Diving Opportuities

Local Diving

Many people don't know that we have excellent diving locally--at sites you can drive to. We have many sandpit lakes right around Kearney that are really excellent diving. They have good visibility--normally from 10-25 ft. Almost every common species of fish we have in Nebraska can be found there: bass, catfish, perch, sunfish, bluegill, walleye, carp, crappie. These small lakes are quite stable, mostly unaffected by wind and rain.

We also dive at Ft Randall Dam at Pickstown SD. This dam on the Missouri River forms a lake 105 miles long. Good visibility is common--15-25 ft. The underwater hunting can be fantastic with limits of Walleye and Smallmouth Bass the norm. But the best part of diving Ft Randall is diving in the tailrace where the water comes out of the power plant. Diving in this fast current is simply the most fun you can have diving in the Great Plains. We see literally hundreds of fish, including the prehistoric Paddlefish up to 6 feet in length! Fishing tackle litters the bottom--anything a fisherman could lose from his boat--lures, rods & reels, anchors, tackle boxes, trolling motors, etc.

Oahe Reservoir at Pierre SD (two resevoirs above Ft Randall) offers similar diving in its 250-mile long
impoundment. Lake Oahe has the best Walleye hunting anywhere in the United States. We also dive the tailrace there.

Lake McConaughy, Nebraska's largest lake, at Ogallala, offers miles of white sand beaches and great Walleye hunting.

Table Rock Lake, near Branson, MO, allows us to experience visibility up to 60 ft as we soar past vertical rock walls and swim through underwater forests. In the same area, Bull Shoals Lake and Beaver Lake offer the same type of diving, often with better visibility than Table Rock.

Other local sites include:

The best shipwreck diving in the world around Isle Royale in Lake Superior
The Blue Hole, an artesian spring, in Santa Rosa, NM
Blue Water Lake at Oronogo MO--an open-pit mine
Lake Wazee at Black River Falls WI--an open-pit mine
Bonne Terre, an abandoned lead mine, in Bonne Terre, MO--National Geographic rated Bonne Terre as one of the top ten dive sites in the world!