Has anyone dove Camanche lake?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

recon_1996

Registered
Messages
23
Reaction score
0
Location
Concord CA
# of dives
100 - 199
I have to go to Jackson Ca for two weeks in May and thought I might try to dive a local lake while I'm there. Has anyone ever dove Camanche lake? It looks like the best bet near Jackson. If anybody has a better spot near Jackson I'm very open.
Thanks Aaron
 
Camanche isn't too bad. There's lots of boat traffic during the summer and one must be careful, of course. May shouldn't be too bad, but the weather is warming up and boaters are breaking out their ice chests...
 
jumsted65 What part of the lake have you dove? I am interested in an any diving info on the lake too. My brother and I tried the inlets to the left of the boat ramp on the south end of the lake, but were not very impressed. It was very shallow and vis was about 3-5 feet. I have heard a fair amount of people say they have dove it, but never any details.
Bobby
 
The only place I dove was at the campsites on South shore. I forget which campsite number we liked. There are a few right on the water.

The lake slopes down gradually to about 30 feet, then drops into a 60 foot trough about 50 feet from shore. It's dark and mucky down there. Tons of algae and such, especially as the water starts to warm up. Visibility in the shallows was better. Not good, but better, maybe 20 feet plus. We dove there throughout the early spring and noticed the visibility decreased and algae increased every weekend.

It's not a great dive. I was preparing for a class with friends from Sacramento. Camanche was a convenient place for us to meet. There are some big catfish, bass, and crawdads. That's 'bout it. Not a bad place to hang out, though.
 
That sounds alot better than the spot we tried. I will have to check the lake out again.
I have never took a boat out on that lake, but someone said that there was an area that you could get to that had a fairly deep (50 -60'?) sloping wall, and decent vis. It was built up from the rip rap rocks apparently when they built the reservoir. It would be nice to find some dive spots closer to home (Lodi) to just get wet and practice skills, when you can't make the drive to Monterey.
 
Lake Camanche probably has <5viz, not worth diving, imo.
 
I have fished the lake many times. The old river channel is pretty much dead center of the narrow part of the lake. Between the camping area and the main boat ramp the shallow shoreline drops into a deep channel. The area by the dam is well over 100' deep.

I have never dived there but I know the topography fairly well from hours staring at my SONAR unit.

Have fun.
 
Whats there to see in a lake?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom