Photography: Into the Salmon World | Hatch Magazine - Fly Fishing, etc.

Photography: Into the Salmon World | Hatch Magazine - Fly Fishing, etc.

Our Paul Vecsei, writing for Hatch Magazine describes the challenges involved in getting the exceptional underwater images he's famous for.

My Best Advice For New Underwater Photographers

There’s always room for more good photographers, and I think interest in underwater subjects will continue. I encourage beginners to learn about their subjects. Become an expert on the life and behavior of your animal subjects. Become a steward of their habitat. Think of yourself as a PR person for that particular animal. If you do this, you’ll show them in the best light, you’ll be mindful of disturbing them, and your work will automatically show these creatures at their most magnificent. Don’t sell pictures. Instead, fall in love with your subjects and sell that love! And instead of exploiting them for personal profit, you’ll become partners with them in calling attention to their inherent beauty and value in the ecosystem, and the special problems each one of them face in an increasingly crowded world.

Engbretson Underwater Photography is always on the look-out for talented underwater shooters.  If you work in freshwater environments and you're interested in joining our team contact us today.

What are the Clearest Lakes in Wisconsin?

I was talking to Jennifer Filbert at the Wisconsin DNR the other day.  Jennifer manages the data for the state-wide citizen's lake monitoring group.  They're a network of individuals, usually lake-front property owners who monitor and regularly take a variety of water samples from lakes all across Wisconsin.  The data they compile helps to give us a look at how our lakes are doing. One of the many tasks lake monitors perform is to take regular sechi disc readings.  This is a universal way of assessing and comparing water clarity.  I was interested to know which Wisconsin inland lakes were the clearest.  Jennifer sent me a spreadsheet of some really comprehensive data and I thought it would be interesting to pass this along.  Here are the lakes that recorded the highest average water clarity in 2012.  In short-here are Wisconsin's clearest lakes and their average water clarity in 2012:

1) Black Oak Lake-Vilas Co.-35 feet
2) Wazee Lake-Jackson Co.-30 feet
3) Keyes Lake-Florence Co.-27 feet
4) Maiden Lake-Oconto Co.-27 feet
5) Lake Owen-Bayfield Co.-25 feet
6) Stormy Lake-Vilas Co.-25 feet
7) Blue Lake-Oneida Co.-24 feet
8) Presque Isle Lake-Vilas Co-24 feet
9) Mildred Lake-Oneida Co.-23 feet
10) Boot Lake-Oconto Co.-22 feet
11) Lake Lucerne-Forest Co.-22 feet
12) Whitefish Lake-Douglas Co.-22 feet
13) Deer Lake-Polk Co.-22 feet
14) Pike Lake Chain-Bayfield Co.-21 feet
15) Sand Lake-Burnett Co.-21 feet

How Do Spawning Benches Work?

Spawning Bench or half-log. (C) Eric Engbretson



In northern states, fish managers sometimes use spawning benches to promote the spawning of smallmouth bass.  While largemouth bass, rock bass, and sometimes bluegill also use spawning benches, it is the spawning of smallmouth bass that inspired the design. 

 

In a healthy lake, smallmouth bass build spawning nests against rocks, sunken trees, or large pieces of wood in about four to ten feet of water.  Next to these structures, the male excavates a shallow, circular crater in the lake bottom.  This system provides good natural protection to eggs and fry. 

 

But in lakes without coarse woody habitat, large rocks or similar objects, smallmouth bass may be forced to construct their nests out in the open.  When spawning and is over and the female has deposited her eggs in the nest, the male diligently guards the eggs and later the fry from predatory fish and crayfish.  When the nests are out in the open without natural protection, the male must guard up to 360 degrees of the crater he has dug.  This is exhausting and dangerous, since his back is always turned away from part of the nest.  Far fewer eggs incubate, and far fewer fry survive their first few weeks when fish have to use nests that lack the natural shield of a habitat's woody elements. 

 

Fish managers have studied the hard work put in by bass and have noted the decreased recruitment of young fish.  The managers came up with an idea for a simple structure they hoped would meet the needs of nesting fish and make it easier for eggs and fry to survive.  The idea for spawning benches was born. 

 

A spawning bench consists of a four to six foot piece of log sawed lengthwise in half and attached to concrete or cinder blocks on each end.  Spawning benches are therefore sometimes called half-logs.  Once placed on the suitable substrate, the spawning bench provides overhead cover from birds of prey.  The concrete blocks on each end protect the nest from raiders on two sides.

 

Smallmouth bass guarding nest built adjacent to one of the concrete blocks of a spawning bench. (c) Eric Engbretson

 

It was a sound design and one that smallmouth bass readily used, but not exactly as intended.  It turned out that smallmouth bass weren't concerned about overhead cover. The benches usually sat in water deep enough to preclude threats from above by ospreys and other birds of prey.  While nests are occasionally built between the two concrete blocks as the designers intended, smallmouth bass usually construct nests next to one side or the other, thus allowing the male to guard the nest from only three sides.  The key element seems to be the concrete block itself and not so much the half log.  In fact, if the spawning bench falls on its side, it still provides excellent protection. 

 

Spawning benches are poor substitutes for the naturally occurring woody cover that fish prefer.  But in lakes devoid of suitable wood, rocks, or trees, spawning benches provide a superb means of helping smallmouth bass defend their nests and allowing more of their offspring to survive.

 

 

 

 

"Where Can I Buy the Fish of the Northern Lakes Calendar?"

Today, I got a phone call from a woman interested in buying my Fish of The Northern Lakes 2013 Calendar as a Christmas Gift for her grandson. She asked if the calendar was available at any retail locations or just on-line.  There are in fact a few retail locations where you can buy the calendar, so I thought it might be a good idea to list them here:

1)Florence Natural Resources Center-Florence, WI
2)North Lakeland Discovery Center, Manitowish Waters, WI
3)Legend Lake Lodge, Keshena, WI
4)Great Lakes Aquarium, Duluth, MN
5)Great Lakes Visitor's Center, Ashland, WI
6)Kyle's Framing & Gallery, Marion, IA
7)Book World Stores in:

• Iron Mountain, MI
• Eagle River, WI
• Minocqua, WI
• Marquette, MI
• Ironwood, WI
• Ashland, WI

 
The Fish of the Northern Lakes 2013 Calendar is available online at many web store locations.  The main ones are Amazon, EBay and on my own on-line order page here.
Order online by Thursday December 20 to insure arrival before Christmas.

Get 12 months of Fish and Free Shipping!

Now through Christmas, we're offering FREE shipping on our Fish of The Northern Lakes 2013 Calendar.  Buy four calendars or more and get FREE Priority Mail Shipping (usually 1-3 days) on your order.  To get your calendars with free shipping click here.  Fish of The Northern Lakes 2013 is the perfect holiday gift for fisherman and fish lovers!

Underwater in the Ozarks

Scuba Diving in the Jack's Fork River, Missouri (c)Engbretson Underwater Photography

I've just returned from a very interesting trip to the Ozark Mountains of Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas, home to some of the most famous and scenic rivers in middle America.  All of the rivers where I scuba dived were ultra-clear and filled with as diverse a fish community as I've seen anywhere.  I especially enjoyed the Black and Current Rivers in Southeast Missouri, and Arkansas's legendary Buffalo and White Rivers. 

On all of my dives, I encountered longear sunfish, smallmouth bass, and redhorse suckers.  In some of the rivers I found walleye, rainbow trout, spotted and largemouth bass, channel catfish, chain pickerel and white crappie.  A local favorite called the goggle eye (we call them rock bass up north) didn't seem as common.  Up north, it's not unusual to see dozens of them around a single piece of structure.  In The Ozarks, I only saw a few and they tended to be alone and hiding in root wads or under rock ledges.  Unlike the Great Lakes Region, in the Ozarks they're a legitimate sport fish and have a minimum 8 inch size limit in some areas.  Another fish that gets significant pressure are redhorse suckers where "giggers" can take up to 20 a day during the fall spearing season.  While I saw plenty of those, I never saw a fish that was over 16 inches.  A conservation officer I met on the Meramec River told me that most of them get harvested before they can reach their potential.  In Wisconsin and Michigan, I often see large redhorse of 10 pounds.  I'm told in the Ozarks, this would be rarer.          

The rivers were teaming with a multitude of shiners and darters of every color of the rainbow.  Seeing that splash of brilliant color along the river bottom was impressive and that alone made the trip worthwhile.   We have a few rivers in Wisconsin that have the same kind of diversity, but the difference is that in the Ozarks, the water is so clear that scuba divers and snorkelers can see and enjoy all the fish that inhabit these pools of crystalline water.  In Wisconsin's St. Croix, Menominee, Rock and Wisconsin Rivers, the coca-cola colored water makes this impossible, which is unfortunate because they all contain impressive fish communities. 

While my home waters will always be the glacial lakes of Wisconsin and Michigan, the crystal-clear rivers of the Ozarks have captivated me and I plan to return often to explore them and to photograph their fish.  If you're familiar with the area and are feeling kind, please drop me a line and suggest a place you feel would be worth seeing.  I've just begun to explore this area underwater and I know I've just touched the edge of what's there.
   

New: Fish Jerseys With Underwater Fish Photos!

I'm excited to be partnering with Valley Fashions for a unique line of tournament fishing apparel.  Valley Fashions is an established leader in their industry and is one of the top suppliers of high quality jerseys, sweatshirts, hoodies and other outdoor wear for tournament fisherman.  My underwater fish images are now available on an exclusive line of fishing wear.  It's important for tournament fisherman to stand out in a crowd. And since they're always looking for unique ways to brand and display themselves and their sponsors, wearing authentic underwater photo images of the fish they're pursuing is a new and novel way to do that. (Plus, it just looks cool!)




One of the different styles and images now available in the Eric Engbretson line of officially licensed apparel from Valley Fashions.

The Eric Engbretson line of licensed apparel isn't just for the pros though-anyone can own this one-of-a kind outerwear.  For more information or to order, contact Valley Fashions here.  To download a PDF product sheet, click here.

AFS Conference in St. Paul

Lindsey Bock, from Southern Illinois University Stops By Our Booth at the 2012

American Fisheries Society Conference in St. Paul, MN

Just back from the AFS conference in St. Paul-the world's greatest collection of fish scientists, where we were selling our new Fish Of The Northern Lakes 2013 Calendar.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by our little stand to say hi.  It was great meeting so many new fish people and seeing many old acquaintances again.  Especially encouraging was meeting so many of the young graduate students who are on their way to becoming our fish managers of tomorrow. They all seem to have youthful energy, dedication, passion, and they have some brilliant and fresh ideas about improving ways to best manage and protect our fisheries.  I can say without hesitation that the future is in capable hands.   

Smallmouth Bass Posing

It seems every time I get in a lake these days, I'm greeted enthusiastically by one or more smallmouth bass that follow me around where ever I go.  Smallmouth bass are without a doubt the most curious and social fish I encounter when I'm exploring lakes.  Divers will often report how the smallmouth will trail them around like puppies.  Probably, they're interested in the "little snacks" that are stirred up by a diver's "fin wash".  Some bass will even take live food, like crayfish right from your hand. 

One one lake I like to frequent, I'm met by the same bass on every visit.  (He's easily identified by some unusual scars and marks.)   Today I decided to take  a snapshot of us posing together.