DaleC
Contributor
Will be at the Entrance Bay (Jade Bay) boat ramp parking lot at 9:15-9:30am if anyone wants to dive.
Cultus lake: Monday Nov 8th
- Thread starter DaleC
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pretty jealous but shops closed today (yes, I could go some place else.. but I have 20 fills at GPD)
go north east till you get around the large pier, there's a fantastic forest with tons of life around 30'
also hang by the docks and the amount of fish you will see is insane.
I love cultas due to the fact you dont have to dive deep to see amazing life... that and great vis, good drinking water
go north east till you get around the large pier, there's a fantastic forest with tons of life around 30'
also hang by the docks and the amount of fish you will see is insane.
I love cultas due to the fact you dont have to dive deep to see amazing life... that and great vis, good drinking water
OP
DaleC
Contributor
Well, sometimes you have an experience diving that makes you remember why you got into this crazy, expensive, time intensive pastime in the first place. The problem is you can never predict when that is going to happen and, as is usually the case with me, you neglect to bring along the camera.
Dove Cultus at the Entrance Bay boat launch again today with the goal of testing a couple of pairs of vintage fins and logging more time with the doublehose. I also planned to salvage an anchor I saw on my last visit so I left my camera on shore to reduce the amount of task loading in favor of a lift bag and large goody bag (Doh!).
For most of the dive I used a pair of UDT Duckfeet and swam right looking for the anchor (which I didn't find). Along the way I swam with and through a large school of Sticklebacks and saw a few bigger fish further off in the gloom. I returned to the dock where I had a pair of reproduction Churchill fins weighted down on the bottom and switched over to them, dropping down again but this time to the left.
At 30' the slope evened out a bit and created a small bench where I saw a group of about 6 salmon milling about. I vented a bit and crept forward till soon they were swimming back and forth all around me. Some became quite curious and came within arms reach of my mask. I think the fact that my DH bubbles out the back helped here. As I sat still, more and more salmon joined in the parade until I was surrounded by 20-30 adult Sockeye, old, scarred with hooked beaks and tattered fins, chasing each other in and out of view and checking me out. I came eye ball to eyeball with some big old pappy's of the sea come home to roost, sizes 18" to 24+". There was also another type that had no hooked beaks; may have been females or another species. Not sure yet but they all swam together. Their activity seemed to be centered over a hollow in the gravel just in front of me (vis was about 20') that I assume was a spawning site. I watched them for about 15 minutes till my air ran low and I had to surface. It would have made a great video and I am torn between kicking myself right now and just feeling thankful.
Dad burn it, Forest Gump was right: life is like a box of chocolates!
Dove Cultus at the Entrance Bay boat launch again today with the goal of testing a couple of pairs of vintage fins and logging more time with the doublehose. I also planned to salvage an anchor I saw on my last visit so I left my camera on shore to reduce the amount of task loading in favor of a lift bag and large goody bag (Doh!).
For most of the dive I used a pair of UDT Duckfeet and swam right looking for the anchor (which I didn't find). Along the way I swam with and through a large school of Sticklebacks and saw a few bigger fish further off in the gloom. I returned to the dock where I had a pair of reproduction Churchill fins weighted down on the bottom and switched over to them, dropping down again but this time to the left.
At 30' the slope evened out a bit and created a small bench where I saw a group of about 6 salmon milling about. I vented a bit and crept forward till soon they were swimming back and forth all around me. Some became quite curious and came within arms reach of my mask. I think the fact that my DH bubbles out the back helped here. As I sat still, more and more salmon joined in the parade until I was surrounded by 20-30 adult Sockeye, old, scarred with hooked beaks and tattered fins, chasing each other in and out of view and checking me out. I came eye ball to eyeball with some big old pappy's of the sea come home to roost, sizes 18" to 24+". There was also another type that had no hooked beaks; may have been females or another species. Not sure yet but they all swam together. Their activity seemed to be centered over a hollow in the gravel just in front of me (vis was about 20') that I assume was a spawning site. I watched them for about 15 minutes till my air ran low and I had to surface. It would have made a great video and I am torn between kicking myself right now and just feeling thankful.
Dad burn it, Forest Gump was right: life is like a box of chocolates!
That is a nice story Dale but without pictures well........
That would be cool to be in a school of fish like that. And I know the feeling and the pain of not having a camera when you need or want one.
That would be cool to be in a school of fish like that. And I know the feeling and the pain of not having a camera when you need or want one.
OP
DaleC
Contributor
Yeah, like if you saw an 8' GPO out in the open and... Drats! and you take such nice pictures too
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