Curious find..?

We were cruising lower bay on friday the 15th with a side-imaging humminbird unit and saw around a dozen or so tall, vertical objects in the water.. particularly SW of squaw point.. 30-40fow, maybe 15-20ft tall, that looked like telephone poles.. Most of them were vertical, some were leaning slightly.. some by themselves, others in groups of 2 or 3.. Any clues what that might be? They were well away from shore. I tried to take a few "pictures" of the sonar display, but apparently they did not save correctly since I can't find them on the sonar's SD card.. probably user error.. Still curious if someone can shed some light on what they might have been.

-ski

They are old net stakes and at times I think there are more than in past years. They all seem to be about 3 to 4 feet below the waterline and when the water is clear you can see them. Hope this helps.

they were placed there many years ago as net stakes. I recall losing two reef runners a few years back just South of Hunters Point. Seeing that one of the RR's was attached to some leadcore, we stopped the boat, picked up what rods weren't hung up and headed back to retrieve whatever we could. You could clearly see the top of the pole/stake as it was no more than 15' below the surface of the water.

Please correct me if I am wrong on this as I heard it second hand and, like I said, it was a few years ago and my memory might not serve me as well as I think. Tight Lines

Thanks for the info and head's up.. Seemed to be quite a few in that particular area. I'll probably avoid it next time we're trolling.

Are they currently in use any more, or are they just old relics?

They are old pond net stakes. I used to be a commercial fisherman. Usealy in the fall of the year when they pull thier net out they pulled the stakes also. Have no clue why they leeft them as the ice does a job on them. When they were useing then they would stick out of the water 6 to 8 feet. Hope this helps.

My lures have found them all over, some areas are even highlighted on the HotSpots maps. Hunters and Squaw Pts, east bank across from Kipling, Black Bottom in certain spots. Often in good fishing spots---Go Figure. I'm sure many of them are covered in harnesses and lures, wish there was a way to get them out. Guys with cameras have said they are as big as telephone poles. Another example of companies moving out and leaving their mess behind for others to clean up.

Why doesn't the DNR pull them? There are several in the area you mention but also many around the east shore breakline in the upper bay. Any time you go over them the graph looks like a Christmas tree which I can only believe are dead fish (and still killing fish). I was once told at the launch that if the waypoints were given that they would pull them out. This was years ago and to my knowledge there has never been one pulled??

They are just the stakes, no nets attached. The "Christmas tree" effect is due to the "cone" of sound coming from your transducer.

There only old net stakes, not nets........ the only thing there killing are our wallets...... I figure I've got few hundred bucks worth hanging on them! Ouch! :)

Bill

I question that (at least on a few of them). If they are only stakes it puzzles me why your transducer see's them but a line on an outside board "grabs" them. I have been able to retrieve a few lures by backing up to the snag and pulling up where you can feel the lure ripping through (what feels like) old sections of netting. I also have held a rod in hand and can feel the line riding up as the lure approaches it. Do they still have the wire attached from stake to stake?

I agree on the "stakes only" sentiment.. The side imaging would have clearly shown the nets otherwise..

Stuff like this makes me want to get scuba certified!

Several years ago I snagged up on one with two lines and managed to pull it up and it was a stainless steel type wire. The water was very clear and I tried to cut the wire but was unable to pull it to the surface.

Have wrapped around them when trolling downriggers and got the ball snapped off by them. You aint gunna break them off. Most are tamarack poles that are encrusted with zebra mussles. Ur line rubs against them and goodbye. even braid dont stand a chance. Like I said get a downrigger line wrapped and you can crank the back of the boat right down and go back and forth and the cable will snap before these old poles do. Many, many down the C.R. river area also.

dont set your tipups by em either!

Now that you mention it J. We set up off the beach house last winter in esky and after I drilled my holes and stuck the ducer in the water. It was all staticky and black. So confused I monkeyed with the unit for a minute then happened to look down the hole and had a stake about 5 feet under the ice. Cant remember what depth we were at but stayed there thinking maybe something would be hangin on our structure but nodda.

Jerkbait