Minner's ... "Death Zone" ... ?

[Fishin_Magician]

I had a strange thing happen with my bait while fishing deep water earlier this summer.

I have been fishing 18-25 feet of water down by the dam of one of my favored crappie lakes. (Grand Bayou, Coushatta LA) When I fish it in the winter I drop my baits to the bottom reel up a few cranks (depending on how deep I think they are holding) and then slow troll or drift fish. I never have a problem with bait dieing. However I have been trying this tactic this summer and it seems my bait dies far earlier then expected. They seem to "drown" down there in oxygen depleted water. I can pull one up after 5 minutes and he is rigid and twisted with rigimortis. And all the baits that were 10' or less in depth are still alive.

I know thermo clines develop in the summer months with an oxygen depleted zone below, but I have also heard of people catching allot of fish deeper during the summer. Was wondering if anyone has experienced this...

I have changed my tactics so as to keep my bait alive on the hook. fishing only 8-10' deep in 20+ water.

Just a curious minner problem,

~Fishin' Magician~

[crowderj]

it is possible that u are drowning the minnows, if you are moving constantly. I rarely troll, or even drift but that sounds like the problem. I regularly fish minnows up to 30ft in the summer months ( tightlined while anchored) and they are fine as long as i leave them alone.

[Fishin_Magician]

Thanks for the reply Crowderj,

I knew I had heard of people fishing 20-30' deep with live bait in the summer. I do not know what was going on down there. I did some still fishing and had the same problem so I do not think it was the drag that killed them.

I can get away with slow trolling them around in the winter months. I just hook um through the lips so they are good and stream-lined.

I am not moving very fast maybe 1-3 mhp depending on how hard the wind is blowing. Usually with trolling motor on lowest setting or off if I am comming over some brush or an area I want to baits to drop down.

I know hot water hold less oxygen so that is probably why I am having more trouble in the warm weather.

But I am pretty sure it is the depth that killed them... I consistantly pulled up the 10 foot or less drop lines with happy lively minnnows and the 10 feet or more drop downs had dead minnows with a "S" curves spine from rigimortis. A couple times we were stationary over brush and this was still happening. Even after dark when we anchored and put out lights.

I don't know maybe it was some condition cause by the water warming up very quickly in the lake. But it seemed like minner death zone if you dropped one past 10-12 feet.

~Fishin' Magician~

[CrappiePappy]

I believe what you are experiencing, is exactly what you suspect. The Thermocline seems to have set up around the 10ft depth ... and anything below that is a "dead zone". This occurs on some lakes, and at different depths for different lakes (some here in ky have Thermoclines at 10-15ft, while others are at 20-30ft -- during the same time of year). It just depends on the makeup of the lake.
I always figured - if the minnow can't survive at a certain depth - I doubt the baitfish in the lake can, either ... and so the Crappie won't be there, so I don't fish below that depth.

Another problem that I've encountered, when using minnows during the hot months, is having them die before ever getting to the 10ft depths (or deeper). This is when the minnows are kept in "cold" water, in the boat, then put on a hook and dropped into very warm water. The shock kills them before they ever get down to where the fish usually are. I buy minnows from a market that has them in a tank - cold water and circulator pump. I put them in a plastic bag, about half full of tank water, pump oxygen from a tank into the bag and tie off the top. I can transport these "bags" of minnows for several hours (in the livewell or vehicle) - or keep them in the fridge for a couple of days. But, once I get to the lake ... I put the bagged minnows in the livewell & turn on the pump. I let the bag sit in the livewell while I travel to my first "minnow" spot. I put the main minnow bucket in the livewell and allow it to fill with water. Then I open the bag and pour some of the minnows into the minnow bucket, and watch them to see if they are lively or if they start to die. If everything is OK ... I'll pour the remaining minnows & water, from the bag, into the minnow bucket. Then I'll put some water from the lake (outside the boat) into the minnow bucket ... a little at a time, until the temps of the surface water & the minnow bucket water feel the same. THEN I'll put the minnow bucket out into the lake ... and fill the small "personal" minnow buckets with lake water & dip a dozen or so from the main bucket, and put them in the individual buckets. I lose a lot less minnows, after going thru that proceedure ... especially in hot weather/water conditions. It sounds like a lot of doing ... but, it takes less than 10mins. So I usually shut down about 50-75yds or more from where I intend to fish ... and let my partner ease us to the spot, while I tend to the minnows, or else we cast the surrounding areas while waiting for the water to temper. .............cp

[chaunc]

I dont even bother with minnows when it gets to hot. I go with plastics or hair jigs in minnow imitating colors. If i need too, i'll add a crappie nibble to it. I can fish this setup, and catch fish, from top to bottom. No need to worry about minnows dying. Give this style a try and see if it works for you too.

[Fishin_Magician]

I will have to give that tactic a shot CP. I have been using my livewell to keep minnows in so I could empty the bag out into it and then slowly pump in lake water from the intake/pump. That would probably give them some time to adjust before I hit them with the hot lake water. I usually just put them straight away from a bucket filled with some of the bait shops water into the livewell pumped full of lake water. Usually do not loose many but that does not mean they are not being stressed. We got to look out for our minners emotions if we want to catch fish eh?

And chaunc I think you are right about trying to be less bait dependant in the hot summer months. Some of my best nights all our numbers were on jigs. I need to break down and give nibbles a shot... I always just stick a minnow on a bare jig head if I want a scented bait to cast. But so many people swear by the nibbles I aught to give them a shot.

Thanks for the knowledge guys,

~Fishin' Magician~

[Fishnbuddy]

I agree with chaunc. When it gets hot minnows are a pain in the neck to fool with fishing. I do better with jigs, crankbaits and spinners then.