France Park Indiana

[starsfan96]

Has anyone dove France Park outside of Kokomo Indiana??? I am going there next weekend w/ my dive club and would like to know how it is.

[effinghamdiver]

second that! It isn't too far from me, and I wouldn't mind some feed back!

[starsfan96]

I went and dove it, it was okay, its a rock quarry dive for sure. But if you go dive along the left wall there are alot more fish and life there, b/c the rocks make a good habitat for them. It's not a bad dive in the summer when it's warm.

[in_cavediver]

France park - logged probably 75+ dives there. Max depth is around 30' or so (if the waters up). In the summer, water temps go quite high with a thermocline around 19-21 feet. Was there a month ago and wore a skin. Winter, the water gets a bit more viscous and some winters support ice diving.

Attractions, well, on the roadbed, you find first the lifeguard platform anchors, then shortly thereafter some old benches. Moving on, you come to a set of train wheels with a conference phone. (disconnected of course). Continueing, there is the screen of a rock crusher, a railroad tie fish habitat, the shell of a school bus and a communications bubble. Just make sure if you use it to breathe from your reg not the ambient air. No idea what its o2 content is.

Off the main drag, you'll find a culvert on one wall, a buoyancy course, a truck and a formation known as 'crappie rock'. Crappie rock at one time held the 2 largest crappie I have ever seen. World record big.

One of the other great attractions are the huge paddlefish. Several are 5+ feet long. They tend to hang out in the back 1/3 or so of the quarry in about 10-15 feet of water. They are filter feeders and very wary of bubbles so snorkeling of out of water observation are the best ways to see them.

Hope this helps..

[dludwig]

Hope to dive there next month w/ Normal Illinois' MDS fall Spoonbill Expedition

[BuzzF117]

This will prob be my last "official" dive of 07 on Dec 2nd

[digitalman]

Originally Posted by dludwig

Hope to dive there next month w/ Normal Illinois' MDS fall Spoonbill Expedition

How was this dive? I'm new to the MDS shop area and wondered if this is an annual event?

[Brewer]

we were out there last week and its as warm as the kiddy pool. Took a few good pics or the paddlefish. They are truly ugly.

[blcard]

Just did my cert dives this past weekend there. Too bad though... they had a triathalon in the morning and the vis was maybe 3 feet.

[diverdan_51]

My daughter and I dove there on Aug. 10 (the weekend before the triathalon) and vis was only about 10 feet even then. It's warm, shallow, and best of all, only an hour from home. It's in a county park, but Diving Den out of Kokomo, IN runs the diving op there. The France Park diving schedule is posted on the Diving Den website. We've seen some monster smallmouth bass and bluegills over the years, but I have yet to see any of the paddlefish that live there.