Mendota 05/25/09 and Smallies

Tami and I dove in front of the Edgewater on Mendota this morning.Saw mostly smallmouth in 11 to 16 FOW, some over rocks, others over the sand flats. I didn't see any legal size fish (except two Sheephead). I've attached a photo of a bass bed, no fish was on it. Tami though saw a few in the area she was in, with bass on them (no eggs). There's LOTS of trash in this area, one pontoon, iron pipe, bed springs, old dishes, boat ladder, wheels, buckets, all kinds of metal objects, an empty tackle box, etc). Bottom was all firm sand with rocks (some larger ones, lots of smaller ones) in shallower. Very few weeds. Algae particles are getting heavier. Pretty windy this morning! Could hardy get to the boat when I was on the surface, had to approach from underwater. If I got too close to anyone fishing there today I apologize. I'd planned on swimming a rectangular grid pattern, but that changed once I got below and started seeing shadows of objects, which I'd then go over to see what they were. I'd estimate there was about 10' of horizontal visibility. So I ended up being all over the place (and thanks to anyone there for not grabbing my two marker buoys. One was tied to an anchor, which I left at Warner for anyone who wanted one, the other marked where the tackle box was. May go back someday and look for any lures that may still be laying around). Rick

do you ever see any monster fish down there i have been told that on Lake Columbia the divers that repair and maintain the power plant on the lake have seen monster size Flathead catfish in the fish refuge 50lb and up im told

Two big cat stories;

My brother-in-law saw a monster, guessed about 6' long, in the big drop off on Gov. Island. We were doing a night dive (quite a few years ago) and he was looking down the wall. When he looked up there was this huge head staring at him. It scared the crap out of him for a couple seconds! It just turned in front of him and slowly swam away.

Twice now I've dove in the river channel off Dunn's Bar in a certain spot I haven't been able to find since. From memory though there's sand flats heading out to around 30 FOW. Then there's a slight rock ridge which quickly drops down a few feet. Then it rises back up higher then the rock ridge, and then tapers out to the abyss. In that area the water clarity was bad, but both times there were big bodied fish there and they got out of there very quickly, leaving a huge swirl of silt. I don't know what they were, but it suprised me that they were that easily spooked. Most fish don't care when there's a diver in the water, some like Smallies will follow you around like a dog! The bigger the fish the less fearful they are, so it baffles me.

So yes, there are some very big fish out there. I'd love to see someone battle that big cat my brother-in-law saw!
Rick

Great photos and stories. A dimension to the lakes that not many people get to see. Keep em coming when you can!!