Looking for the Best Lake to Hold a World's Fresh Water Tournament

[scubadown16]

Hello,

I am helping Mike McGuire out in finding the best place to hold a Worlds Freshwater Compition. What we are looking to do is find the best place to have a compition in the year 2010 that brings people from all over the world. Just like the worlds freediving competition. This place has to be a larger body of water with good visiablity, have both good number of rough fish as well as game fish that can be speared, has to have a fair number of Hotels near by, and access to boat rentals.

Currently there is a National Freshwater meet. Every year for the past several years it has been in different locations. This year it will be held in South Dakota. We want to promote this more globally. We believe that this can be done if its got a great foundation to start from. Over the next year and half or so Mike and I along with a few other spearos will be scouting out locations to host the First ever Worlds Freshwater Compition. The tournament will have one team from every country. This means that there will be only one team from the United States. So this being the case, there will be a qualifing meet to put together the best possible team to represent the United states.

So what are some of your guys and gals ideas for a location to hold this meet???

Thanks
Jamas Hardesty

[fishkiller420]

Flaming gorge has good amount of fish and usually has quality vis, however i dont know about boat rentals, there are local hotels around but i am partial since this is the closest lake to my house.

[fishkiller420]

on a side note it would be cool to have it somewhere that has those big ass buffalo carp

[element]

This is a great idea. Lake Powell in the spring might be good. Bullfrog Marina could host it. Lots of carp and stripers to be taken.

[SpearMax]

How about this map for your thinking? I see some are putting Lake Powell forward as a possibility and I see it is on this map.

http://www.arizona-leisure.com/arizona-lakes.html

Here also are the Arizona Fishing Regulations for 2007 and 2008 which show some spearfishing friendly stuff.

I also attached the regulations in PDF format in case the JPG is hard to read.

I was discussing this on the phone with my friend GR Tarr who suggested Arizona. I just did the research...that's all.

Hope this info helps, Tony

[florfreediver]

Hello,

I am helping Mike McGuire out in finding the best place to hold a Worlds Freshwater Compition.
So what are some of your guys and gals ideas for a location to hold this meet???

Thanks
Jamas Hardesty

Hi James,
The best and cleanest freshwater I have speared in, has been in the Rift Valley lakes of Africa.
Deep clean water with a good selection of fish.
Whether it would be practical to hold a Worlds Meet in somewhere like Malawi is questionable.
Regards,
Mike.

[SpearMax]

Hi James,
The best and cleanest freshwater I have speared in, has been in the Rift Valley lakes of Africa.
Deep clean water with a good selection of fish.
Whether it would be practical to hold a Worlds Meet in somewhere like Malawi is questionable.
Regards,
Mike.


Mike, I have been to Malawi and took a ship from one end of the lake to the other. Great place! It was a friendly place back then. Might be worth asking Miles or somebody on the continent about its current status politically. Here is a shot underwater from that lake. A great article on the lake is here:

http://www.hull.ac.uk/cichlids/malawi_habitats.htm

The opening paragraph of the big article says this:

Lake Malawi is a vast lake. Ribbink (1994) reports a surface area of 30,800 square kilometres, length of 603 km long, maximum width of 87 km and a maximum depth of 785 m. Patterson & Kachinjika (1995) give the following figures: surface area 28,800 sq km, length 550m, mean width 50-60km, depth 700m. The southern half of the lake is all less than 400 m deep. Some maps show two deep basins in the northern half of the lake (e.g. Konings 2001). The deepest is located between Nkhata Bay and Chilumba, but there is a second smaller basin over 500m deep off the eastern shore which is owned by Tanzania. SEE LINK ABOVE FOR THE REST.

Note that the eastern shore is in the country of Tanzania. Having been to Africa about eight times, I could see a fantastic tie-in with the incredible safari operators in Tanzania like my friends Jori and Geofferey Kent. The Serengeti Game Park is amazing. I climbed Mt. Kilamanjaro in Tanzania one year - the tallest mountain in Africa - snow-capped at 3.5 miles high (3 days up and 2 days down). A simply wonderful part of the world!

Tony

PS- check out the Abercrombie & Kent website here:

http://www.abercrombiekent.com/

PSS - another consideration with this idea is to be sure the location is free from Schistosomiasis which is a water borne illness that is treatable with Praziquantel.

[scubadown16]

Please keep em coming. I like the idea of Africa weather or not its a possibility I am not sure but I like what I see so far.

