Most of the newer depthfinders will show it. You have to turn up the sensitivity. It will be a dark solid band where most of the fish will be shown also. It sometimes is just blotchy or looks like trash on the screen around the fish.
Is there any instrument that can locate a thermocline?
Most of the newer depthfinders will show it. You have to turn up the sensitivity. It will be a dark solid band where most of the fish will be shown also. It sometimes is just blotchy or looks like trash on the screen around the fish.
Awhile back, I was easing into one of the deep spots I fish, started a
little further back and was really tinkering with the sonar - showed a
really distinct band I'm pretty sure was the thermocline. It was about
20 some-odd feet down over 50 fow. This was right at daybreak.
Later that day, I got to going over the same area trying to look at it again,
and couldn't find it
I'm wondering if the boat traffic picking up disturbs it, or something whacky
is going on with the "goop" plankton critters in the water as the day goes on?
Come to think of it, they did start locking through some tows of barges
later that morning, maybe that is mixing it up? They pull a LOT of water
through the lake doing that, big lock and long drop.
Something changed, that's for sure.
Last edited by J White; 09-18-2007 at 06:51 PM.
Shoals Area Crappie Association
http://www.crappiemasters.net/publish/article_53.shtml
Try this article on the thermocline! Jeff, current really can affect the thermocline. Current can ruin a thermocline pattern and in lakes that flucuate alot you seldom see one. When you see one find brush at the depth or a ledge and fish will school up.
Len,
You have two options. One, as mentioned, is using your depthfinder. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. It depends on the degree of temperature variation and the amount of "crud" that may be built up at that level.
The other option is a temperature gauge. The best for the money at the moment is the "Cline-Finder". These sell for about $140 but will allow you to take the necessary readings over a large depth profile quickly and accurately.
On the subject of plankton versus thermoclines, here is a link to some pics just posted a couple days ago on another board showing the differences between the two.
Plankton vs. Thermocline
-T9
As Team9nine said you can check for temperature change to locate the thermocline. One other option is to check for a slight PH change in the water column - if you do not have a depth finder I would say that checking for the temperture change would be the cheapest and easiest way for finding the thermocline in the waters you fish.
Kelly Matthews
Weiss Lake Guide Service
www.weisslakeguideservices.com