Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Snorkeling in your pond to see fish and structure

I had a private message from a member inquiring about snorkel gear for using in his pond. After writing out my recomendation, thought it might be interesting to some others that have thought about it. He ask for quality gear and did not mind paying for it, so if some of you snorkel and see that it can be done much more cheaply than what I recommend, you are right. But this is the stuff I would buy if wanting good stuff that lasts and will be used a bunch. I spend between 100 and 200 hours beneath the water every year. Just finished doing well over 100 dives averaging over an hour each for the last three months (have not logged the last ones so don't know exact number).

This is what I told him:
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If you don't mind paying for good stuff, find a dive shop that sells Scuba Pro dive gear. There are lots of different brands that are good, but if you want good fins that will not cause leg cramps go with the Scuba Pro Twin Jet split fins. Don't get the older style hard rubber ones, get the newer ones. Get the open heel design, because where you will be getting in and out of a pond you will want booties to wear and you need open heel strap type fins to wear with booties. Buy booties with hard soles (soles like tennis shoes). Get high top booties, not low top. The reason is if you go in and out of the pond with low top booties and you sink down in the mud, the bootie will come off. Been there done that.

Now, if you are always going to be getting in from a dock and never the shore line or use them in a lake or anything, disregard the above paragraph and you can go with regular foot pocket fins (you wear with your bare feet). That covers the fins. The dive shop may recommend other brands and models and they may be fine. I just know the Scuba Pro Twin Jet are excellent and will last you a lifetime. If you want to spend the extra money, you can get spring straps (instead of the standard rubber straps) that makes it lots easier for us old guys and gals to get them on. Too much fin or bad fitting fins or too stiff fins will give you leg cramps. Bad deal.

You can save some money by going to an on line place, but for your first time, fit 80% of making gear nice to use or a pain. By going to a retail dealer, they can fit you properly and get stuff that will work right.

Mask - Three main things are important. Fit, Fit and Fit. If a mask does not fit you right, it will suck. Try on a bunch and have the sales person help you get the right fit. They know how to do it to get one that will not leak.

As far as seeing, two ways to go. You can buy actual prescription lens and have them ground to fit the mask. More expensive but can correct for astigmatism, can do bifocals, etc. The dive shop will know the procedure to get it done. Not cheap. I used to have prescription lens, but any more I just make sure and buy a dive mask that factory lens are available. They go in half diopter steps. For example, I just buy -3.5 lens for both my left and right eye. It does not correct for my astigmatism like my old mask, but I find it completely acceptable. A fraction of the cost for those, but you have to have a mask that have the correction lens available. The dive shop, if it is any good at all (And a Scuba Pro dive shop should be), will know all about this stuff.

Snorkel, tell them what you want to do, and let them recommend one. Mainly, get one that fits your mouth size and tell them that you will be snorkeling, not scuba. Scuba divers don't use a snorkel much but we do have one for safety reasons. But since it is not so important we do not emphasize it having to be anything great.

Unless you are going to be doing this only in the heat of summer, get a shorty wet suit. You can probably pick one of these up at Sams club, Wal-mart, sporting goods store etc. Or the dive shop will also have them.

You said you wanted good stuff. To get all I have talked about, don't be surprised if it does not cost all for around $500. But good quality stuff you will only need to buy it once. If that is too much, you can get pretty good stuff for maybe around 250 if you don't go with lens in the mask.

You will never see a fish swimming around. If you want to see fish in your pond, go into shallow water, put your knees and hands on the bottom without stirring up muc, sit and wait. It may take several minutes (which will seem like eternity), but the fish will come to you. They get curious. Fish can see further than you can under water. If you swim, they will be watching you just outside your range to see them. Go to your structure, find a comfortable position to float, sit or wedge yourself somewhere, and wait. The small fish will come around first, followed by larger ones which are ten times more skittish. If you have CC, if you are patient enough, you can actually get them to taking hot dog pieces out of your hand. But it takes patience to train them. In a dive spot in a local lake, CC and some other fish will follow you around waiting for food. But it takes a lot of patience, sitting perfectly still so as not to spook them, till they get curious and past their fear and start coming close enough for you to see them. You have to hold perfectly still. Move around and you will never see any larger fish. Maybe a few small ones.

Pond and lake diving/snorkeling is totally different from where we are at in clear water here in Bonaire. We swim to see the fish in clear water. But in low visibility water, you have to let the fish come to you. I have had guys swear there were no fish in a lake, and I had seen bunches. They swam all the time, where I parked myself in an under water tree limb or on the bottom and waited. Once the fish get used to you if you do it regularly and feed them, then they will come around regularly.

You can get mask, fin and snorkel packages, decent stuff, for maybe around $100 if you want to try it out without spending so much. But if you want good quality stuff, go to a scuba dive shop, let them fit you, buy good quality, and it will last for years and years if you just rinse it in fresh water when finished, let dry and store out of the sunlight.

Hope this helps.
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Great info!!! Thanks!!

And the follow up answer to a pond with only about a foot visibility:
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If you can only see down a foot, a foot is the maximum you will be able to see under water. And it is worse than that, because at the end of that visibility range it will be cloudy looking whatever you see. So maybe 6" good vis. That sucks.

To be much fun at all, you need at least 3 feet. I've dove in my pond when it has a couple feet visibility from algae blooms(pond owners don't call it by that name, but scuba divers call it visability) and the only way to see fish was to lay on the bottom in shallow water (3'), put my hands in front of me on the pond bottom so there was a lighter surface to focus my eyes on (my hands), and eventually the smaller bluegill would come in and around me. You would see them come in and look around, a couple pecked at my mask. I must have been too close to a nest because one bit me on the ear.

When snorkeling in lakes, if a person can get vis out to about 7', then you can start seeing stuff around bluffs, brush, etc. That makes decent snorkeling. But until you get at least 3' in your pond, I don't think it would be much fun.

If you want to just get a cheap mask and snorkel at Wal-Mart or some place, you would not even need fins just to take a look. Just sit on your butt in some shallow water and stick your face in. The smaller BG will be in the shallows anyway. You might want to try that this summer, and see if you can see anything and if it interests you before spending significant money on good gear. If your mask foggs up (it will) scrub it with tooth paste. Any residue on the glass lens will cause it to fog. You can spit in it, rub it hard with the spit, then rinse in pond water to get rid of the fog. Don't even think about getting one with plastic lens. They are worthless, unless you are 4 years old. Then they are still fun.

When my kids were small, we used to go to an old mine strip pit with fairly clear water (5' vis maybe in the summer). The GSF there were so numerous and hungry, you could take some bread, corn chips, whatever you had and put it in the palm of your hand. Place it in the water while watching with the mask and snorkel. In short order there would ba a mass of 1-2" fish swarming your hands to eat. By slowly closing hands tighter and tighter till there was only a small opening, the fish were so hungry they would be going in to get the food, close palms and you had caught a fish by hand. Kids loved it.

That is what I would do. Wait till the water is nice and warm. Buy a $20 mask and snorkel at a sporting goods or Wal-Mart, etc, sit in the shallows this summer and try it out. If you like it, then get some good stuff.

Now if you are going someplace in the ocean where there is clear water and you want to snorkel (and going to do it more than just a one time thing or one day), buy some good stuff that fits and it will be a lot more pleasurable experience.

John