Muscle diving on KY lake

[RUGER]

I used to work with a guy that muscle dived in his spare time as a part time second job.
I got to thinking about it the other day for some reason and got to wondering about it.
Got to thinking and I haven't seen anyone doing that in years.
Do they still do it there at all?

 

[cbhunter]

It is not nearly as popular but yes, I still know of a couple people that do it. EVERYONE done it back in the day it seems. I know my dad and his friends done it a lot.

 

[JimFromTN]

Used to be huge back in the 80's and early 90's. I think the decline was a result of imports from Asia. There may have also been some regulations passed as well which hurt the industry. There is still a fresh water pearl museum on 641 which never looks like it is open and if you are ever near the Bass Bay area, I think they still sell some fresh water pearl jewelry at the marina. I think the guy who owns it or used to own it, was in the business. Bass Bay was for sale a few years ago. Don't know if it ever sold. There were allot of people out of Bass Bay that muscle dived. There are even stories of people murdering an entire family for their shells in the area. Needless to say, there was allot of money in it.

 

[WTM]

i used to do it. my cousin and i built a brail boat when we were 17. ran another brail boat for the matlocks and used his diving rig in his off days. my mom was friends and worked with johnny latandresse when i was younger. pretty much grew up with his kids gina and jk. the button business used to be big until they made them out of plastic. they still had business in Japan with seed pearl production for japanese oysters and his jewelry factory my mom worked at. it all started going down hill in the late 90's. japanese oyster beds died out and so did the demand. in the mid 80's my cousin and i pulled about $350 a day in the summers from river shells enough to setup my college fund.

the guy jim is talking about is james peach and to be honest if he was laying on the side of the road burning and screaming, i wouldnt muster up enough piss to put him out. im not going into it, but when a scumbag sticks a knife in the backs and spreads lies about 2 good men in my family, well i have no sympathy or empathy.

the pearl museum was at the birdsong marina before it burned last year. bob still raises hand grown pearls in the hang nets by the marina.

 

[cbhunter]

i used to do it. my cousin and i built a brail boat when we were 17. ran another brail boat for the matlocks and used his diving rig in his off days. my mom was friends and worked with johnny latandresse when i was younger. pretty much grew up with his kids gina and jk. the button business used to be big until they made them out of plastic. they still had business in Japan with seed pearl production for japanese oysters and his jewelry factory my mom worked at. it all started going down hill in the late 90's. japanese oyster beds died out and so did the demand. in the mid 80's my cousin and i pulled about $350 a day in the summers from river shells enough to setup my college fund.

the guy jim is talking about is james peach and to be honest if he was laying on the side of the road burning and screaming, i wouldnt muster up enough piss to put him out. im not going into it, but when a scumbag sticks a knife in the backs and spreads lies about 2 good men in my family, well i have no sympathy or empathy.

the pearl museum was at the birdsong marina before it burned last year. bob still raises hand grown pearls in the hang nets by the marina.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought he reopened the museum?

 

[JimFromTN]

i used to do it. my cousin and i built a brail boat when we were 17. ran another brail boat for the matlocks and used his diving rig in his off days. my mom was friends and worked with johnny latandresse when i was younger. pretty much grew up with his kids gina and jk. the button business used to be big until they made them out of plastic. they still had business in Japan with seed pearl production for japanese oysters and his jewelry factory my mom worked at. it all started going down hill in the late 90's. japanese oyster beds died out and so did the demand. in the mid 80's my cousin and i pulled about $350 a day in the summers from river shells enough to setup my college fund.

the guy jim is talking about is james peach and to be honest if he was laying on the side of the road burning and screaming, i wouldnt muster up enough piss to put him out. im not going into it, but when a scumbag sticks a knife in the backs and spreads lies about 2 good men in my family, well i have no sympathy or empathy.

the pearl museum was at the birdsong marina before it burned last year. bob still raises hand grown pearls in the hang nets by the marina.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought he reopened the museum?

There is a freshwater pearl museum on 641 about 5 miles north of Camden which looks like it is closed.

 

[Smo]

I saw a Guy the other day up in Cane Creek diving and another Guy about a month ago in Big Richland diving.

The Glory Days of diving came and went, there was a time on Pickwick Lake in 91' where you couldn't hardly find a spot out on the main river that didn't have feet and knee prints in the bottom.

We got into some of the "Biggest Boards" i had ever seen back up in Bear Creek.

People would follow you out of the ramp of the morning just to see where you were working.

Most would make a jump or two in the twisted root infested channel with "Zero" visibility and crank up and leave.

When they did we would slide up out of the channel onto the flats. find a stump find a shell or two.

Easy pickings!

Like WTM said Japans beds died out and the market had been flooded with shells after that memorable Summer.

The price of shells went to over $20.00 a pound that year, the big lake boards we were in averaged around two to two and a half pounds without their meat.

Cleaned shells brought more money , but on the smaller shells like Maple Leaf &Warty Backs
it wasn't worth the effort.

The shells were sold to Local buyers who hauled them up here to Camden.

Man that was a Great Summer.out on the water and making good money too... that's hard to beat.

Maybe they will start raising the price on Carp and everyone can flood the market with them and eliminate the problem.

 

[WTM]

I saw a Guy the other day up in Cane Creek diving and another Guy about a month ago in Big Richland diving.

The Glory Days of diving came and went, there was a time on Pickwick Lake in 91' where you couldn't hardly find a spot out on the main river that didn't have feet and knee prints in the bottom.

We got into some of the "Biggest Boards" i had ever seen back up in Bear Creek.

People would follow you out of the ramp of the morning just to see where you were working.

Most would make a jump or two in the twisted root infested channel with "Zero" visibility and crank up and leave.

When they did we would slide up out of the channel onto the flats. find a stump find a shell or two.

Easy pickings!

Like WTM said Japans beds died out and the market had been flooded with shells after that memorable Summer.

The price of shells went to over $20.00 a pound that year, the big lake boards we were in averaged around two to two and a half pounds without their meat.

Cleaned shells brought more money , but on the smaller shells like Maple Leaf &Warty Backs
it wasn't worth the effort.

The shells were sold to Local buyers who hauled them up here to Camden.

Man that was a Great Summer.out on the water and making good money too... that's hard to beat.

Maybe they will start raising the price on Carp and everyone can flood the market with them and eliminate the problem.

the biggest boards i ever saw came from KY, albeit they werent legal. i never strayed on that side of the law by my little brother and step brother did. it cost my dad about 20 grand to bail those two out of jail. i kept telling him they needed to stay in jail and they wouldnt do it again and again and again, etc.

lol, back in the 70's and 80's KY game and fish would just write you ancouple hundred dollar ticket and tell you to keep coming back as long as you kept the fines paid. they started jailing divers in the 90's. my little brother came up with some unique ideas to hide air tanks.

 

[WTM]

i used to do it. my cousin and i built a brail boat when we were 17. ran another brail boat for the matlocks and used his diving rig in his off days. my mom was friends and worked with johnny latandresse when i was younger. pretty much grew up with his kids gina and jk. the button business used to be big until they made them out of plastic. they still had business in Japan with seed pearl production for japanese oysters and his jewelry factory my mom worked at. it all started going down hill in the late 90's. japanese oyster beds died out and so did the demand. in the mid 80's my cousin and i pulled about $350 a day in the summers from river shells enough to setup my college fund.

the guy jim is talking about is james peach and to be honest if he was laying on the side of the road burning and screaming, i wouldnt muster up enough piss to put him out. im not going into it, but when a scumbag sticks a knife in the backs and spreads lies about 2 good men in my family, well i have no sympathy or empathy.

the pearl museum was at the birdsong marina before it burned last year. bob still raises hand grown pearls in the hang nets by the marina.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought he reopened the museum?

yeah he may have, i never go in there just pass by it on the way to the ramp. it wasnt much of a museum anyway. just a room in his office. i wonder how many people were disappointed when they went in there lol. bob is a nice guy though.

 

[WTM]

i used to do it. my cousin and i built a brail boat when we were 17. ran another brail boat for the matlocks and used his diving rig in his off days. my mom was friends and worked with johnny latandresse when i was younger. pretty much grew up with his kids gina and jk. the button business used to be big until they made them out of plastic. they still had business in Japan with seed pearl production for japanese oysters and his jewelry factory my mom worked at. it all started going down hill in the late 90's. japanese oyster beds died out and so did the demand. in the mid 80's my cousin and i pulled about $350 a day in the summers from river shells enough to setup my college fund.

the guy jim is talking about is james peach and to be honest if he was laying on the side of the road burning and screaming, i wouldnt muster up enough piss to put him out. im not going into it, but when a scumbag sticks a knife in the backs and spreads lies about 2 good men in my family, well i have no sympathy or empathy.

the pearl museum was at the birdsong marina before it burned last year. bob still raises hand grown pearls in the hang nets by the marina.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought he reopened the museum?

There is a freshwater pearl museum on 641 about 5 miles north of Camden which looks like it is closed.

dont know what youre talking about. peach had the jewelry factory on the left on 641 just passed the shell station on the left. he finally went out of business year before last after 20 years of going out of business sales. he even got busted by the feds in nashville and knoxville for the same business practices.

unless you are talking about the store and bbq place beside lower big sandy rd my step grandad used to own. he sold it to a guy that had some arrow head collection or something or the other.

pilot knob museum used to have a brail boat and some mussel shell stuff but dont know if they still do. i thought it strange to put something like that in a civil war museum.

 

[cbhunter]

i used to do it. my cousin and i built a brail boat when we were 17. ran another brail boat for the matlocks and used his diving rig in his off days. my mom was friends and worked with johnny latandresse when i was younger. pretty much grew up with his kids gina and jk. the button business used to be big until they made them out of plastic. they still had business in Japan with seed pearl production for japanese oysters and his jewelry factory my mom worked at. it all started going down hill in the late 90's. japanese oyster beds died out and so did the demand. in the mid 80's my cousin and i pulled about $350 a day in the summers from river shells enough to setup my college fund.

the guy jim is talking about is james peach and to be honest if he was laying on the side of the road burning and screaming, i wouldnt muster up enough piss to put him out. im not going into it, but when a scumbag sticks a knife in the backs and spreads lies about 2 good men in my family, well i have no sympathy or empathy.

the pearl museum was at the birdsong marina before it burned last year. bob still raises hand grown pearls in the hang nets by the marina.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought he reopened the museum?

yeah he may have, i never go in there just pass by it on the way to the ramp. it wasnt much of a museum anyway. just a room in his office. i wonder how many people were disappointed when they went in there lol. bob is a nice guy though.

I'll be the first to admit, I don't know him personally although I have met him before but, for whatever reason, you hear a lot of folks bad mouth him. Again, I don't know him like that.

 

[WTM]

well its a marina. everything is overpriced at marina's and he could be an ahole to some people. some folks thinks he is a yankee. he has a yankee accent but he grew up in camden. my father in law coached him in football.

 

[JimFromTN]

dont know what youre talking about. peach had the jewelry factory on the left on 641 just passed the shell station on the left. he finally went out of business year before last after 20 years of going out of business sales. he even got busted by the feds in nashville and knoxville for the same business practices.

unless you are talking about the store and bbq place beside lower big sandy rd my step grandad used to own. he sold it to a guy that had some arrow head collection or something or the other.

pilot knob museum used to have a brail boat and some mussel shell stuff but dont know if they still do. i thought it strange to put something like that in a civil war museum.

You are right. I was thinking the Rockman Museum and Antiques. For some reason I was thinking it was associated with the freshwater pearl museum. The BBQ place and gas station on the corner of renoldsburg road and 641 is the halfway market. By the way, if you have $1.9 million laying around, you can buy Bass Bay Marina.

 

[WTM]

dont know what youre talking about. peach had the jewelry factory on the left on 641 just passed the shell station on the left. he finally went out of business year before last after 20 years of going out of business sales. he even got busted by the feds in nashville and knoxville for the same business practices.

unless you are talking about the store and bbq place beside lower big sandy rd my step grandad used to own. he sold it to a guy that had some arrow head collection or something or the other.

pilot knob museum used to have a brail boat and some mussel shell stuff but dont know if they still do. i thought it strange to put something like that in a civil war museum.

