"Uncharted" Diving?

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@2airishuman Wow, I can't thank you enough for all that information - this is exactly what I was looking for!

Here are some videos that I've shot during my misadventures in lakes and rivers. Generally the viz is worse here than what you will encounter but it gives you an idea what to expect:

- we dove from a beach that was only accessible by foot or by canoe, and chose to move our gear over via canoe before the dive. This shows some of the logistics challenges that are typical with freshwater dives.

- Lake Ore Be Gone, this is typical of the sort of topography and fish life you could expect where you are. I found an underwater camera on the previous dive at this location and have been using it ever since - could not identify the cliff diver who had lost it

- Lac Lavon, I've dived here more than anyplace else because it's close. I towed a flag on this dive

- no diving, just the shore entry made by my older daughter. Getting in and out of the water is half the battle. I don't have a video of the Hesper but there are quite a few other people who do, and you can find them with a youtube search if you're interested
 
We dive lakes like this in Michigan all the time, 2airishuman's discussion is spot on. I would stress taking a good size knife with a substantial handle. Fishing line is a problem but you still want to be prepared for rope. Think polypro anchor line used on small boats. In a clear lake, this stuff isn't hard to see.

I like diving drop-offs. If you're lucky you'll find one that goes from maybe 5' to 25', covered with weeds and fish.

Below the thermocline can be brutally cold. I've been in lakes here in the middle of the summer where the bottom temperature was 42 degrees.

We have to tow dive flags with us here. Waverunners don't know what they are - seems to be a universal complaint.

boat
 
@2airishuman those videos are so cool - thanks for sharing!

Now I'm really excited to gear up on our next trip up to Wynonah... this is a quick vid I took while snorkeling there this past summer...

 
Nice. It's fun to watch the sunfish when they are guarding their shallow-water nests like that. Freshwater fish aren't as brightly colored as reef fish, but I find their behaviors and interactions more interesting, and the lakes have seasons.
 
very cool videos...thanks for sharing this lake diving experience.
 
Some interesting and useful advice in the responses, and it certainly underscores the differences between jurisdictions. In Canada, there are generally no restrictions if you access the lake through public access (as lakes, other than man-made lakes in a lake community) are Crown property.

The advice about cutting tools & surface support is excellent. I will add that my experience is that when diving lakes for the first time (or first few times) is that it makes sense to do a series of out & back swims, navigating with a compass & kick cycles, to start getting a sense of the "terrain" and learn the site. Even once I am a little more familiar with the site I like to plot directions & times and add to my "map" of a site. I am used to cold water (4C), and poor visibility, so have learned to be cautious and trust the compass. It is easy to get turned around in poor vis over a featureless or homogeneous bottom. Every diver should have their own compass. Mud & silt bottoms can be a bit of a hazard in the sense that inadvertently contacting them or finning hard too close to them can kick up lots of silt.

Flying a dive flag on setting a buoy is also a good idea, and if you are forced to surface in an area away from a dive flag where you may come into conflict with boat or PWC traffic, a DSMB is also a helpful safety device.

Good luck, I hope that you find some great diving in those lakes!
 
Write "diver below" in big black letters in the white area on both sides of your dive flag. It requires people to be close enough to read it but at least they will have a clue at that point. Some good flags have that on it already as boater stupidity is sort of just assumed by the manufacturer.

And don't attach your flag rope to any part of yourself, if it gets wrapped around a prop or some moron decides to pull the rope up to see whats on the other end its nice not to go for a ride. And since that means hand holding it get a metal object to use as an anchor in case you need to set it down and to wrap the extra rope around, but not so heavy that its a bother to carry. And then plan on how you are going to dive with one less hand to work with your gear. You have to let out rope as you go deeper and reel it in as you get shallower so holding anything in the other hand doesn't really work either. Trust me its truly irritating to be the flag guy until you get used to it and then its only mildly irritating.

There are places where people use the flag as an ascent line in a safe out of the way place and basically stay well under the traffic for the whole dive (sometimes large commercial traffic in rivers) which is actually my preferred method when possible as I am lazy. But that creates an artificial ceiling of sorts if there is a lot of traffic, and you need a DSMB for sure in case things go wrong and you need to go straight up (like getting lost). Any diving in less than 30 feet I would tow the flag, its annoyingly easy to suddenly go from 20 feet to 10 feet when not paying close attention especially as the tanks get lighter and then end up shooting up into boat traffic.

On a yuppie lake like that someone must have a humminbird or lowrance side imaging sonar (I have one) and that's a great way to basically sweep the whole lake for potential dive sites and topography (especially with the topography mapping software mine has).
Just be careful they might think you are a team of commandos making an amphibious assault on the VIP's.
 
On a yuppie lake like that someone must have a humminbird or lowrance side imaging sonar (I have one) and that's a great way to basically sweep the whole lake for potential dive sites and topography (especially with the topography mapping software mine has).
This reminded me. Here in Michigan our DNR has a pretty good library of lake maps on-line. You might want to check around. Local bait shops might even have hard copies available.
 
I lived for a while near a lake in MN (Minnetonka) and spent large numbers of hours on boats on the lakes. I seriously doubt if any of the boaters including myself and my several friends with boats had any idea what a dive flag was. If I saw one moving along I would have probably thought it was a giant bobber from some one fishing for catfish or muskie and gone over to investigate. (I am serious) Also note that many water ski courses are set up with small floats and water skiiers go around them. So do not assume that the flag will scare any boats away and will probably just attract them. Given the water clarity you stated I would happily dive the lake but I would do one of two things. Either A. dive it as an overhead environment only coming up and going down at the shore/under a dock. B. Have a friend in a canoe or paddleboard or row boat follow along overhead.

From my water skiing days in MN lakes I will repeat the thermocline statement. You want to dress for the depth you will be at.
 
Lots of good advice about bringing a knife or two for fishing line. It really sucks, especially when a fisherman thinks you are a fish on his line. I had a fisherman yank hard to set the hook, but it was in my fin and not a fish. Glad I had my knife to cut his line, then to work the hook out.

I took a look at Lake Wynonan. There looks to be about 6 boat launches and tons of boating activities. I would bring an SMB too. Shoot it before you surface so you don't get run over by a boat, and remember to be looking up on your ascent. Also, with only 8 dives I would highly recommend practicing your ability to remain at a 15 foot safety stop for 3 minutes without shooting to the surface because you forgot about Boyle's law. Deploy an SMB too so you know how to do it and not make it a lift bag for your body. You don't want to surface before your SMB if a boater is cruising right for you.

Finally, there's a contact us page for Lake Wynonan. Why not just reach out to them? Contact Information for Lake Wynonah

Have fun! Be safe! Welcome the awesome world of diving!!!
 
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