12 replies to this topic

[Pleiades]

My favorite lake to fish is a very deep, clear water lake with an abundance of hydrilla. For those of you that fish similar waters, how do you decide what depth to target?

Thanks in advance, Paul.

[mobydick]

I usually start by finding the depth of the primary forage and start there. The primary forage on my favorite lake is shad. I will use electronics to find several schools of shad, then average their depth and start fishing where the bottom is at that depth. For example, if I find shad in 18 to 22 ft of water, ill start fishing bottom that is 20 ft deep, if I don't catch anything there, ill start moving away from bottom but stay at the 20 ft depth.

Ian

[ww2farmer]

You said it has an abundance of hydrilla. Look there. Start by fishing the edge's, both inside (shallow) and the outside (deep) weedlines. If that hauls water get busy fishing right in the thick of it. Move around fishing all depths in the weeds untill you catch a few, then focus on that depth in the grass to see if your on to something.

[WRB]

The only factors that limit the depth a bass will go is: very cold or hot water or a thermocline where the water makes an abrupt temperaute change within a few feet; If there is a thermocline layer developed it also reduces the DO levels below that layer.
Bass are rarely located away from the food source; find the prey and the bass should be close.
Tom

[Sam]

^{There is little oxygen below the thermocline so don't go deeper than that.
You can see it on your electronics.}

[dale.m]

If you don't have electronics you can do what I do. Find out roughly how deep your lake is by the best means you can. Tie on an appropriate depth crankbait and search the area. Once you start getting bit, you know you will of found the right area and depth.

[Nitrofreak]

You said it has an abundance of hydrilla. Look there. Start by fishing the edge's, both inside (shallow) and the outside (deep) weedlines. If that hauls water get busy fishing right in the thick of it. Move around fishing all depths in the weeds untill you catch a few, then focus on that depth in the grass to see if your on to something.

Really good advice right there !!!

X2

The fish can be shallow as well as deep, it really depends on o2 levels and how thick the layer of o2 is, I feel most of your fish will come from around the 20 ft mark if they are not shallow.

Good luck and be safe !!!

[Catch N Release]

^{There is little oxygen below the thermocline so don't go deeper than that.
You can see it on your electronics.}

I recently bought a boat that came with good enough electronics i beleive to be-able to see a thermocline.Could you explain to me what a thermocline would look like on it ?

[Pleiades]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Catch N Release, the thermocline will look like a faint, steady-depth line. If you don't see it, you can adjust your finder's sensitivity.

[Sam]

What Pleiades said above.

Look for the line across your screen.

[WRB]

The thermocline layer can be very dense and easy to see on your sonar as a dark line or less dense and shows as a faded gray zone a few feet thick. What is easier to determine is the life zone where suspended fish, both bait fish and game fish are located. If you don't meter any fish below a certain depth throughout the lake, that is a good indication of the depth of a thermocline.
When setting your sonar sensitivity, use your trolling motor transducer if the console TD is shooting through the boat bottom; set it about 90% than go up or down a few % until the screen clutter background clears up a little and the thermocline should become apparent as a line or darker area within the water column; usually between 20 to 40 feet is most deep structured lake during the summer.
Tom

[Catch N Release]

Thanks

[Wayne P.]