Timeliner
Contributor
Photos and Story at this link :Brandy Branch
Yea ... I spelled it wrong in the in the subject line
Is there anybody who even dives the mud holes that are lost somewhere in the back country Piney Woods of East Texas on Friday ??? I mean… that is true swamp country right ?.
Sure… at least two people that I know of, maybe more. Most likely it was just those two yesterday.
For about 2 years those two guys had talked at ScubaBoard about getting together, in person, and having an adventure. It happened despite what ever yard stick Sister Mother Murphy Superior smacked us with. ( you can tell where I went to grade school, We called her S&M for short) She sent some of her minions out to pester us yesterday.
I got to Brandy Branch Cooling Reservoir only to find I left all of my Lead weights back in Paris. Carp !!
Minutes later and right on time ScubaTexasTony pulls up with his Pontoon Boat and he has no extra Lead to spare so I pulled out my bottle jack and spare flashlight batteries and sculpted 2 chunks of Road Asphalt Tony found to create a custom weight system. The Asphalt worked so well I didn’t need my bottle jack. ( #1 Murphy down )
The outboard motor quit just feet from the boat ramp and like magic up comes good ole’ Norman from East Texas Boat World to save the day and we were on our way in just minutes. A fuse had popped off and went to the bottom of the lake but Tony found it later.(#2 Murphy down)
We were alone on the lake almost all day. Like all lakes this one has a personality when it comes to Vis. I could tell we did not find it in the best of moods but still overall it was not too bad. It’s 91 degrees on the top. ( give or take a bit) I bet she cheers up some days and shows the world her sweet clear side. We dropped anchor , geared up and heading towards the middle of the Reservoir and just followed the bottom out and back doing some treasure hunting. It was 62 degrees on the bottom and in a 3 mil. suit that was kinda chilly.
Tony cooks up some tasty hot dogs with ‘fixins and Fritos and since nobody was at the lake it seemed only fitting to beach the boat and light the grill at the only piece of private property we could find. We had a fine view of the power plant and the huge plume of pure white steam coming out of the stack.
The place is surrounded by thick woods and I got the feeling that Daisy ( Ya’ll remember her ?) was hiding and watching us somewhere in the trees. :blinking:
We did a dive through the weeds and then found a little gully down in the dark that was sort clear. I’d guess you could loose sight of each other if you got more then 10 feet apart but that is better Vis. then some places I’ve paid to dive at recently.
We went to look for the bottom near the Dam on dive 3 and I got so entangled in weeds that I almost had to pull out my knife and cut myself free.
I was freakin’ stuck hood to fins and all wrapped up like a snake caught in a lawn mower.
We surfaced and wondered how we had gone so far away from the boat.
We hadn’t.............
The wind had picked up and was just pushing the boat across the lake dragging the anchor and all. We chased that thing and caught up with it at least a ¼ mile later and after that we figured we’d had enough fun to call it a day. ( #3 Murphy down )
Thanks Tony ,,, I had a great time !
Yes Sir…. An adventure in the wild woods of East Texas done like The Civilized Gentry does it…. On Friday !
Yea ... I spelled it wrong in the in the subject line
Is there anybody who even dives the mud holes that are lost somewhere in the back country Piney Woods of East Texas on Friday ??? I mean… that is true swamp country right ?.
Sure… at least two people that I know of, maybe more. Most likely it was just those two yesterday.
For about 2 years those two guys had talked at ScubaBoard about getting together, in person, and having an adventure. It happened despite what ever yard stick Sister Mother Murphy Superior smacked us with. ( you can tell where I went to grade school, We called her S&M for short) She sent some of her minions out to pester us yesterday.
I got to Brandy Branch Cooling Reservoir only to find I left all of my Lead weights back in Paris. Carp !!
Minutes later and right on time ScubaTexasTony pulls up with his Pontoon Boat and he has no extra Lead to spare so I pulled out my bottle jack and spare flashlight batteries and sculpted 2 chunks of Road Asphalt Tony found to create a custom weight system. The Asphalt worked so well I didn’t need my bottle jack. ( #1 Murphy down )
The outboard motor quit just feet from the boat ramp and like magic up comes good ole’ Norman from East Texas Boat World to save the day and we were on our way in just minutes. A fuse had popped off and went to the bottom of the lake but Tony found it later.(#2 Murphy down)
We were alone on the lake almost all day. Like all lakes this one has a personality when it comes to Vis. I could tell we did not find it in the best of moods but still overall it was not too bad. It’s 91 degrees on the top. ( give or take a bit) I bet she cheers up some days and shows the world her sweet clear side. We dropped anchor , geared up and heading towards the middle of the Reservoir and just followed the bottom out and back doing some treasure hunting. It was 62 degrees on the bottom and in a 3 mil. suit that was kinda chilly.
Tony cooks up some tasty hot dogs with ‘fixins and Fritos and since nobody was at the lake it seemed only fitting to beach the boat and light the grill at the only piece of private property we could find. We had a fine view of the power plant and the huge plume of pure white steam coming out of the stack.
The place is surrounded by thick woods and I got the feeling that Daisy ( Ya’ll remember her ?) was hiding and watching us somewhere in the trees. :blinking:
We did a dive through the weeds and then found a little gully down in the dark that was sort clear. I’d guess you could loose sight of each other if you got more then 10 feet apart but that is better Vis. then some places I’ve paid to dive at recently.
We went to look for the bottom near the Dam on dive 3 and I got so entangled in weeds that I almost had to pull out my knife and cut myself free.
I was freakin’ stuck hood to fins and all wrapped up like a snake caught in a lawn mower.
We surfaced and wondered how we had gone so far away from the boat.
We hadn’t.............
The wind had picked up and was just pushing the boat across the lake dragging the anchor and all. We chased that thing and caught up with it at least a ¼ mile later and after that we figured we’d had enough fun to call it a day. ( #3 Murphy down )
Thanks Tony ,,, I had a great time !
Yes Sir…. An adventure in the wild woods of East Texas done like The Civilized Gentry does it…. On Friday !
