Cayuga Lake Invasive Species Dive

On 7-8-24 I paddled my Kayak to an area between Interlaken Beach Road and Serling’s cottage (yes, Rod was a neighbor- I was friends with his Irish Setter, Mike), where there is a steep drop-off. I launched my Trident ROV and took it down to the bottom at about 82 feet. Zoomed around a bit, and then climbed the drop-off and found a school of perch at about 32 feet, or more accurately they found the ROV. The perch were the only native species identified. Mussels EVERWHERE. The lake has both zebra and quagga mussels. Spiny water fleas are everywhere too, another invasive species. Concentrations of those looked like thick clouds on my fish finder sonar. On the video, they are the things that look like stars from the old Star Trek intro zooming by. The ROV is difficult to control, mostly due to the tether (radio waves don’t travel through water well, so the ROV is wired to a device on the surface), but the shape of the unit makes it unwieldy too. Those issues are compounded by the kayak drifting around. The ROV does have reverse, but when it is retreating on the video, I’m repositioning the kayak and not manning the controller. The depth of the ROV and other parameters are displayed at the top of the video. During the initial dive, I turn on the onboard lights. The ROV doesn’t record sound. No orchestral music ala TV nature programs either. Sorry. Length about 6:30.