Biggen
Contributor
Three of us headed out to Morrison this afternoon/evening. We got up there around 5pm. No one else was on site so we had the whole place to ourselves. I checked the NOAA site earlier in the day to see what the Caryville river level was at and it reported 5.67 feet so I was really excited to see what kind of visibility we would have. My other two buddies had never been up to Morrison before so I was even more excited to be showing them around.
As I got out of the the truck and walked down to the water I saw what appeared to be stuff floating everywhere on the water and in the water. Immediately I thought that the viz was not going to be so good and I wasn't really excited to be getting in 68F water with poor viz. But then as I got closer to the water's edge I realized what it was that I was seeing. It was the bottom of the basin! The water was soooo clear that I could see right through the water and see the bottom! This is something I have never expierenced at Morrison.
After I suited up, I entered the water first to go ahead and tie off the dive flag to the fallen log across the cavern entrance. My buddies were still gearing up but I couldn't wait to check the conditions out. I got out to about 3ft and put my head under water to see what the viz was like and I couldn't believe my eyes! The water was a beautiful blue color and gin clear! In 3ft of water, I could see well past the dive platform. In each direction I could see the entire basin. Visibility had to be over 70'. After I tied the dive flag to the log, I floated up to the surface and waited for my other dive buddies. As they entered the water from shore I ducked my head down and I could actually see them entering the water! I still can't believe how goodl the viz was. Wow!!
Entering the cavern was a little tricker than normal. The flow was immense. I had to kick pretty hard to get through the flow and into the mouth of the cavern. One of the guys with me had a very hard time getting down due to this. I think he was a little light as far as weighting went so this didn't help much either. Inside the cavern, the flow comming out of the fissures was extremely powerful. It looked like whirlwinds of sand down there around the mouths. It was so strong that I had to kick hard to get down to the fissure and then I was blown away within seconds of landing. Morrison is definately flowing more than normal for some reason. Max depth was 82' on this dive.
We played around the inside of the cavern for a while before we burned about 1/3 of our air and headed out to check out the basin. While the inside of the cavern was full of the normal eels, catfish, and rockbass the basin didn't have hardly any fish in it. We only saw some mullet and bluegills. No bass at all. Really weird. It was almost like a "ghost town" in the basin. Perhaps it was the time of day but I couldn't believe there were no fish anywhere.
All in all, these were the best conditions I have ever seen Morrison at. I still can't get over the viz! To be able to have nearly unlimited viz was very cool. Anybody heading up there this weekend should really enjoy it. Although I bet there will be lots of classes up there this weekend and I am sure they will muck it somewhat. But with the flow that Morrison is putting out now, it should clear up pretty quickly.
As I got out of the the truck and walked down to the water I saw what appeared to be stuff floating everywhere on the water and in the water. Immediately I thought that the viz was not going to be so good and I wasn't really excited to be getting in 68F water with poor viz. But then as I got closer to the water's edge I realized what it was that I was seeing. It was the bottom of the basin! The water was soooo clear that I could see right through the water and see the bottom! This is something I have never expierenced at Morrison.
After I suited up, I entered the water first to go ahead and tie off the dive flag to the fallen log across the cavern entrance. My buddies were still gearing up but I couldn't wait to check the conditions out. I got out to about 3ft and put my head under water to see what the viz was like and I couldn't believe my eyes! The water was a beautiful blue color and gin clear! In 3ft of water, I could see well past the dive platform. In each direction I could see the entire basin. Visibility had to be over 70'. After I tied the dive flag to the log, I floated up to the surface and waited for my other dive buddies. As they entered the water from shore I ducked my head down and I could actually see them entering the water! I still can't believe how goodl the viz was. Wow!!
Entering the cavern was a little tricker than normal. The flow was immense. I had to kick pretty hard to get through the flow and into the mouth of the cavern. One of the guys with me had a very hard time getting down due to this. I think he was a little light as far as weighting went so this didn't help much either. Inside the cavern, the flow comming out of the fissures was extremely powerful. It looked like whirlwinds of sand down there around the mouths. It was so strong that I had to kick hard to get down to the fissure and then I was blown away within seconds of landing. Morrison is definately flowing more than normal for some reason. Max depth was 82' on this dive.
We played around the inside of the cavern for a while before we burned about 1/3 of our air and headed out to check out the basin. While the inside of the cavern was full of the normal eels, catfish, and rockbass the basin didn't have hardly any fish in it. We only saw some mullet and bluegills. No bass at all. Really weird. It was almost like a "ghost town" in the basin. Perhaps it was the time of day but I couldn't believe there were no fish anywhere.
All in all, these were the best conditions I have ever seen Morrison at. I still can't get over the viz! To be able to have nearly unlimited viz was very cool. Anybody heading up there this weekend should really enjoy it. Although I bet there will be lots of classes up there this weekend and I am sure they will muck it somewhat. But with the flow that Morrison is putting out now, it should clear up pretty quickly.
