fishinginiowa

I live alone and fish alone most of the time. I have one friend who has gone with me a few times... I think he's the only one who can tolerate my very strange sense of humor... Like my "Here fishy, fishy" call... Hey, it works......

I have an inexpensive depth finder and have not yet been able to determine the thermocline level with it... Any hints on how to adjust it to see the thermocline? I use it in "auto" mode right now, since it's my first ever depth finder... It's the garmin Cuda low priced model...

Hello again... I had such a good response from my last post, I thought I would pose a couple of questions to all of you... Schooling bass - Do bass school just for the purpose of hunting prey like minnows, or are there other reasons? Similar sizes bass group together- Why does it seem that bass of similar size group together? I have seen countless times when I might catch several bass off a bush or tree and they all are in the same size range, such as 3-4 pounds... Do they stick to similar size bass for certain reasons? Is there less of a threat being with bass of similar size or are there other reasons? Large bass become loners- It seems to me that when bass get over 6-8 pounds in size and the "average" of the bass in that body of water are 2-4 pounds, that the large bass seem to be "off by themselves more", is there a reason for this? Do they choose to be loners, or are they sort of cast out by groups of the smaller bass? I don't know all the answers, but I do have a lot of questions... Thanks in advance for any information you have...

Thanks for the replies so far. It's god to know that others use these methods to help locate fish.. I fish just for my personal enjoyment. It takes everything else off my mind and that's why I do it... Plus the fact that it's very interesting and a lot of fun... I hope that the day never comes when I think I know all the answers. I learn something new on each fishing trip... Happy fishing to all of you....

Well, for a PH meter, I bought a "new old stock" Lake systems PH meter. It seems to work well... At least it shows changes in the PH levels and seems to be fairly accurate. For a DO meter, I bought the one from Cabela's. It also seems to work well... I didn't want to spend huge money at first, just to see how it worked, so I bought lower priced meters... I may buy better ones as time goes on, especially considering the age of the Lake Systems PH meter.... I'm just getting into it, but so far it really is very interesting and I can see it changing how I look at fishing, especially on a new lake that I've never been on... You know, once you establish DO, PH, structure and cover, you find out that most of the water is not holding fish... Very interesting stuff indeed! Out here, in Iowa, most of the small lakes are very shallow and many do not have much cover in them... I concentrate on finding some structure, then look for cover, then check DO & PH, but in most of the shallow lakes, in the hot summer, the fish are usually in 0-3 feet of water during hot, dry spells and in 5-8 feet of water after wind and rains come... Combine that with structure and cover and you get fish piled up on cover, or buried in the weeds on the shorelines... What brought me to the DO & PH thing, is that I found I was catching Bass, Pike, Musky, Walleye and Crappie off the same cover!! at the same time!! I mean to say, that shocked me, but it starts to make sense... I'm sure in lakes where there's plenty of structure and cover, that fish can be more picky about where they are located, but with little structure and little cover, you just don't know what will be attached to that spinnerbait or crankbait around here!

Hello all, I'm new to the forum, but not to bass fishing and I have fished in many areas of the country, but I'm still a relative novice and learn new things all the time... I have read so much and talked to so many people, but two factors seem to stick in my mind as the keys to fishing for bass, or any other type of fish... First is Oxygen and Second is PH... Without oxygen content in the water, fish will die, just as we would die withought oxygen... Fish also need to stay in a certain PH range to survive as well, but PH is a little more flexible than oxygen levels, at least it seems to be... Fish will move to where the oxygen and PH levels best support them... They will move to where they are most comfortable physically, while holding to available cover and food sources... True? No matter where you plan to fish, if it does not have the proper DO (dissolved oxygen) & PH levels, fish will not be there and fishing time is wasted, so wouldn't it seem logical to take some DO & PH readings in the area you want to fish, to either rule it in or out for holding bass?? I have purchased a PH & DO meter and have found that, so far, it proves out and have been surprised at how the DO & PH levels fluctuate with the weather conditions... I have found that small shallow lakes in the summer, may only offer habitable water from 0 to 5 or 6 feet, which takes out a Lot of fishing time spent in looking for fish in deeper water, and so on and so forth... How do you all feel about this?