leah:
Why worry, just stand up and you'll be on the surface.
Our planned encounter this weekend with a giant catfish in a private pond
- Thread starter UnderSeaBumbleBee
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Why worry, just stand up and you'll be on the surface.
diver 85
Contributor
leah:Ok this is the weekend Jocasseegirl and I are going to dive some private ponds together. There are 3 ponds and we will do a tank on each pond. The ponds are about 2 -3 acres each and range in depth from 6-12. People fish in them, but we will be there early before lines are tossed in and will have surface support to keep anyone from casting on top of us.
The first pond will be the catfish pond and it does have a few fish in the 60+ pound range, many in the 20 pound range and a ton from 2-10 pounds.
In the carp pond I have personally caught several fish in the 20 pound range and know there are some upwards of 40+ pounds.
The trout pond is pretty new and the fish are relatively small in that pond. We may take some trout chow down with us for this dive.
The bottom is sand and there doesn't appear to be any significant amount of weeds. We will steer clear of any patches of weeds that we might encounter. The aerators will be off while we are in the water. The pond owner will draw off the top of the ponds the night before we dive so that there isn’t any algae on top of the water.
Any thoughts before we go down? Ever encounter a 4 foot 60 pound catfish?
Jocasseegirl is my regular dive buddy. We will be diving our regular waters in Jocassee the day before to work on skills and team protocols. Vis is usually 5-15 feet in Jocassee. We are planning for 2-5 vis in the ponds[/QUOTE
Ones like this are taken in Toledo Bend all the time with spearguns...this one was....
OP
UnderSeaBumbleBee
Contributor
nice fish diver 85
diver 85
Contributor
leah:
That's actually from divetoledo.com's site......
OP
UnderSeaBumbleBee
Contributor
thanks for the link to divetoledo. My Mom lives in the Metro Detroit area and I am planning to take my dive gear up that way at some point
diver 85
Contributor
leah:
I'm talking about Toledo Bend on the La/Texas border(down South that is, not Ohio)
OP
UnderSeaBumbleBee
Contributor
diver 85:
Oh OK, thanks for the correction.
I can't wait for this weekend!!!
We will post reports on Sunday night about the pond.
diver 85
Contributor
Leah, hope you have good diving this weekend & let us know how it goes........
OP
UnderSeaBumbleBee
Contributor
Ok, here is how it went down. We went Saturday to check out the ponds and plan our dive for Sunday before the fisherman got there. Saw several large dead fish in both of the larger ponds.
We to bed at 9am and was up the next morning by 4:30am. Loaded the truck the night before, so all we had to do was drink some coffee and hit the road. Jocasseegirl is still not too sure about this whole adventure, but she is humoring me and going along.
As we drove up Sunday morning, there was a gentle fog hanging in the meadows and over the ponds. We saw a large crane standing next to the water. Also say a bunch of very large hawks.
We unload and gear up. The pond owner has benches and picnic tables all around the perimeter of the lake. Made gearing up easier.
We both get geared up. Jocasseegirl tells me that I am going in first. If I can see, she will get in. I decide that if we have 2 foot of viz or more it is a go. I slither into the pond. It the only way you can enter. I put my face in the water and do a quick surface swim using my reg. I cant see anything. I pop up and report. I tell Jocasseegirl that I am going to swim out a bit more to get away from where I entered as I cant see my hand in front of my face. She gives a stern warning to stay on the surface so she can keep an eye on me.
I get out about 20 feet from the bank. Vis begins to open up. I can now see my hand in front of my face!! Things are improving!! I swim some more. Cant see the bottom. This pond is only 6 feet deep. Finally I got to where I could see about 1 foot and that was the most vis I got. I could see my arm and tell I had a gauge on it, but could not read it.
It was a good experience. I now know you can dive in chocolate milk! You just cant see in it.
Took me a while to get out. The edges were like pudding and it did not slope. It is just scooped out a few feet deep on the edges. At one point I was considering having Jocasseegirl get my tow strap out of the truck. Finally I was able to dig and claw my way back onto the bank. I rested a little and then we went to plan B for the day.
So we tossed the gear back onto the truck and headed to Jocassee and had some really great dives there. In fact, I think the dives were some of the best I have had up there. Water temp were very nice. There were lots of fish schooling. Three brim decided to be our dive buddies and swam with us for about 20 minutes. One pecked Jocasseegirls mask. Lots of nice sized small mouth bass in the area. I was hoping one would attack me again like happened a couple of weeks ago, but they all kept a respectful distance.
We met up with some other ScubaBoard folks at Jocassee and got to meet several of the Lake Lanier Looney Birds. Over all it was a great weekend!!:10:
We to bed at 9am and was up the next morning by 4:30am. Loaded the truck the night before, so all we had to do was drink some coffee and hit the road. Jocasseegirl is still not too sure about this whole adventure, but she is humoring me and going along.
As we drove up Sunday morning, there was a gentle fog hanging in the meadows and over the ponds. We saw a large crane standing next to the water. Also say a bunch of very large hawks.
We unload and gear up. The pond owner has benches and picnic tables all around the perimeter of the lake. Made gearing up easier.
We both get geared up. Jocasseegirl tells me that I am going in first. If I can see, she will get in. I decide that if we have 2 foot of viz or more it is a go. I slither into the pond. It the only way you can enter. I put my face in the water and do a quick surface swim using my reg. I cant see anything. I pop up and report. I tell Jocasseegirl that I am going to swim out a bit more to get away from where I entered as I cant see my hand in front of my face. She gives a stern warning to stay on the surface so she can keep an eye on me.
I get out about 20 feet from the bank. Vis begins to open up. I can now see my hand in front of my face!! Things are improving!! I swim some more. Cant see the bottom. This pond is only 6 feet deep. Finally I got to where I could see about 1 foot and that was the most vis I got. I could see my arm and tell I had a gauge on it, but could not read it.
It was a good experience. I now know you can dive in chocolate milk! You just cant see in it.
Took me a while to get out. The edges were like pudding and it did not slope. It is just scooped out a few feet deep on the edges. At one point I was considering having Jocasseegirl get my tow strap out of the truck. Finally I was able to dig and claw my way back onto the bank. I rested a little and then we went to plan B for the day.
So we tossed the gear back onto the truck and headed to Jocassee and had some really great dives there. In fact, I think the dives were some of the best I have had up there. Water temp were very nice. There were lots of fish schooling. Three brim decided to be our dive buddies and swam with us for about 20 minutes. One pecked Jocasseegirls mask. Lots of nice sized small mouth bass in the area. I was hoping one would attack me again like happened a couple of weeks ago, but they all kept a respectful distance.
We met up with some other ScubaBoard folks at Jocassee and got to meet several of the Lake Lanier Looney Birds. Over all it was a great weekend!!:10:
OP
UnderSeaBumbleBee
Contributor
We met some other divers later in the day and they speak of a place nearby where the viz is 10-15 feet and the cat fish are reported to be in the 4-6 foot range.
I am on a quest to see a big cat fish!!! I will post when we do those dives to let you know if in fact we get to see them or if they are only fish tales!!!
I am on a quest to see a big cat fish!!! I will post when we do those dives to let you know if in fact we get to see them or if they are only fish tales!!!
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