Tuesday, November 8, 2011

11/05 "Diving One of Missouri's Largest Springs...Swimming with Trout"

Photobucket
Photobucket
This past Saturday I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to dive at one of Missouri's largest springs , located within Bennett Springs State Park. Every year the stream in this trout park closes for two weeks between the regular and catch & release seasons. During this time the MDC has a weekend stream cleanup where they invite scuba divers to come and dive the stream and clean-up trash from the years multitude of visitors. Every year I try to dive the spring at least once and the clean-up is a good reason to get wet and do something good for the river as well.
Photobucket
Photobucket
Each group of divers was assigned a section of stream to cover , my group had requested and been given the actual spring outlet and downstream section of stream. Since the three of us were all certified cave divers we took the opportunity to do a little exploring of the spring. These diagrams show the layout of the spring cave in relation to the surrounding park.
Photobucket
Photobucket
At our deepest point of 78 feet we were somewhere deep in the hillside beneath the kids playground on the hill. The lack of rain recently made for perfect conditions , low outflow allowing us to penetrate down into the tunnel without issue and gin clear water.
Photobucket
The mouth of the cave opening is always full of trout and this day was no different. It's always a cool sight to drop into the cavern opening and see all of the fish hanging there in the current.
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
A guideline leads down into the cave opening and it's neccessary to use it to pull yourself forward against the current even at low flows.
Photobucket
Once inside the spring opening itself, trout can be seen down to about 30 feet deep hovering in slack water areas along the edges. I've seen some decent sized fish before but today they were all just average stockers.
Photobucket
Once you come to the first real restriction the going gets tougher and I had to put away the camera to maintain a grip on the line and hold the regulator against my face to keep the current from free-flowing it.
Photobucket
Photobucket
We did a little minor exploring and then headed back out of the cave. With plenty of air to burn up I took advantage of the situation and did a little trout watching on my second dive. The area just below the spring branch was loaded with fish and I spent several hours laying in seams and watching trout move about and feed.
Photobucket
Photobucket
It was really enlightening to watch that many fish in one area and study their behavior as they went about their business. Probably the biggest thing I noticed was that these fish (stocked rainbows) will eat almost anything that drifts naturally through their feeding lane , if it tastes good they eat it...if not they spit it back out.
Photobucket
Photobucket
This tells me that at least for these fish the drift is far more important than the fly you're using , which while it's not breaking news was very interesting to see proven first-hand. It was a great day alltogether , I got several dives in and cleaned up a section of stream that needed some attention.
Photobucket
The MDC served us a free lunch of hot dogs and burgers at the nature center for our cleanup efforts...free foods always good in my book. By the time I got around to heading out of the park it was already approaching 3:00 PM and I still had at least an hour drive to get to my evenings destination , one of Missouri's little wild trout streams. After swimming with hundreds of trout all day I was more than a little anxious to get out on the water and try to fool a few before the evening sun set over the horizon.
Photobucket

15 comments:

  1. What a cool experience! The photos are really cool to see. Especially since there were so many fish cruising around. Pretty cool about watching them feed. Reminds me that I need to work on my drifts...cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fascinating! I'd never be able to do it...so thanks for taking me with you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That.Is.Awesome! Thanks for the report and the photos.

    ReplyDelete
  4. looks like tons of fun! I've done a little scuba diving and it's something that i want to get into more

    ReplyDelete
  5. Holy cow that looks like a lot of fun. I would be to chicken to do that myself so thanks for sharing your trip and taking some great photos too. Excellent Post. Nice job on the clean up as well. Tight Lines.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very nice! It would be incredible to spend that much time watching trout feed from beneath the surface.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sanders - Thanks...It's all about the drift , those fish were literally eating any debris that floated by in their feeding lane. It was definitely cool to watch and amazing how quickly they spit the items back out that they didn't want. Makes me wonder just how many fish I'm missing!!

    EMB - Glad I could take you along , and I've heard that Colorado has more scuba divers per capita than any other state...maybe you need to give it a try!!

    MaxDrown - Thanks for the comments.

    Jim - Thank You sir..glad you enjoyed it.

    Blake - One of the best things I ever did was get certified at the age of 13...some of my most memorable experiences have come while underwater.

    G. Lech - Thanks man!

    Trout Magee - Thanks buddy...I always tell people that if you like the water you really should try scuba. It's another world entirely down there and pictures just can't do it justice.

    Richard - It really was enlightening to spend that much time observing the fish in their world , makes me want to spend a little more time immersed in my local waters.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow! This was a really cool post! JGR

    ReplyDelete
  9. JGR - Thanks...I have to admit that it's a great opportunity that I'm sure a lot of other trout fishermen would jump at if given the chance. I've dove that spring for years now and it never ceases to amaze me when I see it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What an amazing experience. With all those fish, it reminded me of photo's in Coral Reefs.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Atlas - Thanks... It's definitely cool to see all those trout just hanging there suspended in the cavern opening. Not something you can see just anywhere , so I consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to do it every year.

    ReplyDelete
  12. @HPF. I've always wanted to get a snorkel set and just see where the fish are hanging out. Really cool.

    ReplyDelete
  13. JGR - not a bad idea....but I'd make that a snorkel set and a good wetsuit , that water gets mighty cold if you hang out too long and you have to kind of settle in before the fish start acting naturally again. Lots to learn that way.. no doubt.

    ReplyDelete