Thread: Two Questions

Anytime buddy!

Little maumelle I've flipped a boat in fast water once a little gun shy of fast water in a flat bottom

Pretty good assessment Lowepro. I would just point out that most of what you describe is a direct result of a lack of dissolved oxygen. This is what you are seeing on sonar, the water is denser where the dissolved oxygen levels are the lowest, thus the harder return. The surface temp of a body of water will always be warmer than below the surface regardless of ambient temperature, seasons, etc., because heat rises. As Slade pointed out, there wont be much of a difference from surface temp to bottom temp in the Winter, so the oxygen will be more evenly distributed throughout the water column, allowing the fish to move more freely as weather patterns dictate. As the surface temps get warmer, the temps below the surface continue to drop. At some point, usually the point that sunlight stops to penetrate, the temps begin to drop at a much faster rate than the water above and below it. This is the thermocline. Water clarity plays a huge part in where the thermocline starts. The water above continues to be replenished with oxygen, while the water below continues to be depleted. This is why fish can be caught in as little as 6" of water when the water temp is pushing 100*. Oxygen levels can be so low in the main body of water, including rivers that haven't had much flow for an extended period of time, that the only place with sufficient oxygen is on a shallow bank or a large dock that has been pounded with waves.

I can tell you that at greers its about 29-32 feet mid to late summer. Been there done that spear fishin.

VERY GOOD CMJ!!!! This clears up the rough edges in my theory. Im on board with ya 100%!

These two pics illustrate where a thermocline starts and stops. It is the area between where the temp starts to rapidly decrease and where it starts to taper off.A couple of examples of what a thermocline looks like on di and 2d

These are all random pics that I pulled off of the net.

As you can see in the second pic, the thermocline(the blue layer) runs from 28 to 42 feet. The bright red layer below indicates a fairly hard return due to extremely low levels of dissolved oxygen, hence no fish below the cline.

wow, super info from both of you. thanks.

As the water warms in spring the colder-Denser water sinks to the bottom. Since it is much denser than the warmer water on top there will be an almost immediate temp change. = thermocline as the temp cools in the first few feet of the cooler water this will hold the more oxygenated water and most of the biomass in the lake. During fall the upper layer begins to cool as it cools it too becomes denser and the water that was really oxygenated becomes dispersed and diluted, the upper layer and lower layer mix and this is the fall turn over. The biomass (fish/bait) become disorientated and move up and down in the water column looking for that comfort level/highly oxygenated water. During this time fishing becomes VERY tough the fish and bait are in a funk till this mixing of the layers stabalizes. During this time the shad in the lake start looking for the plankton they eat and move a LOT and SO DO THE CRAPPIE (ALL SHAD EATERS). They are drawn to incoming reeks and flats in the back of these creeks. This is why the pool on Conway is so good in the fall early winter and why all the shad are in there. This doesnt only happen on Conway but EVERY LAKE IN THE NATION.