I use to do a lot of scuba diving in lakes when I was much younger. I worked at this one swimming lake and had access to it year round. During my days off I sometimes would take the scuba gear to the lake and dive there. I would swim around just off the lake bottom and watch for anything that moved. The lake bottom consisted of soft mud which was easily stirred up. As long as I was moving forward the water in front of me was clear. After I passed though an area my flippers would stir up the bottom muck and the water was too muddy to see anything. This lake was about 5 acres in size so I had a lot of room to play with.

I often would find small crayfish on the bottom right out in the middle of the lake. The lake was only about 12 to 15 ft deep for the most part. There was some deeper water that existed below the diving platforms but that area has been excavated when they built the lake and the diving platforms. It was about 25 ft deep in this area. I use to dive there also and find coins that fall out of the swimmers pockets. It was always good for about 3 dollars worth of nickles dimes and quarters. This area was hard clay and it was easy to see the money sitting on the bottom. It gave me something to do and it paid for the air tank refill too.

But my memories are of the crayfish that would get frightened as I approached them. The visibility in the lake was not that good so my face mask had to be less than a 24" from the lake bottom to see anything on the bottom. So when I did come across these small crayfish they would flip their tails and vanish in a puff of smokey muck. I was amazed at home many crayfish I saw in each dive. This was during the hot summer months of July and August though.

I suspect that crayfish are in the weeds looking for food too. They may feed on the tiny critters that feed in and among the weeds. Things like mayfly nymphs or snails maybe. Maybe the crayfish are eating the plant material too. Weeds are always a good place to find fish.

I also remember diving in Linton's strip pits years ago. We did a night dive there once. It was a strange dive. Using underwater flashlights we swam along the edge of the weed line in about 15 ft of water. The weeds stopped growing abruptly around 10ft deep. So there was this vertical wall of weeds that we would swim along the side of. I remember finding bass that appeared to be sleeping right at the edge of the weed line. They would not move until you got really close and then they would wake up and dart off when you shined the light directly onto them. This was many years ago back in the early to mid 1970's but I'll bet the fish still behave the same now as they did that night.
Regards,

Moose1am