4 replies to this topic

[Sean Phillips]

Hello everyone, I've been pretty busy lately which is why I haven't been in the forums for a couple of months but with this year's fishing season starting to wind down I should have more time to focus on my tanks for a while. Anyway, I was only able to log four dives this year (2 at my local quarry and 2 in Lake Erie) but they were all great dives full of a variety of fish species so I figured that I would share some of the videos of the fish I saw in the dives. The way things are lining up, next year should be a great diving and fishing year and I'm aiming to log at least 12-15+ dives. Also one of the goals for next year will be to video a Burbot in deep water in Lake Erie. I'm hoping to get some footage of Lake Trout as well as I can't seem to find any underwater videos of them on the Internet. I hope you guys enjoy the videos!

Quarry Videos-
Pancake-Sized Bluegill Spawning:

Giant Largemouth Bass:

Aggressive Black Crappie Nesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2otIESlALI


Lake Erie Video-
Philip D. Armour Wreck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcudKdhtLuo
Species in Wreck Video: Rock Bass (8-14"), Smallmouth Bass (10-20"), Walleye (24-30"), Freshwater Drum (26-36"+), Channel Catfish (24-28"), White Suckers (16-20"), invasive Round Gobies (2-12")



PS, for those of you who are curious about my tanks, my new fish room should be complete in about 2-3 weeks with the addition of one final centerpiece tank and I'll be doing an update thread on it after that!

[Isaac Szabo]

Nice videos. I enjoyed watching them - especially the spawning bluegill. Thanks for sharing, and good luck with filming burbot - that would be neat to see.

[Chasmodes]

Wow...the Erie video is amazing too.  I knew there were a lot of gobies, but wow, they look like they pretty much line the bottom.  Was it like that away from the wreck too?

[Sean Phillips]

Nice videos. I enjoyed watching them - especially the spawning bluegill. Thanks for sharing, and good luck with filming burbot - that would be neat to see.

Thank you! Actually my friend that I dive with in Erie says that seeing 2-10 Burbot each dive is a common occurrence on wrecks over 70 feet during the summer months. He also says that's pretty much all you see on the wrecks that deep though haha. Though, I'm determined to see if I can find some species of Salmonid to video as well if at all possible.

[Sean Phillips]

Wow...the Erie video is amazing too.  I knew there were a lot of gobies, but wow, they look like they pretty much line the bottom.  Was it like that away from the wreck too?

Thank you! Yes, the gobies are a big problem in the Great Lakes. Honestly, I couldn't spot a single fish outside that wreck from the time when we descended the anchor rope all the way until we got to the wreck. The central basin and the western part of the eastern basin (confusing, I know) is pretty much just open sand flats (until you get to ~60'+ of water then it's a hard silt or cobble bottom) other than the occasional wreck which is why so many fish congregate on them. Erie used to be full of Logperch, Greenside, and Johnny Darters in the shallows and on wrecks like these. But once the gobies came along they started to both compete with the darters directly for food and eat the darters themselves which drove the darters to extirpation. You might find the occasional Logperch or Johnny once every couple dozen dives but it's far from common.