Klass Act
10-26-2007, 01:41 PM
There are some things in fishing that go un-noticed. There are some things taken for granted. There are even some things that seem so basic that they stop us in our tracks once we look at them in a slightly different way. Here is something that may do all of the above for some of you. While you may see "Bass" used frequently in what follows, with just a little adjustment in species orientation, many doors can open to those on the road to mastering the learning curve. Get yourself a basket of Friday Night Fish fry, and a drink or two of your favorite beverage, then sit back and absorb.
Optional - Picture/imagine something like a partial treasure map and a bass / walleye/fishing boat in the middle; casting/pitching/back-trolling to a big “X” marked on the map.
X marks the spot. Luke 5: 4 through 7.
The day to day catching of fish can be repeated in the sense that we may do the same things every time we are out on the water. How right or wrong that may be, proves itself at the end of the day.
If we can nail 5 random fish in a day, we can be within the top 10% of all fishermen on a tough body of water by giving conditions just a little more thought. We can reach that goal if we apply what we learned from our day(s) on the water. There are no weird chants to make us better at what we do. But, there are some basic things, and some new things we could look at to have that extra effort pay off. How those things come together for us will always be the secret to our success.
Those 20+ fish a day catches are not out of your reach. I can remember several fishing sorties where the principals of this report paid off handsomely. Putting this method together. as it should be, proves Ralph Waldo Emerson’s’ wisdom on “The years teach much which the days never knew”.
Pre-Planning the Day:
The local weather is the core of building the day. Look at it as a blueprint that may have to be changed as the day goes along. Then again, it could very well be a Treasure Map; more on this later. Your lake map spread on the Kitchen Table the night before your outing, the time you spend here before your day on the lake, will take on new meaning for you.
Shallow Water Changes, Cycles, and Stability.
As fishermen we are all affected by changes in the environment. As we will see here there are many changes to contend with. The observable facts are tried and true about these changes and why species such as Large Mouth Bass are seemingly turned off; don’t bite as well at these times in shallow water. What follows here will help in understanding changes, cycles, and stability.
These shallow fish are turned off, or on by, will or won’t bite because of, the “Change(s)” in their immediate stabilized environment. If we get hung up on any one change, or a concrete , or segregated definition of stabilization rather than the combined difference various changes have on one another, we may come up short sighted. Sometimes we have to go beyond what the best of the dock talk, formal education, and dated experience wants to tell us.
Simply said, good and bad stress level relationships and their mix – offsetting factors can be overlooked if we are not careful. Changes in water temperature, changes in light penetration, changes in oxygen content, in water clarity, in Ph, changes in fishing pressure, in atmospheric pressure, in water pressure, changes in water density/viscosity, changes in water movement and more, all add, subtract, or mix in unique ways. These trade offs are either advocates or opponents of one another. These components have a exponential quality to them, their effect on fish, and acceptable environmental stabilization. Changes prompt a decrease or increase in bass metabolic rates, neuron energy, hormone activity, etc., carrying over to more or less induced activity.
The effect of change(s) on feeding then depends on alternatives that may be acceptable or unacceptable over the time they are experienced by the fish. Sometimes these changes are good for the fish - providing for better than average activity/feeding situations. Sometimes the collection of change is bad - worse than average. These are the times we need to be more subtle, more patient, have more accurate bait presentation, as well as better thought out location factors and approaches. Unfortunately we have no way of telling whether or not that fish has eaten recently. However, heightened metabolism, competition, and relatively easily obtainable food source, can often override normal routine.
Then of course there is always adaptation. Adjustment to conditions, whether temporary or permanent, occurs for practical reasons. Those reasons are survival related and nothing more. Once stress levels become overbearing and cannot be relieved or adapted to, fish will perish. Understand the changes that occur within your lake and whether they will provide more or less of the good or bad ingredients needed - and you will increase you ability to catch those fish.
