This past Saturday the Lake and the weather were amazing. WCD had two charters and both went to the Mack & Wells Burt and both were different and yet near perfect. At 0700 I met my boatload of divers from Gooses and we left the harbor right around 0730. After clearing Northerly Island we were greeted to flat seas, I mean not a wave or even a ripple in sight. We took a 30 degree heading toward to the Mack and about an hour later we were tied into the mooring on the bow. My Humminbird was reading 70F and the water looked pretty clear, we had less than 1FT seas and so our divers suited up and rocked out a 35 minute dive. Half the group were in wetsuits so I knew they would be chilled and that the second dive should be shallower. When they came up talking about 53-56F water and viz around 40FT and a sighting of the burbot, I was kind of surprised by the warmer than normal water temperature. I asked the group what they wanted to do and they said let’s hit the Wells. I fired up the R/V, cut loose the mooring and handed out the pineapple as I took a 270 degree heading toward shore and the Wells. When we got to the Wells the Lake was as calm as the harbor. The Humminbird was reading 69F but the water looked clear. The divers hit the water and punched out a 45 minute dive in 47F water! Yes that is right, the Wells was cooler than the Mack. That is the first time I have ever seen that. Viz was great at +50FT. I could see the divers on the deck of the Wells and on the Lake floor too, as they moved from the mooring to the wreck.
The afternoon charter was a private charter that came up short a couple of guys, but with a WCD emailing we were able to fill it. We met at 1330 but by the time we figured out parking (Chicago and the Doobie Bros. were playing that night at Charter 1) so Standard Parking had decided to close half the lot so that they could jack up the prices later in the day and make triple the money. We left the harbor around 1440 and again headed to the Mack. The seas were great but this time the temp on the Mack was 48F, viz was >50FT and the divers were entertained by thousands, not hundreds, but thousands of Perch (Perca flavescens). Its very Cool to see lots of fish on the wreck, it gives you the feel of North Carolina (except its not 80F)
So the temp had changed on the Mack and that brought in fish but did the temp change at the Wells? The answer was no, it was still cool and had great viz. We had a couple of divers with big SLR systems so I am expecting some nice pics soon. We cruised back in and wrapped up 4 great dives on the Lake, what will tomorrow bring?