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Vtach · 12-03-2003, 08:37 PM,

We got out today and dove the Wolf river in Shiocton. We got there late in the morning and checked out the conditions. The river appeared low and slow but we noticed a pretty good amount of solid ice on the banks of the river the extended out 10-15 feet from shore. If the river looks this way I wonder what the smaller lakes and quarries are looking like. Vis looked like river vis, tannic but "relatively" clear. We went into the bar and got permission to use the back parking area and the stairs. I threw my drysuit on and decided to check out the thickness of the ice and found it to be about 3/4" thick and easy to break with just body weight. I cleared an entry point through the ice and went back to the car to don gear. We entered the water and found the surface temp to be 33 deg's. We then headed into the current and followed it down the river to 30 foot deep "hole" in the bend of the river. The bottom temp now 35 deg's and vis was about 5-6 feet. The "hole" is pretty crowded with debris and structure. Apparently there was some sort of salvage yard on the river at that point years ago so there is a pretty good amount of junk around. We farted around for a bit looking at all the junk but no sturgeon to be seen. I made a wonderful decision that I would not need my HID canister light with all the sunlight, stupid brain...DOH!!! So I was relying on backup lights which really did not make things any easier. We ascended into shallower water and decided to try to break through the ice from underneath. That was not happening even with the 3/4" or so of ice. So think twice before you decide to try a late season "open" water dive on "thin" ice. While farting around trying to break through the ice my power inflator froze open which ended the dive. We got out of the water and headed to the bar for a hot bowl of chili. The last few times I have been there we have seen a fairly good number of large sturgeon all concentrated in one area about 25-30 feet deep but nothing this time. All in all, a worthwhile dive.

Todd