Ideal Freshwater Conditions?

[XCobra427X]

Hey everybody,

I live in Illinois and was wondering what makes for good visibility conditions for freshwater? Attempting to freedive in most of the small ponds and lakes in northern illinois is like swimming through a mud puddle and I wondered if there was something I should be looking for in the lakes/ponds I jump into that would provide vis of over 3 feet. I know 20 ft+ is pretty much out of the question in freshwater, but I guess it'd be nice to stretch out my arms and see my fingernails.

I don't mean to sound dumb, but I've been looking into this for the past year and have come up with very little. I live in Chicago, and every attempt I've made into Lake Michigan from a beach has lead to very poor vis so at first I thought maybe it was the sand getting swept around by the waves, but after having walked a few hundred feet out, the visibility doesn't get a whole lot better. Also it should be noted that Lake Michigan's bottom declines very, very slowly (something like 30 ft down for every mile out). So far it looks like if I wanted to get far enough out where it'd be deeper than my head, I start playing tag with powerboats, and that's just not fun for anybody.

Now I've seen Fondueset's freediving photos from Michigan, and I've heard of a wreck that people scuba off the coast of Evanston so it seems like there's good vis somewhere in this great big lake.

Seems like most people who post in the freshwater forum are from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, or Kentucky . . . . perhaps warmer climates make for better freshwater visibility? :confused:

[SoCal Fisher]

The only freshwater lake I've dove in was in Arkansas and the vis was really good. I heard that it was due to the fact that the lake didn't have any plant life. Somehow a lot of plants can contribute to bad vis.
When I was a kid in michigan we would go fishing offshore in lake MI. The water was really blue out a few miles.
You just need to fing a couple of local dive buddies that my have some inside info.
Good luck

P.S. The best thing to do is to pack-up and move to California! Diving in the morning and Snowboarding by noon!!!

[XCobra427X]

hahaha! move to the coast? sounds like cheatin' to me . . .

But yeah, don't worry, I am diving with friends of mine, but it's just hard to keep convincing people to strap on masks and fins with me when you run into mud. Thanks for the advice about the plant-life. As you suggest, I'll look into the locals though, thanks.

[Prater]

its hit and miss with us. I just dove Sunday in Lake Murray, OKlahoma. The top conditions were great, nice blue water with calm winds. Once in the water and descending everything changed. 3 foot of vis with water temp of 63 degrees. That is the worst I have seen on that lake, usually we get 8 to 10 feet. The previous time on Murray we dove to 30 feet at night and sat on the bottom with our lights off. After about 5 minutes we turned on our lights and hoped to get a shot at something...

[khel]

I know 20 ft+ is pretty much out of the question in freshwater, but I guess it'd be nice to stretch out my arms and see my fingernails.


Lake Michigan can have great visibility. It's just like with any other "big water" - sometimes you have great vis, and sometimes you cannot see past your nose.... :)

I usually dive close to Wisc/Ill border (Winthrop Harbor) or Milwaukee area. Also, there's quite a few lakes in Wisc. that have good vis.
Lake Geneva being my favorite :)

p.s. Pictures from last tues. on Lake Geneva

[FOWLER267]

If you try night spearing and have a boat; try hanging a fish attractor light over the side for 20-30 minutes then get in and go to the bottom and shoot the fish as they silohette against the light. If in 20-30 feet of water.

The lights come in two varieties. One that sinks and hangs from the power cord and one that floats on the surface. I have used them for fishing and prefer the hanging light. Available at Walmart.

[mudhole]

Visibility in fresh or salt water varies by bottom conditions, water condition and weather. Several lakes in Oklahoma and Arkansas are in the hill country with mostly rocky shorelines. Within a few miles are the head waters of Tenkiller Oklahoma and Beaver Arkansas. Lake conditions are usually very close to the same except for a green background in Oklahoma and blue background in Arkansas. Chicken farming over fertilizes the waters entering Tenkiller. A short distance south of these two lakes is Lake Ouachita in Arkansas. . . The water feeding this older lake comes from the Ouachita national forest. With no houses, septic tanks, chicken farms or other pollutants this old lake is as clear as Tenkiller and Beaver lakes were 25 years ago.

A clear lake then will have a clean watershed filling the lake. Rocky areas above and under the lake. Some shelter from the normal wind patterns, and reduced big boat traffic. Another contributor to clear fresh water diving is a string of lakes upstream. On the White river in Arkansas the first lake out of the hills is Beaver lake. The white river flows as a river a short distance then is backed up by Table Rock lake on the Missouri- Arkansas Border, downstream from Table Rock is Bull Shoals lake. Each of these lakes, under favorable conditions will be clearer than the lake upstream. Too much or too little rain will affect the visibility.

[SoCal Fisher]

Here's a nice drum I speared in Bull Shoals. I had pretty good viz when I was there (about 10-20ft). I thought it was kinda creepy to follow the submerged trees down below the thermocline, but once you got below, there were fish everywhere. :eek:
That particular lake had alot of tall bluffs that decended into 100+ ft of water. Pretty cool.
Not quite as fun as diving in the ocean, but still fun and challenging. :thumps: