Report on the Valiant lines

[LCF]

Peter and I went out and tried to scooter to the Valiant this afternoon. There are two lines heading downhill, one a little way further up the shoreline from the other. The one which appears newer (which I think is the one Mark put in recently) is broken somewhere below 70 feet. It disappeared into the mud at 60+ and when we tried to pull it up and shake it clean, it just came up the slope into our hands.

The other line, which I think is the old one, is actually intact down to 120. There is a short, several inch diameter post there, and three lines comes off it. One heads sharply left, and disappears into the mud about 100 feet later or so, and also goes completely slack if you try to pull it up. Another is obviously broken and lying in coils by the post. The third line has a lot of slack in it, but we ran out of bottom time to go follow it and see if it went anywhere near an airplane.

I think fishing season is wreaking havoc on lines.

[Joshua Smith]

I've chased those lines a few times, myself. And I've never found the wreck. I guess I kind of lost interest in it.

[H20doctor]

Pm chris Borgen , he dives the lake alot ..and he may have some intell

[kdupreez]

Mark connected the valiant to shore and the line was in tact last week..

There are other people who have tried and failed to find the valiant from shore before and whatever line they ran to nowhere, was probably just left there.. I wish people would clean up line that leads nowhere.

Lynne - Check with Mark at 5thD.. he and Walter reconnected the valiant to shore, so he would be your source of truth..

[lamont]

yeah, the intact-to-120 one is scotts line, i think, nobody had any luck trying to find it from there.

it sounds like the new line has now been torn up.

[LCF]

Yes, as I said, we started out on a line that began at about 20 feet, tied to a stick. The line was very white and appeared new. That line disappeared between 60 and 70, and was clearly loose.

[CaptnJack]

That line comes and goes and has been replaced at least 4 times. The hard part is that it actually diagonals across the slope between about 90 and 110ffw. Regardless, if you hit 120ffw (at least on my gauge) you are too deep.

[LCF]

Yeah, the plane doesn't sit that deep, but Scott's line went down that far and then came back up. I remember that from when he and I dove it together. There's kind of a valley in the lake bottom between the shore and the plane.

[CaptnJack]

Yeah, the plane doesn't sit that deep, but Scott's line went down that far and then came back up. I remember that from when he and I dove it together. There's kind of a valley in the lake bottom between the shore and the plane.

Yes one of the lines dipped to 120' at one time (maybe 3 years ago?). Other versions/lines have done more of a diagonal and not gone below 115'. I can't remember which one is associated with which person/group but seems like they get put in and ripped out every year or so.

[Chris Borgen]

Yeah, the plane doesn't sit that deep, but Scott's line went down that far and then came back up. I remember that from when he and I dove it together. There's kind of a valley in the lake bottom between the shore and the plane.

Yes one of the lines dipped to 120' at one time (maybe 3 years ago?). Other versions/lines have done more of a diagonal and not gone below 115'. I can't remember which one is associated with which person/group but seems like they get put in and ripped out every year or so.

About 2-3 years ago Scott Christopher dropped a mark by the valiant for me. Erik Foreman and I then ran line back to 20ffw or so. Our line dipped down to 120 or so depending on the lake level. It had some yellow line in the mix as we had both white and yellow but not enough of either. Scott told me recently that the line had been torn out. Seems like it happens every year but I personally haven't scootered the valiant in 8+ months or so. I don't have any current info, but it wouldn't be hard to run some new line and take up or tie into the old line.

[LCF]

Well, Scott's/your line, Chris, is intact from 40 feet to 120 -- as I said, there is a heavy post with a lot of line wound around it, and three lines take off from there. One goes sharply left (which, if what Mark Tourtellot said about the line put in is accurate, is AWAY from the plane) and disappears into the silt, and is very slack, implying it's broken somewhere. A second is clearly broken, with loops of line lying on the floor by the post. The third line goes off somewhat to the right, and is probably the one that goes/went to the plane. We didn't follow that one, so I don't know if it's intact or not. But the line down to 120 is solid and visible, and easy to follow.

[limeyx]

That line comes and goes and has been replaced at least 4 times. The hard part is that it actually diagonals across the slope between about 90 and 110ffw. Regardless, if you hit 120ffw (at least on my gauge) you are too deep.

Thats the problem Lynne, next time take Richards gauge

[CaptnJack]

That line comes and goes and has been replaced at least 4 times. The hard part is that it actually diagonals across the slope between about 90 and 110ffw. Regardless, if you hit 120ffw (at least on my gauge) you are too deep.

Thats the problem Lynne, next time take Richards gauge

Shallower, less deco every time.

[lamont]

mark's line is still there. as you're heading out if you wind up on the old line that starts at a PVC 'T' piece and goes by a plastic paddle stuck in the mud around 40' or something -- you need to hang a sharp left and go 50 feet or so and you'll find the new line. intact all the way to the wreck. there's a bit of slack down deep, but its visible the whole way.

the old line down to 120 is actually madison + kees line. the old slack line down there seems to be multiplying and there's quite a mess. next dive i'll pull that if nobody beats me to it. although it'd be nice if anyone does that to leave the line leading down there to 120'. there's a ghost fishing net off that line that i know how to find from it and i'd like to re-find it again and shoot some vid.

i'll have to see how the vid turns out from tonight, i fear that autofocus may have been trolling me, but i haven't reviewed it yet...