Commonly referred to as Cold blooded animals – a misnomer - properly referred to as “Ectotherms”. These are animals that do not have an internal mechanism for regulating body temperature fish, snakes, lizards, reptiles, their body temperatures, metabolism, and chemistry more or less matches the surroundings they live in; relying on solar energy captured by the environment (all practical energy, however manifested, comes from the Sun and the Moon). Unlike warm blooded creatures, fish have no comparable way to counterbalance the stress of having to maintain an imbalance. Depending on their chosen niche or starting point, fish become, or lean toward being active when warmer than normal and inactive – moving slower - when colder. In addition, fish have to maintain some consciousness of neutral buoyancy in order to function at their best. Internal gas bladders are the ticket for maintaining neutral buoyancy. Too much fish movement up or down in the water column, or for too long a period of time produces an imbalance of water pressure on the outside and the amount of gas within the gas bladder. Making an adjustment to maintain neutral buoyancy causes stress. Additionally, when a fish moves it produces energy. Muscle movement produces heat energy which to some minor extent offsets normal body temps influenced by external water temperatures. When environmental changes occur, fish have to adjust. Too much, or constant adjustment throws their systems out of whack, stunts growth, and they can not maintain any sense of favorable normalcy one niche to another.
If that environment they live in changes drastically and rapidly enough in one or more ways, they shut down in part or in whole while making an adjustment to those changes. How fast they adapt or how much they need to do so depend on factors we will get into later.
Some Changes to Consider:
After a period of relative consistent-stable weather, a Cold Front moves through your area. Cold Fronts are low pressure weather systems. Cold Fronts normally produce (“L”) low atmospheric pressure as they pass and immediate (“H”) high pressure thereafter. There is also the pall of humidity and to a lesser degree the dew point where their partial ability to block ultraviolet rays from the Sun is affected. These four changes alone tend to relocate fish up or down in the water column, or into hiding otherwise even if only through subsequent inactivity. These fish become figuratively attached to , or anchored to protective surroundings, or way of behaving to wait out the changes; equalizing lost stability. The words “up“, “down”, and “into” are both subjective, and objective. Up or down can mean inches, or it can mean several feet depending on where the fish started when the rapid changes occur. It can mean no physical movement at all, but rather a change in attitude, or physiological processes. Objective does mean that the fish will go only as far as they need to go to find acceptable comfort, and they will make this move more or less in a straight line, or direct response to their immediate environment. Indeed, if conditions are right to begin with, fish may not move at all; preferring to hunker down or suspend in place.
But, there can be more “change“.
Rain:
Cold Fronts usually produce rain and runoff. Falling rain has a different Ph than the lake surface, and that same rain is often of a different temperature; both effecting - changing - the surface or upper layer of the lake. Weather patterns change drastically to much darker than normal skis, and
the wind picks up a great deal, putting further chop on the surface. This in turn enhances the darkness below the waters surface making for both less visibility and greater camouflage through an underwater shadow/ripple effect; promoting unseen movement of predator and prey alike. Predators chase bait during the cold fronts because they know it has changed the core of their life style. They know through life cycle conditioning and genetic inheritance what “changes” are ahead, and how long it might be before they can or will effectively feed again. In one example, this is evident through observation that bait scatters because plankton, the food of many bait fish, rises or sinks or moves more dramatically during these times making it not as easy to be found. Predators are more on the prowl when hunting success is more likely; what better time to achieve their objectives than when conditions are confused and unsettled.
Runoff:
Runoff produces greater turbidity of the water surface in shallow water. The more rain water, mixed with flora materials, which runs off shore features into the water the greater the turbidity and the longer more far reaching the effect on the water column. This in turn again changes the surface water Ph, light penetration, and the water temperature in the area of the runoff.
It then takes several days of stable weather for all these “Changes” to settle into, or be absorbed by, or mixed into the environment and fish resume greater activity levels. The Change is no longer a factor affecting them. Stability sets in gradually and again changes the environment back to some semblance of normal.
Catch and Release, and/or Selective Harvest:
Fish Scales and body slime/mucus reduce water loss, and aid in insulation. When landing fish, handling, and releasing them back to the water, we must take special care not to cause undue stress/change by inadvertently removing these built in protective substances. Yes, still another unstable situation can arise here by making the fish work harder to replace their overall physiological protective state. When in doubt practice Selective Harvest rather than wasting the game to uncertainty.
Exceptions to Rules:
Fish don’t live by the letter of natures law, they live by its spirit.