GR Tarr is a great guy and I got the pleasure of meeting and competing against him a few weeks ago and I like the way he thinks... Thanks for the info that has come forth so far. I am passing the stuff along to Mike as it comes in.

James

[azspearo]

Most spear friendly lakes in AZ have very bad vis. The best vis in any lake around Phoenix is Lake Pleasent you can get 20'+ days.
They have Stripers in the lake but as far as I know you can only take Stripers on the Colorado and Lake powell.
The Stripers in Pleasent are somewhat of a nuisance to the Largemouth Bass anglers and I imagine someday they will be legal to take in this lake.

Pleasant has other spearable fish like Carp, tilapia and buffalo fish.
Here is an excerpt from the AZDFG fishing regs.

D. I n addition to angling, an individual may also take
the following aquatic wildlife using the following
methods, subject to the restrictions of R12-4-303,
R12-4-317, and this Section:
1. C arp (Cyprinus carpio), buffalofish, mullet,
tilapia, goldfish, and shad may also be taken
by bow and arrow, crossbow, snare, gig, spear,
spear gun, or snagging. Except for snagging,
an individual shall not practice any of these
methods of take within 200 yards of any boat
dock or designated swimming area.
2. Striped bass may also be taken by spear or
spear gun in waters designated by Commission
order.

Here is some info about the lake and fish.
http://tinyurl.com/2xo3wc
http://tinyurl.com/2f6oga

[sticknrelease]

Africa pics look cool, but that much visability sort of takes away the advantage us puddle divers have. If we wanted it to be easy with 20 plus feet of vis, we would just dive salt water! (that's gonna piss off some folks!:graucho: ). Besides, who is going to cary the .416 Rigby to ward off angry hippos? What about Crocs? Anyone know enough about Bull Shoals lake or Beaver to offer an opinion?

[florfreediver]

Africa pics look cool, but that much visability sort of takes away the advantage us puddle divers have. If we wanted it to be easy with 20 plus feet of vis, we would just dive salt water! (that's gonna piss off some folks!:graucho: ). Besides, who is going to cary the .416 Rigby to ward off angry hippos? What about Crocs? Anyone know enough about Bull Shoals lake or Beaver to offer an opinion?

Hi SNR,
Its 20ft viz on bad day.
On some Islands in the southern end of the Lake and away from the river mouths, I have had upwards of 60ft.
Once away from the various estuaries and river mouths, the threat of crocs and hippos just about disappears completely.

If its dirty water you are wanting and not really fresh water, then Lake Ponchitrain (spelling?) in Louisiana should be right up your alley. :>)

Regards,
Mike.

[sticknrelease]

touche' it looks like an amazing place. Do you have any pics of successful spearo's there? What kind of depths does that lake have? what about fish sizes? Do you know about any challenges getting gear in or out?

[scubadown16]

Africa would be great but after talking to Mike McGuire looks like for a first time Tournament Africa would be a bit tuff for getting everything coordinated.

Arizona with its strict game fish laws would be a hard as well...

I like the some of the lakes in Arkansas like Bull Shoels. The key thing is Variety of game fish along with good numbers of Carp. We want to put a tournament together where everyone has to have a good game plan for a variety of fish. Not just one or two species.

Lake Powell doesn't have the accomodations to host a tournament we feel.

Keep everything coming thou this is helping out a great deal. Thanks

James

[element]

"Lake Powell doesn't have the accommodations to host a tournament we feel."

What accommodations doesn't it have that you want?

[Tedbudion]

Will it be an official freshwater worlds, sanctioned by FIPSA or CMAS, the two international spearfishing governing bodies?

Anyway, in the Ukraine (one of FIPSA founders) they host spearfishing competitions in rivers or lake with a very large following. They were talking about having an international meet there.

[scubadown16]

"Lake Powell doesn't have the accommodations to host a tournament we feel."

What accommodations doesn't it have that you want?

It needs to have plenty of restaurants near by along with several different Hotels or similar housing accomodations. Yes, Lake Powell is a great recreational place. I have dove it several times. And I can say that most times that I have dove it Its been hard to find the carp. Ones and two's here and there is just not going to cut it for this size of tournament. And I have never really seen a whole lot in the way of game fish variety. A few stripers and catfish???

We want a lake that has at least four or five different game fish. Variety of structure. Something that you will need to scout to have a game plan other then the plan of I am going to go to one place and shoot carp and maybe I'll see a game fish or two. This not going to cut it.

[scubadown16]

Will it be an official freshwater worlds, sanctioned by FIPSA or CMAS, the two international spearfishing governing bodies?

Anyway, in the Ukraine (one of FIPSA founders) they host spearfishing competitions in rivers or lake with a very large following. They were talking about having an international meet there.

We are taking with Carol Rose and Dave Edlands to get it Sanctioned how ever there is some things going on with CMAS. FIPSA looks to be a great choice for this meet. They rules are not as restrictive.

[hyeparis]

Russia has a variety of lakes and rivers, some of which offer decent vizibility, but you cannot guarantee that on a particular day vizibility would be good enough.
One place with guaranteed visibility is Lake Baikal - it is at least 10 meters most of the time, but it is a bit pain in the ass to get too - flying to Irkutsk and then driving for hours.
Russian spearos hold regular regional and national freshwater competitions.
There is the Moscow Mayor's Cup each fall, for instance, held in the Moskva river. There are also annual competitions held in Urals in summer as well as in the lower part of the Volga in spring or fall.
Although Ukraine has one advantage - the Dnepr river where there is greater viz and great vaeriety of fish at different depths, IMHO. It might be also easier for American to get an entry visa to Ukaine than to Russia

[timgfallon1]

Catfish Hunter is the world's expert on fresh spearing in AR/MO, I'm sure he could offer the best advice on a fresh tourney here, but from what I know Beaver Lake or Bull Shoals would make EXCELLENT spots!

[scubadown16]

Catfish Hunter is the world's expert on fresh spearing in AR/MO, I'm sure he could offer the best advice on a fresh tourney here, but from what I know Beaver Lake or Bull Shoals would make EXCELLENT spots!


We are looking hard at both Beaver Lake and Bull Shoals. Thanks for the heads up there.

[SpearMax]

Russia has a variety of lakes and rivers, some of which offer decent vizibility, but you cannot guarantee that on a particular day vizibility would be good enough.
One place with guaranteed visibility is Lake Baikal - it is at least 10 meters most of the time, but it is a bit pain in the ass to get too - flying to Irkutsk and then driving for hours.
Russian spearos hold regular regional and national freshwater competitions.
There is the Moscow Mayor's Cup each fall, for instance, held in the Moskva river. There are also annual competitions held in Urals in summer as well as in the lower part of the Volga in spring or fall.
Although Ukraine has one advantage - the Dnepr river where there is greater viz and great vaeriety of fish at different depths, IMHO. It might be also easier for American to get an entry visa to Ukaine than to Russia

Those are some good ideas there Hyeparis. It is great to hear about your areas in a place so far away from me as Russia. :)

[Shroomy]

Are you thinking a one day tourney or multi day? How Many teams do you think will show to something like this? What about having 2-3 teams per country? I would think that if it was one team per country than there would be 3 or 4 teams (less than everyones local tourneys) About being close to hotels and resuraunts I think the better the fishing the further away from towns or cities unless were going to shoot stocked fish or freeze out nuts off in canada or russia. I could be wrong, but thats been my experience

[So-Cal Spearo]

I watched a video made by some ukrain spearos I met while diving in La Paz. They were diving in lakes under the ice. It was the funniest thing seeing them sled down the banks in this little aluminum boat.
But I was amazed at the amount of fish in the lakes. One guy said that his largest catfish was over 300Lbs!!!
They had a part on the video of a large 100LBS+ catfish being shot as well as many, many other fish like walleye being shot.
I hear vis averages 4-6' in the winter im not sure how it would be in the summer which is more safe for a comp.

On a sad side note the video was about 8 years old and he told me that there are no longer the immense quantities shown in the video bu there is still a good amount of fish in some secret lakes.

[JLittle44]

...I like the some of the lakes in Arkansas...Back before I knew I was supposed to be calling it freediving, I did quite a bit of snorkeling in Lake DeGray. It is a very nice lake proximate to whatever you want. http://www.degray.com/ Africa is way out of my budget, but I will compete if it can be a bit closer to home.

