canyon lake?

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tuk

Registered
Messages
45
Reaction score
12
Location
Austin/Dripping Springs
# of dives
100 - 199
Recently moved from Dripping Springs area down to the south side of Canyon Lake (more Spring Branch). Anyone gone diving there lately? Any other places close that are more worthwhile? Haven't gotten wet in a bit and I have a couple weeks off. Low viz doesn't bug me, as long as it's interesting. I really just don't want to drive all the way back to Travis.
 
Welcome to the neighborhood. I live on the south side of Canyon Lake, but have not dived it very much. I think "interesting" diving is in one's perspective. Personally, I am a reef guy, so I don't find the clay bottom with rocks very interesting, but I am sure others are happy there. Most of the time, the vis is in the 5-10' range, sometimes better, frequently worse in the summer months when the algae is at its peak. A lot of divers train and use the area of North Park for diving which has a couple of underwater dive platforms and a number of sunken objects (car, boat, big tire, motorcycle, bike, etc., connected by a rope leading from one to the other). There is a map of the platforms and sunken objects on the internet canyon lake dive map - Google Search:, and the dive shops have them as well. Unless you have a boat, access to that area is through North Park which is not open year round. In the winter, the water gets pretty cold, and most divers and dive trainers head for warmer water such as the Comal River in New Braunfels or to Spring Lake in San Marcos. Diving at Spring Lake is prohibited unless you are taking a dive class from an instructor authorized to dive there, or have taken the dive authorization course at the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment and want to do volunteer diving. Although not a reef, I find diving at Spring Lake more interesting and enjoyable, but it is not very deep (26" max I think), and the Comal River is about 8-15'. Closest dive op that I would highly recommend is Duggan Diving in Universal City, near Randolph AFB.
 
Never been to Canyon Lake. From what I have heard, there is a lot of fishing line you have to look out for.

At Spring Lake, IF you stick your depth gauge deep into the high pressure spring at Deep Hole it will read deeper than 27'. Most of the time you are in the 10' to 16' range.
 
There are a lot of fishing lines in some areas of the lake, but the North Park scuba area is pretty clear from my experience diving there. It get used pretty heavily by divers in late Spring through Fall, and divers will remove any fishing lines/lures that they come across. There are areas of the lake that have a lot of submerged trees, and that is where I see a lot of fishing boats, and you could not pay me to dive in those areas because of entanglement hazards. However, there are a lot of lazy dumb ass fishermen that like to drop trot lines wherever and whenever they like, causing a safety hazard to divers, swimmers and boaters. When the lake has been very low in past years, we have cleaned out hundreds of feet of those nasty fish hook laden lines from places where there is obviously no fish habitat, and where people swim in the shallow water. Whenever we see one, it gets cut and removed.
 
As annoying as trot lines are, you should probably check the TP&W website and make sure you are following any regulations when removing them. Also, the guy who set them may take exception to your removal and he is in a power boat and you are not.

Is the dive area clearly marked with flags? If so, call the game warden if any fishing boats are operating within the regulatory radius. I think that is a pretty stiff fine.
 
The diving area at North Park is marked with dive flag(s) when divers are using the area, and fishermen usually stay clear. I am not sure the same can be said for boaters and wave runner drivers that are likely ignorant of watercraft regulations. When divers are not present, there are no restrictions that I know of that prevent fishermen, or anyone else from being there. Likewise, divers can dive anywhere in the lake, and there is increased risk for entanglement in many areas. The beef I have with morons that put out trot lines is they frequently do not use any common sense as to where they place the lines. I have often found them in areas where they present a safety hazard to boaters, water skiers, and swimmers. If I feel a trot line needs to be removed, and I cannot contact a Park Ranger or Game Warden, I would remove it from the safety of my boat. I am not stupid enough to try to remove a trot line while in/under the water.
 
I'm late to the party but, there are a few places: Canyon Lake as most people have mentioned - there is Boat Ramp 1 and North Park, if you have a boat I would recommend checking out party cove. Medina Lake also has some good diving with some submerged items like a sailboat and again if you have a boat you can check out the cliffs. We do monthly night dives at Hinman Island park which is the Comal river but it's pretty shallow.
 
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