WHY??? AS MY MOTHER WOULD SAY JUST BECAUSE!!
a bud of mine and myself along with countless other anglers i am sure wonder WHY ? why is it in different water bodies and in some cases even the same water bodies do fall and winter fish do what they do ?
some go so shallow its like the spawn and yet others go out so deep its like trying to ketch ocean fish .
of course we understand totally about them following the bait ....
so the actual question would be WHY do some shad and other bait go really shallow and yet others go really deep ?
it never has made much sense to me ...
is it due to forage for the bait ?
or water temps that are comfortable ?
or a combination of factors ?
please feel free to give up your thoughts on this .....
thanks for the read .....
and of course Happy Halloween as well
sum kawl me tha outlaw ketchn whales
WHY??? AS MY MOTHER WOULD SAY JUST BECAUSE!!
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Oxygen
water clarity
water temp stability
movement of plankton ie movement of baitfish
Fish move to depth for stability in water temp and oxygen.If the bait is readily available they will have a tendency to stay there all things being equal,but sunfish are not open water proficient feeders with the stamina to constantly chase down their prey like a striped bass. So when they get hungry they will move to shallow water to enable them to use their short burst speed capability. If the baitfish or other food source are there or have moved there also. That's another reason sunfish like crappie,bluegill,and bass ,like structure,to enable them to ambush their prey with short burst.
When you see fish pushing baitfish to the surface,they are using the surface as a means to get the baitfish to turn and slow down so they can catch them.They use the bank,weed beds,etc for the same purpose.They sort out the weaker slower fish first. They are the ones on the outside of the baitball typically because the stronger fish have pushed their way to the middle.
I have broke ice with the boat to then catch fish in shallow water,but typically that will happen when that shallow water has warmed to match the deeper water or at least close.
Also it takes some turbidity in the water or a dark bottom to allow shallow water to warm sufficiently in the winter.Ultra clear water will generally keep the fish deeper.
Rivers and lakes with current have a more widely distributed oxygen and temperature dispersion so fish can stay deeper much of the year,and fish use bottom structure to hold against the current
At any given time their are typically some fish deep. Not all fish move together,not all fish feed together or at the same time ,and year classes of fish will be in different places sometimes
Baitfish follow the plankton.Fish follow the baitfish except when using other food sources like insect hatches,crayfish,etc. Shad are the predominant food source now on almost all bodies of water.Was not always like that,fish use to be shallow more when their predominate food was minnows,fish fry,crayfish,sunfish. The metabolism determines how much the fish has to eat to survive.Water temp plays a role in the metabolism more in some fish than others.
Not all fish are always doing the same thing,all the time.Though sometimes they come close.
Oh yeah,seasonal light changes and the barometer also play into effect of course. Why.....it affects the plankton movement too.
Hows that? A lot of hooey you think?
Last edited by doggone; 10-31-2015 at 06:57 PM.
thanks ,,,that was good read and that sir is a lot of information
sum kawl me tha outlaw ketchn whales
A couple other keys for you....at my home lake in Ohio, it is loaded with rip-rap...the entire banks running all 2500 acres is big rocks....the rocks are all along the bank and run 20 feet into the lake all the way around....in the Fall or Winter the sun will heat up these rocks and the surrounding water...fish will move to water that is only 1-2 degrees warmer. Concrete, pilings, etc, will all heat up water.
In lakes with deep water in Winter after the last turn-overs the water on the bottom can be 39 degrees when the surface is frozen solid....even in lakes that don't freeze, bottom water will be warmer until the Spring turnover.
Then you have springs in most lakes that keep a constant 50 degree temp....unless it is a hot spring.
All of this will fit in with what doggone posted also.
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good 1 feeshman
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I agree with Feeshman too.