Enter the primary objective in staying alive; eating. Unless completely satisfied, predators are opportunistic feeders. Even then they have been known to gorge themselves beyond full if the right opportunity presents itself. Seasonal differences also play a role. Winter may be coming with its slow times and relatively absent or readily available food supply. Fish will forgo any number of unlikable things to take advantage of a short-lived, and bunched up feeding opportunity. This too can be a change that is learned over time, becoming a part of the stability for a given body of water, or even a part of that waters territory, and the community of bass (fish) that live in it.
Thermocline, Oxycline, other cline Set-Up, interaction, and Turnover:
(A short version.)
A thermocline is a part of a lake’s summer water stratification. There are normally three layers to the total stratification. These layers of water are called:
• Epilimnion
• Metalimnion
• Hypolimnion
A thermocline usually sets up horizontally in the middle layer and is part of a stratum of water with greater practical stability than any other part of the lake.
The set up and depth of the thermocline (if any) can be shallower or deeper, sooner or later in the season, and long lived or not as long lived depending in part on:
• Depth of the water
• Force of the wind and water current action
• Draw down and flooding situations
• Temperature and volume of water in each stratified layer
• Water clarity
• Direction, duration, and angle of the Sun’s Rays
• Lake basin formation
All of these things and their interplay will tell us a lot about what is going on there.
Cold water sinks because it’s more dense and heavier than warm water. Deeper water is under a great deal more pressure - PSI - than the warmer water above it. Anything under pressure wants to escape that pressure if it can. When the shallow water temperature decrease’s to a point where it no longer has an offsetting factor –holding power - to the water volume part of the equation, the shallower but larger volume of water gains weight so to speak, and pushes downward (gravity), mixing rapidly with whatever is beneath it. At that point all layers would then be of equal temperature, density, and viscosity – the fall turnover once again.
The steeper, narrower, and less wind directed the part of the lakes basin, the shallower, the thermocline will set up, and sooner and the faster the Fall Turnover will occur there. The exception to this entry is stained water. While the thermocline will set up shallower in stained water, the heat retention quality of such water will make the time till turnover longer. In some cases thermoclines do not set up at all. These cases are depth and current related, along with the interplay of the other factors mentioned above to one degree or another.
Warm water holds less dissolved oxygen than cold water. However, the deeper we figuratively look into the water column the more Dissolved Oxygen dissipates. Aside from dead and rotting veggie and animal material consuming any oxygen found deep, wind and wave causing oxygen cant mix deep, colder water is more dense and viscous; acting as a barrier, and deep water pressure squeezes oxygen molecules toward the path of least resistance. All of these actions develop an oxycline just as real and attractive as the ways and means of approaching the thermocline. Other clines such as pH, light penetration, etc., react similarly relative to hydrodynamics, and thermodynamics.
The traditional “Turnover” is a seasonal condition, usually late Fall of the year, where due to colder temperatures setting in from above, the distinctive temperature layered segments of the water column upset each other; thereby mixing all water equally. You will learn later in this material that the Fall “turnover” does not occur all over the lake at the same time. Stratification and turnovers may not happen at all in some lakes and some parts of lakes are continually stable year round. You will learn that the mixing process creates dissolved oxygen levels in some areas deeper and more uniform than before the build up or breakdown of water stratification.
The turnovers characterize a change in the lives of fish. All fish are affected. When Fall surface water cools to near that of the layer below it the rapid turnover occurs. Plankton are befuddled with rising bottom nutrients; food sources become more spread out and confused with non food items. Little fish groups scatter, and the big ones are turned off for a time. Fish slow down because of the uniform colder water temperature. But, they won't leave their own kind. As with some other unfavorable changes, fish tend to roam more to get more of what they need and to find something that suits their needs. What amount of time does it takes for stabilization to set in? Watch the weather. If the weather is stable for several days just after the turnover, the chances of stabilization are greater and shorter in transition. Spring turnover is a more gradual layering of water from the surface down and is longer in transition. The lake water comes to life in the spring, and puts into motion all that is essential to propagation; leading to the good times of summer; a time of plenty.
If I were trying to find fish during Fall or Spring turnover I would start at the effective light penetration depth level for your lake and move shallower from there. Say twice as deep as the mid lake facing weed growth for your lake for example. Follow what bait may be present first, and see if it relates to conventional structure and any underwater current. Look for areas that approximate holding bins, deeper sharper drop-offs adjacent to traditional spawning areas. Fish don't go un-stabilized for long. Sooner rather than later they will end up in these areas. While there are smaller areas that are defined contrary to the rule, for greatest consistency, go for the side of the lake that is shallower than the other and look for areas that receive the most winter time sunshine. Sometimes you can't find all of these ingredients together in big spots. But, do the best you can with what you have or fish another lake that has what you need. Then, you can always ask the Ice Fisherman and bait shops that cater to them, where their historically good spots are. The turnover Bass won't be far away from those spots before it ices up, and they definably will be there just before spawning.
Another Note on Stabilization:
Water entering the lake through creeks or underwater springs represents stabilization. This water is not affected by the turnover. In many ways this water is a flowing river or stream, it is often somewhat warmer, and has greater oxygen content for some distance into the lake. Underwater springs don’t have too much – on the spot - oxygen in and of themselves. But, if shallow enough and if the flow is strong enough to mix the adjoining water, pulling surface water down around the edges, oxygen mix is created in the process. These areas have a more or less constant stabilization all of their own.
The smaller the body of water, or the more segregated, or shallow that part of an overall body of water, the more it is affected by accelerated change. Coupled with understanding external environmental differences we can have a handle on where and when some areas will be more or less productive. . . often within a few feet or yards of one another.
Illustration #1.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/Stability-1.jpg
Coincident Factors:
If we find many of these dynamics taking place and yet the fish don’t seem to be affected, we have to consider those coincident factors I spoke of earlier. Food may be bunched up in a specific area. The water coming into the lake could have been as near the temperature of the lake water so as to not make a difference. The wash that the rain pulled into the lake may not have been off the existing mark as far as Ph levels. There may have been a deep water, or off to the side sanctuary nearby where that immediate area wasn’t greatly effected by the cold front and rain change. Even the mud line, or current edge caused by the effluence can be some of these shelters under the right circumstances. The Cold Front could have been gradual in passing rather than abrupt, there could be successive fronts moving through: providing for a more subtle almost reverse form of stability; contradictive stability perhaps, but constancy all the same. All of these changes can happen in their own way geographically even on the same body of water. All of these circumstantial changes can amount to a situation or area of the lake that is less affected even though it first looks like it has all the ingredients that would normally turn fish off. All we have to do is look for them in a slightly different way.
Water Temperature and Wind:
Shallows warm faster during the day. But, that’s not the end of the story. Wind blows surface water to the leeward side of the lake, making that side warmer, warmer deeper, and again warmer as the day proceeds. Except for the close to shore wave lapping action, the water further out doesn’t move as such; the energy of the chop or driven wave develops heat transfer, causing surface currents following wind.
This tidbit will tell us where to look and when to be there during the day. Coupled with temperature at depth it tells us what depth, in what area, at what time, would be most effective.
In lakes, or sections of lakes where they occur, the thermocline is thought of as being horizontal, and sets up slowly over time. I’ve caught many a ten pound plus - fish at or above the thermocline, where the water temps graduate ever so slightly into that formal layer of water. That traditional thermocline starts shallow, becomes noticeable at about 10 - 25 plus or minus feet, and moves downward as summer comes into play. Sometimes there can be more than one thermocline one on top of the other(s) with varying water temps each to each. Multiple thermoclines are a direct result or aftermath of the water dynamics you will find in this report. Now, here's a twist. What if I were to say there is also a “vertical” thermocline of sorts that sets up in the spring and moves or expands toward mid-lake until it settles in with the more formal thermocline of summer. This phenomena is the early stages of and part of the cause of the formal thermocline.
Boiling Pots and Lake Basins.
When putting a pot on to boil, the small bubbles that form at the bottom edge of or on the pot wall just before coming to a boil are the early stages or signs of convection in the making. Pots of water in the process of boiling are just like a lake basin and its heat transfer set up. Of course the heat for the pot is coming from beneath and the heat for the lake basin comes from above. But thermodynamically the reaction is the same. Thermoclines form from the top down. They form in the middle of the lake and at their sides more so than just from the middle. Mid lake water reactions deal in depth and floatant on it - in it - making the heat progress. The density of that mid lake water is nothing compared to that of the lake basin. At the side of the lake the basin holds and reflects more heat simply because it's more substantial. There’s a section of this report where I go on about shallow dark bottoms and their heating capabilities. The boundary type, vertical approach, and the greater density of the basin/lake walls do the same thing in comparison to the relative density of the mid lake water column. So when a thermocline forms it's a combination of mid lake formation and shore oriented basin events all pushing or migrating inward/downward as the season progresses. Thermoclines are not uniform all over a lake. The activity and structure of the bottom and near shore basin from place to place has a great effect on how the traditional thermocline sets up.
Considering the winds effect, we are not necessarily describing a “Seich” in this case. A Seich is an abnormality of water levels caused by extremely strong directional winds on larger lakes (see definition of Commonly Used Terms at the end of this report - you can learn as much from these as throughout this report.). The wind pushes the upper layer of water and causes an uphill swing in the level of the thermocline at the leeward end of the lake. No not a Seich, but maybe the principal effect - peripheral stages of one. This vertical thermocline process is what I will call a Three Dimensional Vertical Thermal Mass or DVTM Cline. . . 3-D Cline for short.
As the season moves along air temperature increases, weather patterns mix, the Sun shines, the wind blows, nighttime temperatures creep in, and the warm surface water then rises, deepens, spreads, and moves. All of this works to enlarge, shrink, shift, and swell the near shore 3-D Cline in size.
Planning:
Up until mid to late summers deeper and formal thermocline, what needs to be done at any given time on the lake is to:
Check the air temp, wind direction, and speed, etc. over the season, and the last several days. That information will tell us what part(s) of the lake will be affected the greatest. I can’t tell you the number of times that this has been the case and has paid off beyond imagination. That wind, means the warm lake surface water is on the move; pushed toward the leeward side of the lake. That layer of water piles up there, mixing surface warm water with and beneath the invading warm water. The invading water is slightly warmer or colder than the resident water, so that the resident water mixes, sinks, expands or contracts somewhat. The result is that this relatively warm water layer will be thicker and more buoyant than the water below it. This wind-wave action may be as wide as the lake and as long as a reasonable physical approach will allow. This wind/water movement depends on the size and lay of the land, the above and below waterline strata of the lake, other weather patterns, and to some effect for our study - the energy of the Coriolis – Stokes Forcing and Langmuir Circulation effects.
My Limnology reviews over the years tell me all of these amount to 3 naturally defined processes. Riverine Circulation, or the inflow and density of incoming water mixed with ambient lake water. This inflow can be segregated to specific spots on the lake or be captured as a whole. Inflow of water can come from external sources and intake outtake of any kind can occur to the whole or a specific area. Mixed Layer Dynamics, which is wind plus surface layer flux. Internal Wave Behavior, .which is the periodic raise or lowering in a given stratum of water.
Illustration #2. Lake Basin 3-D Cline
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/3_DCline.jpg
We then need to pick standard or isolated structure/cover along the way that gives us the right depth for that wind - pushed water.
After the late Summer Period, the 3-D Cline process reverses itself through a natural progression/about face of the seasons.
One particular lake that I know of and have fished regularly is 4-5 miles long and 1-2 miles across. This lake is laid out more west to east, and the historical spring, summer, and nearly year round wind pattern is westerly. This means that this lake has good potential for a 3-D cline set up in the east side, and north/south sections along the way to the eastern shoreline. This lake is extremely clear water, and the area gets little rainfall. Our finding for this lake is that the active fish are at 20-30 feet of water under mid Spring conditions. I’ve consistently caught specifically located 4-8 pound fish - some bigger - some smaller - in this lake all year long.
Then, we have to key in on the overall preferred temperature range of species of fish we are after.
That fish favored temperature can be up down or in the middle of that range of 3-D water. Finding this strata will involve a submersible water temp probe and a slow search starting eastward in this case, moving against the wind, in the direction of the most likely potential. (See Illustrations later in this report.)
Illustration # 3.: This particular probe of mine is more than 20 years old. This probe has a 50 foot cable. It’s more sophisticated than needed for this report. This meter gives Temperature, pH, and it will even give it’s idea of what colors to use. There are submersible water temp probes on the market currently that run about $100.00-$150.00 (2007) that will do the job admirably.
