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The Outlet 2008

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Adam- The OUTLET is on the North Part of Lake Monona - But with the Algea Bloom - this lake is Done till about Novemeber. Just keep an eye on the Forum- We usually post when and where someone is going.
 
Just stopped by to take a look. The lake is flat calm and other parts of it might be clearing up, but the outlet was off and it looked pretty green around there- not even a stray carp to be seen.

I want to get out somewhere this weekend but I guess it won't be here.

Jon
 
I was in Madison today and stopped by the OUTLET- It's clearing up. The pipe was ON and it was packed with Carp and Muskies. It was cloudy out today so it was hard to tell the vis - If I had to guess maybe 8-10 feet. I might stop by there tomorrow to dive and get video of the fish- not going to shoot any carp except for this ALBINO looking one we saw today. It was unusual.
 
I wonder if the terrestial hunting rule of not shooting albinos applies to fish? Probably not, especially with the carp, but interesting to think about either way.
 
I wonder if the terrestial hunting rule of not shooting albinos applies to fish? Probably not, especially with the carp, but interesting to think about either way.

Yeah I thought about that. I thought I would get video of it.........Then shoot it in the head rofl
 
Now I know where I'm going diving on Sunday.;)

I just pumped my pneumatic up to the max rating and I really want to se what it does to a carp. :martial

Jon
 
Yeah I thought about that. I thought I would get video of it.........Then shoot it in the head rofl

Ha ha. Fine by me. With me and my luck, I would have no sooner shot that fish than the DNR boat would pull up to my float. "Whatcha got? .... Is that an albino? .... Can you get out of the water?" :head

Note: This is a comment on my luck, not my obedience to fishing regulations. I have shot gamefish, but only from a pond on my property, in the middle of my 40 acre woods, and the fish in that lake are privately stocked by me.
 
Now I know where I'm going diving on Sunday.;)

I just pumped my pneumatic up to the max rating and I really want to se what it does to a carp. :martial

Jon
Jon I am eager for your report of your 970 Cyrano..good luck tomorrow
 
The outlet isn't on, but the lake sure does look like it's cleared up quite a bit. I might try and jump in tomorrow or Sunday if I can.

Jon
 
Stopped by the OUTLET today to check it out. The Barge is sitting right at the pipe. The pipe was not on BUT the water is very clear. 15-20 feet out i could see the bottom. It's all still open but will probably freeze up this week or next. I talked to the Barge operator and he said they are hoping to put up the WALL either today or tomorrow. I didn't have my gear today- was running around doing some Christmas Shopping. I hope the Barge doesnt stir things up too much. Possibly my get in there next week Tues/Wed.
 
I took Scott's suggestion and hit the outlet today instead of Mendota.

The pipe was flowing- slowly. there was very little vis and some freakin' huge musky that were longer than the vis I had- which made it kind of spooky.

After a few minutes of that I went in search of vis and swam th shoreline out of the warm water flow to the east. Things got a bit better swimming in this direction, but no where near the vis that Mendota has these days. I did see a ton of fish hiding down in the weeds. THere were some more big northern, huge bass, giant walleye, smallish gar, and tons of very skittish crappie. had there been better vis I would have had a stringer full.

The main purpose of diving today was to tryout my camera mount on my sling. It works pretty well and I did snag a carp with it- but looking back over the video the vis was just too crappy to even bother posting it. When things clear up a bit more, or if I just dive a different lake, it should turn our pretty well. I like how compact everything is and how easy it was to swim with.

After being disappointed with the vis I switched over to my new low-vis sling. I made it with an old pneumatic shaft and it worked better than I had imgained. I ended up getting 3 crappie. IT's still tougher thna using a gun- especially a short one. With a small gun, less than 60 cm, I bet you could have limited out in the low vis/weeds that I was in today.

Water was about 40 and air was in the low 20's- not nearly as nice as last weekend, but the lakes are still open.

Jon
 
It's abouyt 2/3's done. The barge was parked over the pipe.

Mendota is the place to go right now- clear water and fish in the shallows.

Jon
 
Checked it out this morning and it's frozen solid.:head Not only is it coever in ice, but a good 4" of snow on top of it- which will soon become 12" of snow by tomorrow night.

I've heard rumors that they wanted to close the plant that supplies the hot water. It looks like the finally have. :(

Time for the chain saws.

Jon
 
God I wish I was down by you guys Id be chainsawing like crazy! All the guys up here are too *****(you know what) to do that. Its not the temperatures we all have open cells, but its the thought of diving through the ice. Whatever...
 
Well I got up this morning and decided to take a drive down to the outlet before I finished up my Christmas shopping. I was hoping that it might be open since the air temp was -10F when I woke up (-25F with the windchill) and i had really good luck diving there last winter when temps dropped below 0F.

That was NOT the case this year. It doesn't seem to matter how cold it gets, that power plant is shut down and no warm water is flowing. The entire area is frozen solid and has quite a bit of snow on top of it.:(

After that I drove over to the Yahara river as that has been completely open every winter that I can remember. It's not super deep, but it was always easy access. Not so this year. It's frozen solid and has a ton of snow on it as well.

Next best guess for open water is Lake Michigan. I think might check it out this week when we drive into Milwaukee for Christmas with the family. I doubt I'll have time to dive, but at least I should be able to do a drive by.

There's also Frankenstein Lake (Columbia power plant cooling pond) but the vis there stinks- as in there isn't any. It's always open and makes for a great place to kayak, or jetski, in the middle of January; but, the water is pulled from the Wisconsin river and is so full of tanins you can't see more than 1'.

We got dumped on with snow the past couple of days and last night I was able to ski up and down my street without any trouble at all.

Jon
 
I've thought about taking a 3 day and fling down to FLA - just to get in some spearfishing- I heard the flight tickets are cheap. LOL- Then I woke up.......And Cried.

It's weird that they put the wall in if they weren't going to turn on the plant.
 
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