Just a little vintage diving in a Canadian 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!

DaleC

Contributor
Messages
4,981
Reaction score
2,333
Location
Leftcoast of Canada
# of dives
500 - 999
At our recent club camp and dive I did some assorted vintage diving. Lot's of fun, even if I was the only one :wink:

46 degree's F beow the thermoclines, 70-72 F above, made wetsuit selection a bit of a whosawhatsit.

[video=youtube;W1eJfyLbzA8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1eJfyLbzA8[/video]
 
Which lake Dale?
 
Dale,

I really enjoyed this video. As you know, I'm a freshwater diver most of the time now, and your video of Pavillion Lake shows some of the wonders of fresh water. Of the three gear mixes you showed, I liked the twin 40s best. But what was really wonderful about the video was toward the end, and the rolls you showed--this communicates better than many words the wonders of being weightless underwater. And, your video showed that a person doesn't need a frog kick to avoid kicking up sediments. Thanks, it was a great video.

SeaRat
 
Very nice... although I'm not sure what to think about you calling my spare gear "vintage"! I have a crate full of Conshelfs, Calypsos, horse-collars, even a Fenzy (which has more lift than my Zodiac I think...

Maybe I should dust some of this stuff off...
 
Why yes.. yes you should.

...or send it north where it will enjoy a second renaissance.

John, the twin 40's are my favorites too. With the thin wetsuit I had my buoyancy dialed in so well I could enjoy perfect 360* orientation.
 
I have an old tree in the Clackamas River at High Rocks. This tree has been there for at least four years, and provides a hangout for fish just downstream of the rapids. For a while, there was a smallmouth bass that hung out there, a rather large one at that. It would feast off the fingerling salmon and steelhead that were headed downstream. I would see it regularly when I swam the upstream pool. Someone got it or it migrated downstream one fall and never returned. Here's one dive log entry which featured this fish (Photos Copyright 2014, John C. Ratliff):
Dive Site: Clackamas River, High Rocks Dive # 05-10
Buddy: Solo
Date: July 19, 2005
Entrance Time: 4:28 PM
Sculpinonsand05.jpg

Exit Time: 5:25 PM
Bottom Time: 57 minutes
Surface Int. N/A
Altitude: ~500 ft
Decom. Stops? N/A
Air Temp.: 78 F Water Temp: 68 F Visibility: 5 feet
Max. depth: 22 feet Ave. Depth 15 feet
One Hour Check: OK


Dive Plan: I want to track the red-sided shiners, and hopefully see them mating.
Objectives: 1. Document the red-sided shiners mating. 2. Look around for any other biologically significant behavior.


Observations: There were no red-sided shiners anywhere. I looked it the current where I had seen them on July 4th, and in the deep water, and did not see them.


I did see some other interesting things, and photographed them. I found a small fish, which I captured and will examine shortly, and photographed it. It was dying, and could barely move. It is some kind of dace. I also captured a large-scale sucker which appeared to be dying, and paralyzed. It’s possible that this fish was in fact caught by a fisherman, hit and thrown back.


I was about to leave the water when I came across a school of what appeared to be Chinook salmon smolt. They were near where I had found the red-sided shiners schooling two weeks ago. They stayed higher in the current, however, and were obviously feeding on particles in the water. They examined everything that came near, and ate some of it.


After staying in the deep upper regions of the lower pond, I came up to see whether I could find a cell phone that had been dropped by the lifeguards. It was no where to be seen. I looked again for the school of Chinook smolt, and was startled by a concussion in the water. Apparently a young person had jumped off the cliffs near me; I waited a bit, and felt another close by, and so dove deeper and swam upstream. I had heard a boat earlier, but it was gone by now. Another jumper’s presence was made know by another large concussion near me, so I dove deeper, and headed upstream into the current.


I got to the other side of the upper pool, and swam by the gravel/sand line at about four feet to the area where the current came straight over me. I was below the current, but I could see it clearly above me. I held a large rock, to keep position, with one hand, and my camera housing with the other. As I watched the current, two inner tubes with legs came through the current, just a few feet to my right. I could see the people through the surface, and wondered if they ever thought about what was under them. Maybe next time, without the housing, I’ll just wait right there for someone to come by and pull their leg or something…but that would be mean.


I checked my pressure gauge, and found that I was at about 800 psi; it was time to exit. But a small-mouth bass swam right up to me, and I began taking his photo. After two pictures, I checked the f-stop and found it maxed out at f-22. These photos would be dark, or gone. So I again set the camera at f-11, and shot two or three more photos. I should have good head-and-pectoral photos of this bass.


It was time to exit, but I needed to swim down the current, then to my exit point. I missed the split in the current, and started going downstream (the current splits here, and part goes upstream), so I held onto boulders and swung myself into an eddie. I then swam shallower, and emerged just downcurrent (which was going upstream—confusing, but true), and noticed a bather sitting on a rock, smoking a cigarette. I kept my mouthpiece in my mouth until I was upwind of the swimmer, then emerged and talked to him. He asked what I was looking for, and I told him about the fish.


I got out of the water, still geared up except for my fins being off and attached to my BC (I can do that with my design). On shore, I removed my helmet and mask, and attached them to my BC’s chest equipment strap too. As I was walking to my van in my gear, someone who was coming down to High Rocks to swim asked if someone had drowned. I said “No, just looking for fish.”




Special Problems and Ideas:

  1. The camera focus ring has yet to be fixed, and it is a handicap to not be able to focus the camera.
  2. The bite tab on my twin hose regulator seems to be coming apart. In the current, it tended to loosen my grip on the mouthpiece. I’ll need to glue that down before the next dive, or replace the mouthpiece.
Equipment Used:
Scuba: single 72, with the AMF Voit Trieste II regulator/MR-12 Octopus, LP inflator and SPG; top of wet suit and hood, knife, mask and helmet; about 13 pounds of weight.
 

Attachments

  • Small-mouth bass.jpg
    Small-mouth bass.jpg
    17.5 KB · Views: 23
  • Bass Portrait.jpg
    Bass Portrait.jpg
    53.5 KB · Views: 22
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom