I was fishing docks at my local marina today, catching bass and some real nice Crappie. But i noticed all around me i kept seeing bubbles coming up from the bottom and could see some shadows of what appeared to be some big fish. Any idea what they were?

carp maybe

Most likely carp. The love to gulp air and blow it out as they feed along the bottom. However, it could also be a big snapping turtle!

Ones with gas :D .

Could have been turtles. Or it could have been any kind of fish or underwater critter upsetting an accumulated pocket of methane from rotting leaves/vegetation.

I vote methane, the gases escape in tiny bubbles even w/o anything disturbing whatever's decomposing on the bottom.

I'm guessing carp digging around in the bottom and releasing trapped gases. I've seem big carp leave bubble trails behind when they get spooked out of shallow water.

I have been in 4ft of clear water and could totally see the bottom. No Vegetation and still the bubbles were rising. I suppose that would have been methane

when gills fan beds, they can release underground gases

I would go with carp as you say you were seeing shadows. Carp feed by blowing in the mud and them picking up what they have disturbed. We actually fish for them using small feathered jigs on the bubbles in water up to 30 feet deep. With experience it is possible to tell the difference between gas and feeding bubbles.

Its usually methane from decomposing bottom material, at least where I am.

Snakeheads. I spent a day out with the Virginia Game and Fish while they were Electo-fishing. They said the give away to any snakehead nest is bubbles.

turtles will also disturb the bottom, bringing up decay by-products.

I highly doubt it was any fish "blowing" bubbles. Like the others said, most likely carp or cats disturbing the bottom. Turtles will do the sme thing. Methane can also come up naturally without disturbance, once the pressure below the surface gets enough to break through.

catfish, bass on beds,carp and or bluegill getting chased or other baitfishsh also turtles.

Catfish, carp, turtles, and alligators.

I have heard of carp having the ability tho cause this, but it is more common for it to have been an amphibian such as a turtle or a frog. It could have even been a water snake- a little bit of a whimsical idea, but possible.

I would guess that the bottom of the lake is made up of mainly muck because it is so eutrophic (shallow and full of life). A lot things break down into muck but mainly seaweed and leaves that fall into the water and sink to the bottom. At a local fishing hole that I go to I have been able to find frenzying bass by looking for these bubbles. When the bass would find either crayfish or a pod of bullhead fry they would attack them. Because these food sources were on the bottom they would stir up the muck, releasing the methane gas and other gas by products produced during the decomposition process, Anytime i would see a large area of these bubbles coming from the bottom, I'd pitch a 1 oz jig and the bass would go crazy over it (probably reaction bite because the jig would be sinking so fast past them). I could usually get 2-4 bass each time this would happen. I'm not saying these fish were definitely bass because there are also carp where i fish and they do the same thing when they take off. Pretty crazy though.

Our waters are carp infested and we often see large patters of bubbles and then see carp jump out of the water shortly after the bubbles..

Happy ones...

 

I may have told this story on here before, but my mother thinks that her beta fish blows bubbles when it's happy. I mean she swears by it... So now every time I see bubbles at the lake I know there is a happy fish in the area...

 

I hope I was able to add some value to this 10yr old post

Likely carp . I saw it yesterday .

On 4/11/2012 at 9:11 PM, The American said:

I vote methane, the gases escape in tiny bubbles even w/o anything disturbing whatever's decomposing on the bottom.

^^^^^ My first thought also.

 

13 hours ago, Trox said:

Happy ones...

 

I may have told this story on here before, but my mother thinks that her beta fish blows bubbles when it's happy. I mean she swears by it... So now every time I see bubbles at the lake I know there is a happy fish in the area...

 

I hope I was able to add some value to this 10yr old post

She's actually right lol.  When beta fish are comfortable in their environment they make bubble nests.  In the wild they use those nests for their eggs.  So, yeah, your moms fish is likely some h word variation of the word happy ?

Hawaiian fish.

 

 

On 4/11/2012 at 6:19 PM, BassAssassin726 said:

I was fishing docks at my local marina today, catching bass and some real nice Crappie. But i noticed all around me i kept seeing bubbles coming up from the bottom and could see some shadows of what appeared to be some big fish. Any idea what they were?

Carp, or snakeheads, or turtles, or bullfrogs, even beavers, the bubbles may or may not be coming from the fish, it may be disturbance of the bottom or grass, or methane.

On 6/8/2022 at 11:55 AM, hokiehunter373 said:

She's actually right lol.  When beta fish are comfortable in their environment they make bubble nests.  In the wild they use those nests for their eggs.  So, yeah, your moms fish is likely some h word variation of the word happy ?

If you change some of the water and lower the ph, they will make a huge bubble nest.