Next is the job of depth finder; matching the cline temperature components with structure/cover; metering for active fish. I’ve found the ticket to be to look for two or more fish on any one spot. Fish that are “stacked’ no more than two + or - feet in, on, or away from the structure/cover are the ones you want to target. No pressure bites here, your baits will be hit hard.
Years ago, before modern picture depth finders, I used flasher units. I use to think that depth was the main key to these fish until the lights went on in the attic. Along with finding the thermocline with a submersible temperature gauge, I started recording the actual temp at the basin gradient I fished. I noticed that the bottom temperature over time stayed within 3 degrees with every fish caught of a specific species. Different species came from different temperature ranges. I won’t tell you about the monster I set the hook on one day but never saw. Or will I? No bite off. But, a steady thumping run with 150 yards of 8 pound test mono, double bending my medium action rod and stretching the line to near breaking point all the way to being spooled; never even turned the fish. Couldn’t back troll fast enough to stay with it. Don’t know what that fish was, but it had to go 20 + pounds easy. I still have good bad dreams about losing that fight.
Once we get the hang of the method it will become second nature to us,
and we won't have to go through the rig-a-ma-role, we will just know by close estimate (See Illustration #9. For “the quick way“). As the season moves along any change in the succeeding 3-D Cline(s) position can be pretty well estimated. Then, if “things” are not what you expect, retrace your steps.
I’ve found that the warm water bulge of the 3-D Cline will be greater on the main lake in the wind; that is, greater in the main lake and on greater stretches of shoreline that match with the uninterrupted wind direction. However, wider - deeper coves can have some of this result.
With a leading westerly wind, the chain of effect will run west to east with those spots further west showing less bulge result, less water pushed/pushed than those spots further east. Actually there is an upwelling of colder water displacing the warm surface water being pushed with the wind. There is a reversal of temperature gradients at these points, and the band of productive water is narrower. When the wind comes from another direction, adjust locations accordingly. For the westerly wind, that means we will find those isolated structural basics shallower the further west we fish, and a bit shallower for the north / south facing shorelines. The horizontal band of at depth target water temperatures will be narrower for these areas.
Illustration # 4.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/Untitled-8.jpg
Illustration # 5.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/gradients1d2-1.jpg
Illustration # 6.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/gradients1c-1.jpg
Illustration # 7.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/gradients-1.jpg
Revisit Illustration #2. for another view of this area.
That underwater structure/cover we are looking for doesn’t have to be very big; it just has to be in the right place underwater temperature wise. Find regular and irregular areas, or submerged flats, or wide points. Then look at the deep water edges and other places for our structure. Sometimes the edge of a drop - at the right temperature - is all we need; Water temperature is a migrating “edge” all by itself.
With shallow spots, the depth finder pulse will only scare the fish off before you mark them. It took me a time or two to learn this. In these cases mark the spot and come back to it. Turn the depth finder off. Fish all those shallow spots as if they had fish on them. If you don’t catch a heart pounding fish within 10 minutes, move on. In any event, catch only two fish off of any one spot and move on. We don’t want to disturb the quality of these areas. Don't discount any side of the lake. Just take the changes into account. Not catching more than two fish off of any one spot is important. Here’s why. . .
Fish School Smartz
Depth Finder Observations and formal fishery observations have been such to see various groups of fish closer together at times, and further apart at other times. After the research the bottom line is then, whether or not fish are feeding (more spread out) or being fed upon/threatened (more bunched up). For example, look at the newly hatched bass fry as opposed to subsequent growth of those fish. All fry are schooling because they are prey. As fish grow larger and larger they become more and more exclusive predators; no longer needing the protection of the school.
We need to remember that bass also school. Some well known fishery people refer to grouping of older bass as aggregates rather than schools. This observation simply means that without the threat of predation, fish are less likely to ball up. Predation however, can take the form of one or more fish of an “aggregate” being caught by fishermen. In this case “fishermen” means you or anybody else on the lake fishing the same fishery collectively. Ages old studies have proven when fish, including bass, are threatened from, or caught by predators including man, they release chemicals that telegraph the fear message to the other fish of the group. This overall observation and resultant summary needs to include that the bigger the fish, the more separated from the pack they will be. Singularly large fish will not likely be associated with any other bass.
Special Tip:
My catches increased when I tried using larger, longer, more contrasted baits/worms in the Sunny Day wind/chop. On Cloudy Days with or without chop making these baits somewhat brighter - the less light penetration from whatever cause, the bigger the bait. I also use smaller plain baits with no wind. I use more see-through baits/worms in clear water, more solid colors in stained water.
For your better catches, the movement or speed, or just holding your bait still, should match how well the available light circumstance stacks up.
The less light that makes it through to show off your bait at its point of presentation, the more bait movement, the more of everything that gets that bait noticed, the better overall profile the better. More clear the water requires slower stop and go - darting - presentations (camouflage) with less flash and with more stops - holding in place or suspending - more than go.
Fish of all kinds use camouflage to their advantage. The only thing that spoils good camouflage is movement. Shorter, smaller, narrow baits hide better in the underwater ripple shadow/effect caused by surface chop. If there is a chop on the surface, or the water is less than clear for whatever reason, that circumstance(s) is/are a camouflage situation for fish. In clear water the best camouflage for prey is often just holding still. In less than clear water and along with their own natural camouflage, prey bait movements, contrast and flash - and even noise must be exaggerated if the predator is to pick up on the prey. Your baits should be as realistic as possible in appearance and movement in clear water; they can be more plain and artificial in water with less light.
Most predators attack from beneath and behind their prey, turning the prey to swallow only after the capture. Our predators do this for a number of reasons, chief of witch is the Sun over head - silhouette or contrast value to the approach.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/Draginbaitlake-1.jpg
Dragon (Bait) Lake - Somewhere USA: Lake Map Illustration #8. showing “some” positive areas favorable to Westerly Winds - Areas rated 1-3 , with #1. showing greatest 3-D Cline potential. Use the qualified pattern of the above areas to find additional spots in your lake. As the wind shifts, or becomes predominantly from another compass direction for a long period of time/days/seasonally, the affected areas will shift appropriately. Special Note: Shallower mid lake humps or underwater islands, thicker weed beds, etc., can experience the same effect as shoreline.
Speaking of those shallow underwater islands mentioned in illustration #8., It’s my experience where there have been many 50 fish a day caught in Fall when Smallmouth Bass were swarming on such humps in the right place. These places lined up with the 3-D cline / PPZ principal to a T. I don’t like to have those days too often. It down right spoils you for anything else.
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Illustration #9. of “likely” shoreline. You can take several temperature readings at various depths if you like. Then, there’s the quick way. Slowly zig-zag your boat through the area. Mark all structural or cover elements in the area. Throw marker buoy or use your GPSs. Turn off your depth finder. Anchor the boat upwind and about 30 yards out from each buoy. Go fishing. If you don’t catch a heart thumping fish within 10 minutes, move to the next buoy or spot. Record your findings accordingly.
An important note to go back to would be on water travel. The lay, rise, or fall and content of shoreline and lake basin, along with upper layer water slippage or movement due to atmospheric pressure, and the Coriolis Effect all play a role in the shape of the 3-D bulge. These issues may not have equal result everywhere in the lake at the same time. These features can be seen on lake basin, or topographic maps, and fine tuned with on the water experience.
Perhaps if we looked sideways or at a tilt up, or even an underwater version of a running stream or small creek it would suggest part of those topographic lake basin eddies, natural wing dams, “edges”, and such. The shape of the vertical thermocline depends in part on what water runs into, settles down around, or turns back on, coupled with atmospheric pressure as it governs the fast or slow movement of the upper layer of water.
If you haven’t noticed by now, we have been more than knee deep into the subjects of Hydrodynamics and Thermodynamics. For further example, a lot of folks have heard that if they find a patch of dark colored lake bottom the water in that area will be warmer. The reason is because dark objects attract and radiate more heat. Not so well known is that the greater the size of that dark bottom - width - length - height - the warmer that area will be.
