May 20th thru 22nd Higgins Lake

[gtxl1200]

Ok since most people are coming up Saturday morning. should we pick a place to meet I would say the State Park but for those of you not staying. they will have to pay the car pass fee that they charge. Or should we just meet at the AMVETS parking area say around 10am?? any suggestions? or just say we will meet you at the AmVETS when you get there and dive when you can??

 

[cldwdiver]

RATS..... Just found out this afternoon that I have to work this weekend.
This just plain !!!

Looks like it is going to be a great weekend up there.

You folks have a great time and raise a toast for me.

See you on the next time around,

 

[ScottTee]

Ok since most people are coming up Saturday morning. should we pick a place to meet I would say the State Park but for those of you not staying. they will have to pay the car pass fee that they charge. Or should we just meet at the AMVETS parking area say around 10am?? any suggestions? or just say we will meet you at the AmVETS when you get there and dive when you can??

I'd like to meet at the AMVETS building around 10 or 10:30. That way, everyone who's gonna dive is at the dive site, not at the campground lollygagging, talking, etc. We can get in the water ASAP in the morning, get the first dive in then have lunch.

 

[Tiny Bubbles]

We just got back from Higgins. Did a night dive from the campground beach with Ted, and found the small boat and there were thousands of crawdads & many strange looking 4-legged fish on the bottom everywhere we went. Didn't take the camera out at night. Saturday afternoon I dove with Scott & Dirk at the end of Ironwood Rd, and ran into the rowboat, and followed the line to the cruiser. The cruiser was stuffed full of fish inside, and there was a tornado of fish from the cruiser to the surface. Then we headed straight out to see how deep we could get there, and turned back at 80 ft. It was a very long swim to reach 80 ft and we didn't see anything there except for a telephone pole. Next time we'll follow the drop-off instead and see the other things that are there. Sunday morning Dirk & I dove off the campground beach, and went back to the small boat. There was a big mess of fish hanging around the boat, but we didn't see much of anything anywhere else except for a very few crawdads. The 4-legged whatever they are's and most of the crawdads must disappear during the day. My camera housing leaked & we had to cut the dive short because of it. The camera seems to be OK, and I'm posting some choice photos.

-Ray

 

[cldwdiver]

Nice pics Ray.

Sounds like you all had a great time.
I will be sure to catch you on the next trip!

Those strange 4-legged fish were probably salamanders. There are some that do live underwater. I have seen them in Lake Fenton a couple of times on night dives.

 

[dilldapp]

Hi Ray & Ted

I am glad that I found you were not drunk when you talked about the Ted Ray. I just checked on your 4 legged snake headed monsters. They are a big species of salamanders which live under water their whole live. There are two different species in general: The Mud puppies which have their gills external and the hellbenders which have their gills internal. I only knew the mud puppies which made me thinking of what else it could be. They seem to be common from Southern Canada down to Missouri over to the Apalachians.

Have a look at some links which show this pretty good.
Hellbender vs Mud Puppy
The Hellbender
The Hellbender 2

Dirk - The Dilldapp

P.S. I need to see those creatures. Night Diving - when?

We just got back from Higgins. Did a night dive from the campground beach with Ted, and found the small boat and there were thousands of crawdads & many strange looking 4-legged fish on the bottom everywhere we went. Didn't take the camera out at night. Saturday afternoon I dove with Scott & Dirk at the end of Ironwood Rd, and ran into the rowboat, and followed the line to the cruiser. The cruiser was stuffed full of fish inside, and there was a tornado of fish from the cruiser to the surface. Then we headed straight out to see how deep we could get there, and turned back at 80 ft. It was a very long swim to reach 80 ft and we didn't see anything there except for a telephone pole. Next time we'll follow the drop-off instead and see the other things that are there. Sunday morning Dirk & I dove off the campground beach, and went back to the small boat. There was a big mess of fish hanging around the boat, but we didn't see much of anything anywhere else except for a very few crawdads. The 4-legged whatever they are's and most of the crawdads must disappear during the day. My camera housing leaked & we had to cut the dive short because of it. The camera seems to be OK, and I'm posting some choice photos.

-Ray

 

[Coachwah]

Went up on Saturday and met a few GLWC folks. Dove with Ted and Scott. Good dives. Thanks and it was nice getting to meet and dive with you guys.

I have seen those freak fish before in Higgins and I think they are one of two possibilities. Either dogfish or snakehead. I hope that they are dogfish as snakehead are asian hitchhikers and can do serious damage to fish populations.

I have attached a pic of each as well as a shot of one of many feisty crawdads many of us saw.

Take care,
Ken

 

[Tiny Bubbles]

I am glad that I found you were not drunk........

No no you've got it all wrong. We were aweful drunk! I thought it might be some sort of salamander but wasn't sure. I've never seen salamanders that big before. But at least now you know that we were telling you the truth about the four legged things and we weren't sending you on a "snipe hunt" at midnight when you waded out there looking for them...

[just read the links you sent... they were in fact Mud Puppies!!!]

-Ray

 

[dilldapp]

Just to complete this:

Here is a picture from an Olm I talked about at the camp site. This is the European Species of this kind. Those are only found in caves - therefore the colorfull outlook:

olm (Proteus anguinus) = Grottenolm {m}

German Rhyme:

Der Olm (by marco Boehm):

Es war einmal ein Olm,
kroch aus des Grotten Stollen.
Schon sah er eine Muecke,
die er schnell verdrueckte.

That will do it! - Dilldapp

Hi Ray & Ted

I am glad that I found you were not drunk when you talked about the Ted Ray. I just checked on your 4 legged snake headed monsters. They are a big species of salamanders which live under water their whole live. There are two different species in general: The Mud puppies which have their gills external and the hellbenders which have their gills internal. I only knew the mud puppies which made me thinking of what else it could be. They seem to be common from Southern Canada down to Missouri over to the Apalachians.

Have a look at some links which show this pretty good.
Hellbender vs Mud Puppy
The Hellbender
The Hellbender 2

Dirk - The Dilldapp

P.S. I need to see those creatures. Night Diving - when?

 

[Coachwah]

Good call. I missed the four-legged part. I have seen mudpuppies plenty o' times in Lake Fenton.

The critters I saw were much bigger than those and "sit" on their pectoral fins kinda like feet. Freaky.