Recent Lake Pleasant conditions/reports

[pdelannoy]

A full boat of hardy souls dove the dam and Tec Island today with the Scubateers. The first dive was in a squall with rain and cold temperatures on the dam. I had weight issues with my new dry suit and had an exciting time in 57F water. Vis was 20 feet and the lake is up so deep water is readily available. stnichols and Andy from Black Dog Divers were there so there was a great deal of photography going on.

When we reached Tec Island the sun came out and I shed some weight. The second dive went more smoothly for me. We dropped to around 85 feet and swam along the wall to the south. Vis was similar to the dam at around 20 feet.

It is winter at the lake. Cold temps but great diving.

PD

 

[pdelannoy]

What a way to open the new year. The Scubateers (Aaron and Rob) brought along hot soup and sparkling cider to compliment the great diving. Our first dive was the dam with vis in the range of 20 foot, water temps about 54F and a depth around 113 feet. Some of us were in dry suits and some in 7mm suits.

I had a good time diving with Earl and practiced shooting our SMB for the safety stop.

The second dive was at the Pipeline among the canyons and narrow corridors. Vis was down around 5 feet but I still saw 4 cat fish-one quite large. I did manage to get lost as well. But we had a great day and it warmed up nicely for the trip back to the pier.

Thanks to Rob and Aaron for a great day!

PD

 

[azspearo]

Went out last Thursday with my Dad to chase some Stripers. The wind was blowing between 25-35mph, 2'-3' wind waves in the middle of the lake. We hugged the shore as good as we could and made it up to Humbug in 20 minutes. No good spots to anchor up so we moved SE and found a nice area where we could anchor to shore and another anchor out the stern.
Jumped in the water in my 3mm and spent the next 2 hrs looking for stripers to spear no luck again. The wind stirred up the silt and the vis was 5'-15' on average.
Freedove north ramp down to 40' with vis at 30', didn't find any good junk on the bottom. The lake sure is up from the last time I was out in Oct. My Bro in-law lost one of my polespears last trip out and part of this trip was to find it but the spear is way over 100' and out of freedive range for me, and with no islands visible for reference it won't happen until the lake comes down again.

 

[pdelannoy]

Hey Azspearo,

You are one hardy dude to be diving the lake in a 3mm right now. They'd haul me away frozen like a fossil. Good luck finding the spear.

PD

 

[pdelannoy]

Dove Vista Point yesterday. My wife came along and we found that we had the lake to ourselves-there were no other divers and mostly sail boats so the lake was pretty quite. The water is up but it is still about an 80 foot walk down to the water. The water temperature was 52F and the vis was remarkable at 20-30. From the wall, I could see almost to the railing and you could swim well above the wall and to the north without loosing your reference point.

My first dive was quite long and I went well beyond the gap in the cliff until the depth leveled at 123 before I turned the dive. On my second dive I tracked along the south side of the wall through the forest and came back on the north edge of the cliff catching it at the gap.

My summer cairn is in 55 feet; so the lake is up 30 feet at that point. My new cairn is at 33 feet 330 degrees off the entry point.

PD

 

[ScubaSteve2000]

I dove at Beismeyer Point yesterday morning. I finally got a chance to try out my drysuit. I'm hooked. The suit worked perfectly. Although I have to re-learn buoyancy control. Which means I'll just have to dive more. Oh well.

Vis was pretty good; about 20' down to about 60 feet deep where it quickly went to arm's length or worse. Temp was 52 VT3 degrees with no thermocline above 60'. The trees we sank last year are at 42' and to the left (west) of the road. They are arranged in a circle and still filled with life. Mainly little guys though. One big catfish was resting in a hollow spot in the boughs about a foot below the top of one of the trees. He was facing toward the inside of the circle well positioned to dart out and literally inhale a snack should a tasty morsel happen by.

Other than in and around the trees, I didn't see any other fish. At 25 feet deep and to the east of the road somebody had shucked some shells. They were siting on a bar-b-que grate on a circle of rocks. The feeding frenzy would have been cool to see. Not a bad thought. Maybe we should start bringing stuff to feed the fish.

Steve.

 

[pdelannoy]

Dove Vista Point yesterday. A few other divers were out and at least two classes on opposite sides of the cove. The vis is incredible right now. I could see the sun winking on the surface from 91 feet. I'd say the vis is 30+. Water temps are 52F Suunto. I did two dives. My first was past the gap in the wall. With the water level up again from last time, my cairn is now in 38 feet from 33, the hike down to the water is getting shorter but it is still a hump. The dive past the gap is getting longer and not so easy and deeper at 120 feet where the cliff resumes. And I was able to swim exactly between the rail and the wall keeping both in sight.


PD

 

[shark.byte.usa]

"Lake Pleasant authorities issued a public warning Thursday cautioning visitors that waters were expected to rise up to 13 feet over the next two days due to heavy rains and water flow from outlying sources."

 

[RAWalker]

Nice, very nice.

 

[broncobowsher]

13 feet of runoff water. With the nice crystal clear runoff water we have. Oh yea, Arizona.
OK then, so we have a mudflow entering the water that will bring the lake bed up 13 feet with silt...
Well maybe not that bad but water quality will not be good for a while.