What to do on a hot August day?

birdhunter · 08-11-2001, 07:17 PM

Tides are bad, nets were in, its hot as heck and every hole on the river is crowded w/ boater, rafters and general riff raff. Don't want to hassle w/ a boat and trailer and fishing has been off anyways. What to do? Well, if you are anything like Smily and myself, a quick trip to the river might be a good idea. Not to fish of course, but to dive!!

Spent about 2 hrs this afternoon w/ Smily on the banks of one of our lovely local rivers, skin diving for a variety of lures, weights and other odds & ends. Great way to cool off and an even better way to save money. Only went through two holes, but all told I brought back:

19 blue fox spinners
3 "other" spinners
2 big spoons
103 oz of lead in sizes ranging from 3/8 to 8
swivels, hooks, corkies galore!
and a much better understanding of the river and its fish.

Smily probably had about the same amount of stuff too. Some really interesting things you find out there. Do people really catch fish w/ this stuff??? [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

Not too much too it. Pick a spot w/ little current that gets plenty of fishing pressure. August is the best time to do it because the rivers are at their lowest, warmest and often clearest levels of the year. Don't dive if there are people fishing. I know it sound obvious, but you would be surprised. Not a good way to make friends.

The equipment it cheap. You can rent a mask, fins and snorkel for the weekend for around 8 bucks. Scuba gear usually runs $ 60 -75 depending on what you want/need but will be well worth it. Dive knife is a must. Helps cut line off snags and in some cases to free you up. Also got to be careful of those steelhead. "Look out, he's coming right for us!" [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Just a couple other helpful hints:

1. Always have a buddy!

2. Make sure you are a strong swimmer. Even w/ fins, we had a hard time grabbing gear in even light current. Had to make a couple of passes for most stuff. Stick to the big slow pools instead of the moving water.

3. Always have a buddy!

4. An old coffee can w/ the plastic lid is a great grab bag. Nylon nets and mesh tend to grab hooks and not let go. Run a rope through the top of the can to form your own little "purse". Then cut two lines through the lid (perpindicular to eachother) Underwater you can stuff things in, let go and not worry about them falling out too much. Just don't try any underwater acrobatics, okay. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

5. Always have a buddy!

6. Don't dive in water w/ boat traffic. Rafter are usually okay, but anywhere that has motor boats is probably out of your league. Experienced suba diver maybe, but not for the general public.

7. Always have a buddy! Can't stress this one enough. There have been way to many drownings this summer already and I'd hate to hear of any ifishers going under. Get someone you trust, who is a strong swimmer. Besides, its more fun to do this stuff w/ people.

8. If you have scuba equipment and know some great spots, that is the way to do it. We could barely stay put in the current and most of the time had to dive 2-3 times to retrieve deep stuff. Being able to stay on bottom would be a great benefit.

Think that's most of it. Be safe and have fun! [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Fry Daddy · 08-11-2001, 07:40 PM

Sounds like you dive a lot. Do you ever dive in the lakes? Do you need a permit or something like that to rent the equipment? Sounds like something I should try to do.

Smily · 08-11-2001, 08:55 PM

Come one, Come all. The water is fine. No other way better to cool off than take a dip in your favorite fishing hole. Specially when the bite is off. While your there, find the stuff you lost earlier this year or at least someone else's stuff. I think I got half of what Birdhunter salvaged. My hat's off to you, You are the Salvage king. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I still came out with a lot of good stuff though that I hope to use soon. This was definately a great way to cool off and have fun in the Sun.

Fry Daddy,
You don't need a permit to snorkel, just a lot of common sense, Birdhunter listed those off all ready. If you want to Scuba dive you need to be certified and costs big bucks. But a Mask, Snorkel, and fins will get you into buried treasures in your favorite fishing hole. Provided there is NO Swift currents. The Rivers have a lot force from Mother Nature. Respect her at all times. We got so much stuff this time we didn't talk about doing it again. There must be alot more holes out there with alot more stuff also. Happy Huntings. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Smily [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Sliderite · 08-11-2001, 09:05 PM

That sounds like a fun diversion. I also would like to second the idea to not dive near people fishing. About twelve years or so ago, I was fishing from the bank on the South Santiam(Church hole) when here comes this diver drifting under water looking for lures and whatever. There were about three of us fishing and so that wasn't too cool! We had to toss a rock in his direction to get his attention. He did move on down but we thought that took alot of balls! Not too nice.
Anyone scuba dive for bottom fish along the Newport or other jettys? Of course the same rule applies.

Krome Brite · 08-11-2001, 10:39 PM

Sliderite, did the diver tell you if there were any fish in that hole and if you were wasting your time? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Sliderite · 08-11-2001, 11:57 PM

Krome... No he didn't since he was alittle afraid of the conversing thing. There "were" fish to be had at the time but on the light side maybe he was just stirring them up for us to hook'em. Who ya going to believe?.. a diver that doesn't know where his position is and has the gumption(also life insurance)or the bankies who know where they are and there are fish?

birdhunter · 08-12-2001, 08:20 PM

Did it again today. Got way too hot in the afternoon so I headed back out to the river for about half an hour. Only looked in one hole, but I managed to salvage up a jet diver, 2 hot shots, 2 marabu jigs and another 2 lbs of lead. It's all there for the taking people! I'm sure you all know where the snags are in the rivers. Grab the gear and hop to.

Fry Daddy - Don't need a permit or anything to skin dive the rivers or lakes. Just go to. Like smily said, SCUBA will require training and lots of experience. Talk to a dive shop about that if you are interested. Lots of good water in the state that gets no pressure. People just can't take that cold water I guess. Lakes can be good, although I'm more after the salmon/steelie gear so I work the rivers. Dove in Detroit, Timothy, Hagg, Emmigrant and Clear lakes and have taken loads of tackle out of all of them. Scuba is usually a must to get the good stuff in lakes. Best of luck to you and be safe.

Yeah you know the whole not bugging the fishermen thing. Well I kinda did today. Not on purpose (I was there first) but I was diving in this hole when this DB comes through. He gets all bent out of shape at me but I figure he's just an idiot anyways. Who fishes for steelhead w/ a K16 sardine wrapped kwikfish in crystal clear slack water at 2 in the afternoon???? Sorry buddy, the springers are already gone (found about 4 floaters) and the coho aren't here yet. Pretty ambitious fish to take that offering. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Hoosier Daddy · 08-12-2001, 08:47 PM

SCROUNGE!!!!!!!!

Fun ain't it? Used to do the same thing on the Boise River in the summer, only the target was beers dropped by rafters with bad hands! Free beer everywhere!! They used to throw cans back and forth between rafts.