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***jasondbaker*** · 05-14-2002, 10:46 PM,

Jose (josejavierlopez256001) and I dove Fish Lake and Lake Frances this afternoon. These lakes are about an hour south of the cities. We had beautiful sunny weather -- a perfect excuse to put off work and go diving. We encountered poor visability at both lakes. Fish Lake usually has decent visability. We think that the recent storms may have contributed to all the sediment floating in the lakes. Visibility at Fish Lake was about 3', and Lake Frances was about 6'. Water temperature at both lakes was around 50-52deg. According to a local fisherman you can find 12' catfish in Fish Lake. Unfortunately we never had a chance to confirm this because of the low visability.

LKunze · 05-15-2002, 05:10 AM,

Quote: According to a local fisherman you can find 12' catfish in Fish Lake. Â Â

Whoa...12 feet! LOL!!! Tongue

josejavierlopez256001 · 05-15-2002, 08:17 AM,

Greetings GP, Jason, and the rest of the gang! I still having problems believing the story that the fisherman told us about that catfish. However, many people around the Fish Lake area keep saying stories about unusually large fish there. I just think that the stories and characters are just part of a myth and local folklore. What is interesting is that some of the locals can feel offended if you demonstrate disbelieve when they share Fish Lake ecounters with the "monster". I was disappointed with water clarity and visibility yesterday. Fish lake its supposed to have decent visibility but heavy rains and spring storms ruined water conditions. I guess I will have to wait until water improves before a visit to Fish Lake. By the way, if any of you dive in Fish Lake and see the monster say hi to him for me.hahahahaha

Chris · 05-15-2002, 08:29 AM,

Well, so far the record holder for a flathead catfish in Minnesota was caught back in 1970 in the St. Croix River and weighed 70 pounds. Also.. the state record for a channel cat is 38 pounds caught in the Mississippi. There are stories of 500 pound catfish but strangely enough, nobody has ever seen one. There is however documentation on 10 foot cats roaming around European waters.

tbrown · 05-15-2002, 04:49 PM,

I can just see someone trying to reel in a fish that size with their old Zebco. :o They would probably think they had a log, at least until it pulled them in and turned them into a free diver. ;D

tcdiver · 05-16-2002, 04:01 PM,

just wondering is this the fish lake between prior lake and new prague. i don't live far from there, never thought to dive there. let me know guys.

WeatherPaparazzi · 09-20-2006, 10:01 PM,

Dove Fish Lake tonight. Um yeah, I'll stick to Calhoun or Square...

Conditions: Poor

Weeds: A lot

Bottom: MUCK

Viz: Crap 8 feet at best with the sun behind the person your looking at to back light them.

And if you so much as think about going near the bottom you will kick up the muck to the point of making a Pyroclastic Flow looking cloud. It could be cool on video but eh, I'll pass.

It was fun for the most part. We did a group dive and I was buddy up with a new diver and helped him with learning how to use his BCD and relaxing to just float along.

Water Temp, 63F at 26 feet.

But the best part is I got to play with some new toys. Got the 5mm Gloves to keep my hands toast-tee warm. And tried out the mod on my Pro Ear hood with a couple more holes to let the extra air out.

Not counting helping the new diver, it was pretty cool finally getting all the weight trimed and the tank adjusted to I float with the slight head down with very little BC usage.