[scubadown16]

Are you thinking a one day tourney or multi day? How Many teams do you think will show to something like this? What about having 2-3 teams per country? I would think that if it was one team per country than there would be 3 or 4 teams (less than everyones local tourneys) About being close to hotels and resuraunts I think the better the fishing the further away from towns or cities unless were going to shoot stocked fish or freeze out nuts off in canada or russia. I could be wrong, but thats been my experience

There is currently a Worlds Meet with hundreds of competitors and crew. Sanctioned by CMAS as well as FIPSA just had there first worlds. So getting teams to compete is not going to be a problem. I don't know how much you know about the current world comps but in some places these teams have hundreds of supporters and funding so getting them to come over for a meet is not going to be like some of the tournaments you have seen in Utah. We are talking lots of people and lots of planning. This is why we need a lake that can accommodate the masses. This would be a One maybe a two day tournament.

[freshwatertim]

Bull -S Arkansas is not the place. Little down there except for the lake. I would assume Beaver Lake with the college in town would be fun for the travelers, plenty to do, but I have never been in the lake. I don't know what tickets are like to fly in, but they have a decent airport and it is close to the lake.

[Les Sage]

Either Table Rock Lake in Missouri or Beaver Lake in Arkansas would make excellent locations for a major spearfishing tournament.

Table Rock Lake was the location for Nationals recently. Branson, MO, one of the US's major tourist destinations, has the intrastructure to host a major tournament with plenty of entertainment extras. The only drawback of TR is Missouri's speafishing regs -- they only allow rough fish to be speared.

Beaver Lake in Arkansas would allow game spearfishing in addition to the rough fish division and has lots of Stripers. Bentonville is the home of Wal-Mart and this area has has seen a tremendous commercial build-up the last decade. It also would provide the necessary intrastructure with plenty of motels, restuarants, etc. As Tim mentioned, Fayetteville, located nearby is a college town, with lots of entertainment possibilities.

Bull Shoals lake is the best spearfishing lake IMO, but it simply does not have the necessary accomodations for a major tourney.

HOWEVER, I am reluctant to mention any of these lakes, b/c there would be too many good spearos shooting MY fish. :-)

Les

[scubadown16]

Either Table Rock Lake in Missouri or Beaver Lake in Arkansas would make excellent locations for a major spearfishing tournament.

Table Rock Lake was the location for Nationals recently. Branson, MO, one of the US's major tourist destinations, has the intrastructure to host a major tournament with plenty of entertainment extras. The only drawback of TR is Missouri's speafishing regs -- they only allow rough fish to be speared.

Beaver Lake in Arkansas would allow game spearfishing in addition to the rough fish division and has lots of Stripers. Bentonville is the home of Wal-Mart and this area has has seen a tremendous commercial build-up the last decade. It also would provide the necessary intrastructure with plenty of motels, restuarants, etc. As Tim mentioned, Fayetteville, located nearby is a college town, with lots of entertainment possibilities.

Bull Shoals lake is the best spearfishing lake IMO, but it simply does not have the necessary accomodations for a major tourney.

HOWEVER, I am reluctant to mention any of these lakes, b/c there would be too many good spearos shooting MY fish. :-)

Les

Les,
Thanks for the info. I was at table rock and we don't feel that this is the place to host this type of tournament because of the regs not allowing game fish. Beaver lake looks promising how ever. I do simpethise with you about fishing being shoot up.

Is there some spearfishing stores or Scuba stores that might be in the area to help with some of the local logistics??? Thanks Les

James

[Les Sage]

Hey James,

Would this be for SCUBA and freediving, or freediving only?

Les

[scubadown16]

Not sure yet on it being just a freediving event. Alot depends on it getting santioning and what there rules are...

[Les Sage]

Another comment about Beaver Lake!

Spearing of Black Bass in Beaver Lake is prohibited. Several of the Arkansas lakes allow spearfishing for "Bass" but not the large lakes in the NW part of the state. So, Largemouth, Spotted (Kentucky) and Smallmouth (Brown) Bass can NOT be speared.

Also, Walleye in Beaver Lake is practically non-existant. I have been told the AF&G has been thinking about stocking it with Walleye, but, for now they are very few in number.

Therefore Game fish consists of: Catfish, Crappie, and the White Bass family (White or Sand Bass, Stripers and Hybrids.

Thought I better clarify this, if Beaver Lake is actually being considered.

Sincerely,

Les

[baldilocks]

ever think about lake ouachita in hotsprings..plenty of fish, entertainment, hotels and food (cajun broilers and many others). it is a very beutiful lake as well i dont know how big of a lake you are looking for.