You are right. I was thinking the Rockman Museum and Antiques. For some reason I was thinking it was associated with the freshwater pearl museum. The BBQ place and gas station on the corner of renoldsburg road and 641 is the halfway market. By the way, if you have $1.9 million laying around, you can buy Bass Bay Marina.

yeah it was my step grand dads store before. it was called Clydes BBQ and gas. he sold it to rockman after he opened the BBQ place in Camden.

 

[bluball]

Mussel diving was the bomb,easy way to make good money.When i was young thats what all my buddies dod for a living,easy money while it lasted

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[WTM]

Mussel diving was the bomb,easy way to make good money.When i was young thats what all my buddies dod for a living,easy money while it lasted

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

lol, yeah didnt even need a boat. jeff and i could go down to sulfur creek and toe dig 3 ridge and maple leafs and make 40 bucks each in about an hour. in 1983 that was good weekend drinking and eating money. lake shells were $2.50 to $3.00 a pound green.

 

[Smo]

I saw 4 Guys, they were in a V bottom boat with no motor,

They each had a paddle and would paddle out onto the flat in 4 to 5 foot of water,
then they would jump in and hang onto the boat and toe dig.

They could pick an area clean in just a little while.

The big Bear Creek boards were a good 3" thick at the hinge and averaged 6 1/2 to 7 ".

Good looking shells not river'ed up . At the most just a small white spot on the heel. :super:

Those were good times for sure... arty:

 

[pressfit]

i used to do it. my cousin and i built a brail boat when we were 17. ran another brail boat for the matlocks and used his diving rig in his off days. my mom was friends and worked with johnny latandresse when i was younger. pretty much grew up with his kids gina and jk. the button business used to be big until they made them out of plastic. they still had business in Japan with seed pearl production for japanese oysters and his jewelry factory my mom worked at. it all started going down hill in the late 90's. japanese oyster beds died out and so did the demand. in the mid 80's my cousin and i pulled about $350 a day in the summers from river shells enough to setup my college fund.

the guy jim is talking about is james peach and to be honest if he was laying on the side of the road burning and screaming, i wouldnt muster up enough piss to put him out. im not going into it, but when a scumbag sticks a knife in the backs and spreads lies about 2 good men in my family, well i have no sympathy or empathy.

the pearl museum was at the birdsong marina before it burned last year. bob still raises hand grown pearls in the hang nets by the marina.

What is a Brail boat?

 

[pressfit]

I knew of guys who did it on Wilson and wheeler lake.. it was just a cover for them to find Indian artifacts

 

[WTM]

i used to do it. my cousin and i built a brail boat when we were 17. ran another brail boat for the matlocks and used his diving rig in his off days. my mom was friends and worked with johnny latandresse when i was younger. pretty much grew up with his kids gina and jk. the button business used to be big until they made them out of plastic. they still had business in Japan with seed pearl production for japanese oysters and his jewelry factory my mom worked at. it all started going down hill in the late 90's. japanese oyster beds died out and so did the demand. in the mid 80's my cousin and i pulled about $350 a day in the summers from river shells enough to setup my college fund.

the guy jim is talking about is james peach and to be honest if he was laying on the side of the road burning and screaming, i wouldnt muster up enough piss to put him out. im not going into it, but when a scumbag sticks a knife in the backs and spreads lies about 2 good men in my family, well i have no sympathy or empathy.

the pearl museum was at the birdsong marina before it burned last year. bob still raises hand grown pearls in the hang nets by the marina.

What is a Brail boat?

a boat for pulling brail hooks.(kind of like a big treble hook but not sharp and have little steel balls where the point would be) you pull a set on each side(marine 2x4 with a bunch of brail hooks along it). you drop them and let them hit bottom, then slow troll. mussels are open under water when they feed and when a hook hits them the close and clamp on the hook. go too fast and you lose them and go too slow they close before they clamp a hook. pretty much at idle speed.

we made our boat out of 3/4" marine plywood, 4x4's and 2x4's. sealed them with rtv and many coats of poly.