#1857
OLDSCHOOL - 5/22/2009 10:20 PM
I dive at Prince Solmes Park. It’s right above the tube shoot. Once you’re suited up, walk upstream to the last set of stairs. From there, I like to kick upstream until I am under the railroad bridge. If you stay to the right on the way to the bridge, you can grab along the wall as you go. Once under the bridge, turn around and let the current take you. Average depth is about 6 feet with a few deeper holes. Zig zag between the banks. There’s some interesting aquatic life close to the banks under the floating vegatation. Keep an eye out for the "armored catfish". You can’t miss them. They’re very dark colored and covered in what looks like plates. If you want to bring fish closer to you, bring along either some hotdog to feed them or a few plastic worms (no hooks of course). I’ll put one on the end of a metal rod I bring, lay on the bottom and tap the rod on the limestone. The fish love it. You’ll know when you’re at the exit point. It gets deeper and opens up to a large limestone bottom. You’ll see some metal eyelets in the floor where instructors attach bouys. If by some chance you don’t see this, you’ll definitely notice a drop in the temp as you pass a stream that enters the river from the left. From this point it is about 50 yards to the tube shoot. Water temp is a constant 72 degrees. A 5mil without hood is perfect. You can easily get 5 to 6 dives out of two tanks. The mornings seem to be the busiest with dive students. From noon on it is much better, however it is tubing season now. Enjoy..........