[ANYH2O]

Got any contacts for that area of the world?

[drbabs]

"Lake Powell doesn't have the accommodations to host a tournament we feel."

What accommodations doesn't it have that you want?

You kidding me? They have fifty rooms RIGHT on the water.
http://www.lakepowell.com/lodging-food/defiance-house-lodge.cfm

Bullfrog is awesome because there are plenty of places to rent boats/houseboats etc and its still pretty cheap. Excellent fishing as well. No risk of crowding which a smaller lake may suffer from.
Unlimited Stripers!
Excellent cleaning stations with running water and garbage disposals for your catch.
Many species to hit and WARM, CLEAR water :thumps:

And lets not forget the other side- Wahweep has a huge commercial center in Paige Az with many many hotels and other amentities.

[PKRED]

This may sound hoeky but dearcreek has mad fish big carp and is not next to but close to a major metroplis.

[scubadown16]

There is a several problems with hosting this meet at both powell and Deer Creek. Powell does not have the resturants and night life that would be need for this meet. Deer Creek doesn't have the boat rentals as well as it is to small of a lake to host this type of event.

Remember everyone. Tournaments of this scale are a large production. Teams will come in and scout for up to a month. This is not a weekend type tournament. This is big buisness for a lot of the teams that would come from Russia, Europe, and South America. I appriciate all your guys is imput though.. Thanks

James

[alan243]

what about mead?

[scubadown16]

what about mead?

What about it??? As I understand it you can't shoot game fish there. As well as I have never heard anyone doing any real diving there. I would be open to hearing about it.. Do you have any contacts with anyone from the area??? Thanks

James

[Ouachita Hunter]

www.hotsprings.org/

Check it out, Hot Spings has been hosting one of the big FLW tournaments over the last 3-4 years. Lake Ouachita and Lake Degray are 30 minutes away.

[alan243]

james I know at one time the held a tourny on the colorado river in AZ, as for diving there is a TON of diving there. everything from shallow to over 300ft trimix, I will make some calls I have a contact on the park service there at the lake, also there is charter services and boat rentals available.

[alan243]

check out this link

http://www.ndow.org/law/regs/fishregs/38_43.pdf

[Spearsd]

At Mead its just striped bass and carp, for better vis you may as well hit lake mohave neither are a good place for a large tournament and lake mead has more boat traffic and insane jet skiers than I've ever seen in San Diego

[drbabs]

Jeff,
I hear you on the nightlife- hey im not saying that "this is the place." Im just saying that you should keep Powell under consideration. Paige az is the other gateway to powell, closer to the st george and vegas side. The town of paige has over 30 hotels including a Marriot. They have over 35 restaurants. There are more than fifteen companies from which to rent boats.
Sure its not paris, london, New York- but the town should be big enough. The water is warm and about the clearest around. There are over ten species of fish to take and plenty of space.
Oh and i have absolutely no bias whatsoever. nope, no way. Very objective here. :liar:

[Shroomy]

he's got a point

[scubadown16]

Jeff,
I hear you on the nightlife- hey im not saying that "this is the place." Im just saying that you should keep Powell under consideration. Paige az is the other gateway to powell, closer to the st george and vegas side. The town of paige has over 30 hotels including a Marriot. They have over 35 restaurants. There are more than fifteen companies from which to rent boats.
Sure its not paris, london, New York- but the town should be big enough. The water is warm and about the clearest around. There are over ten species of fish to take and plenty of space.
Oh and i have absolutely no bias whatsoever. nope, no way. Very objective here. :liar:

But once again we have the problem of consintration of fish... I personally have never dove the AZ side of powell. I am pretty sure that powell is the same and it lacks enough rough fish to bring in competitors from all over the world... Also keep in mind that there will only be one team representing the USA... The past three USA freshwater Nationals have been won by Mike McGuire/Terry Lintz, Mark and Paul Wiezorick, and Troy Erickson/ Sean Wiesler. If this is going to happen I am sure the 2009 Freshwater nationals will play a big roll in deciding which team goes. By the way that tournament will be held at Glendo Resv in Wyoming in June either the 13 or 20 I am not sure yet. I will be the one hosting it.

[element]

If this is going to happen I am sure the 2009 Freshwater nationals will play a big roll in deciding which team goes. By the way that tournament will be held at Glendo Resv in Wyoming in June either the 13 or 20 I am not sure yet. I will be the one hosting it.

COOL!