There are a couple lakes I know of that are used for water supply, but the city also permits recreational activities other than swimming on these lakes. One of these lakes gets quite deep, averaging fifty feet over half of it, I’d say, and 79-92 feet (I’ve seen both figures) deep at the deepest point. With all of this in mind, this leads me to believe that lots of things could get lost—watches, jewelry, keys, money, outboard motors, and what have you, not to mention a good deal of litter.
So, how is this dealt with, as far as lakebottom litter? Are there regularly scheduled “treasure hunts” that I might not know about? Is disposed litter monitored and kept in check?
What about any fish or wildlife at such a depth? Are they a threat to scavenging for impromptu treasure-trove scavengers?
But, I should say also that I have neither the resources nor the interest to go on such an expedition for personal gain. I remain fascinated, however, as to what might be down there.
I have a large magnet, it will lift about 250 pounds underwater. When I first got it, a cousin and I went scavenging at a local lake. We pulled up a couple dozen fishing poles, a couple old metal tackle boxes, at least 2 dozen various tools, 2 outboard motors and a couple hundred pounds of rusty junk and garbage. We also found a bunch of key chains with keys too. We found all this in about a 500 square foot area near a boat launch. We lost a couple larger outboards, they would drop off near the surface. We also snagged a few items that just refused to be pulled up at all. On our next trip to a different lake the next day we scored Snap On tool box full of Snap On tools. We also made a large hook to snag the bigger outboards and we pulled up 4 that day. A local outboard dealer gave us $300 for all the motors. We scavenged a total of 7 lakes and made a little money doing it. The excitement faded when we realized all we were mostly collecting was a lot of rusty junk.
in freshwater lakes in the US, there are unlikely to be any fish dangerous to humans. The exception might be catfish with stinging barbels, but I think that’d only be a concern if you decided to wrestle them. In Florida you might run into alligators or crocodiles, but it’s very unlikely they’d be down at 72 feet.
