis was only 6-8 ft until down 20 ft. Then the vis was over 20 ft. Only saw a few smallish perch. Still lots of BIG carp and shad around though. Water was a little rough. Definantely needed a "dry" snorkel today for uninterupted face down breath ups.

Ended up polespearing one shad & one carp. The carp went about 25 pounds...My biggest so far ...Ended up breaking my home made float line at the small carabiner attached to my kayak....Aluminum carabiners suck...Need brass or stainless. Somehow I ended up losing the whole float line. But I did get my polespear AND the carp....They were wedged up under "the pillars"...I stabbed the carp in the head a few times and he quit fighting me...Thats what he gets for taking off with my float line!!!! A work out 'fer sure...but lots of fun!!!!

I hope the vis clears up soon! I'll be makin' me a new/stronger float line & going after another giant carp as soon as it does!

I hope my lost float line does'nt end up in someones prop...:vangry I thought the cheap little carabiners would hold with the bungee and all... Guess not with a big carp. I need some heavy duty snap swivels or something.