So it is that we need to become geologists as well. Even the molecular structure of the sedimentary bottom or rock will tell us the quantity of heat produced. In other words if all other conditions were the .same, I’ve seen where if one hunk of black bottom 20 yards across and long, and another one 40 yards each way, 50 yards away from the first, the second hunk will be warmer than the first. But, if the first spot had irregular height dimension added, it would be warmer than a flat dark area of the same length and width.
Then, if one area is made up of a different kind of bottom or rock, despite color, some kinds of sediment and rocks and their molecular structure radiate more heat than others. All the more reason to watch the strata and flora along the water line and as it angles into the lake. Then too, the type, size, color, and quantity of particles suspended in the water, or the kind, and thickness of one weed patch over another, or the kind of stick ups/lay downs/standing timber will have the same effect.
Could be, Would be, and Something More.
• Could the movement of the 3-D Cline fit one of the reasons shallow fish react to cold fronts?
• Could the evening bite and shut down be influenced by the drop in water temp and light penetration, much the same as when a frontal system moves through the area;
a microcosm?
The smaller the creature, the less surface area to their bodies, the less they are effected by change; that includes cold fronts. Bugs will rule one day; a microcosm for sure! The “change” picture also includes small bass versus large bass, and small prey versus large prey. As small fish grow in age and body surface area, they become more aware of, more sensitive to, more patient with, and finally more respectful of their environment. For more information on this, see the various publically held definitions of “Classical conditioning , Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning”.
• Would the 3-D cline be the reason for another old axiom holding true? Fish are easier to catch, and more active in the early morning and evening wee hours of the day.
They are this way because of water temperature and light penetration at the place and time coupled with available prey. Convert that thought to another place and time when those conditions are present. My experience tells me time and again the answer is deeper water during the core of the day.
In all that you discover here, lean toward fishing shallower than the center of the 3-D bulge, and top water in the wee hours; fish deeper during the core hours of a sunlit day. Adjust for other light penetration circumstances accordingly. In these, and if the area gradually or suddenly becomes choppy or calm, look for the turn on or turn off of active fish.
Specie Characteristics/Habits. (Guideposts Only)
We need to fold the following into the Treasure Map. (The numbers and time frames will change for your specific lake, conditions, and species.)
For Example:
We know that the mood of Large Mouth Bass can be affected by water temperature.
We know fish have preferred temperature ranges.
We know that some species can detect as little as a fraction of a degree of water temperature.
We know in some cases Large Mouth Bass spawn/protect fry at 55 to 75 degrees water temperature at the depth of the spawning nest. The spawning temperature and the range of time and temperature as it relates to “Moving Up” to spawn is the easiest to benchmark and acts as a starting point for the feel part of going forward with our findings.
We know when spawning, fish are not actively chasing baits to eat them.
We know that it is fun to sight bedded fish. We also know it takes too much time to catch them within the consistently of the “active” fish format of this report.
We know that it takes “some time” for these fish to recover from spawning.
We know that after egg dropping/fertilization occurs, an average of 10 days will go by before the eggs hatch.
We know that male bass guard the eggs, and they guard the hatchlings for something like 10 days; imprinting, stimulating the young to be what they are to become.. During this time the females recuperate in some other area.
We know that it’s only after this time that Large Mouth Bass become steadily active again.
We know that the larger females could possibly “turn on” faster than males simply because they have been on the road to recovery longer.
Food will always be right up there at or near the top in any fish list of things they need at any given time. This report accepts everything in the food chain chasing world is relatively "normal" except that the targeted fish have not eaten for some time. That lead alone will make these fish lean toward being more active.
We know that not all fish are doing the same thing all over the lake at the same time. Some fish spawn sooner than others. Some fish will stay shallow, some will go deep, and are going to be easier or tougher to catch than others - depending on the setup for that special part of the lake.
Another reason our deep fish are more active is that we know shallow water experiences far greater fishing pressure by anglers - we should know that fish know this too through the lessons we’ve taught them - stress avoidance. Our deeper active fish are in tune with the stability associated with being near or in line with the active fish temperature range of the 3-D bulge and surrounding water.
Highly Important:
I had to take a different point of view by asking myself how much will the 3-D Cline be affected during this 20 + day hatch and recover period for that part of the lake I was probing, and will the fish then adjust themselves to another part of the lake? With favorable weather, a 1 to 5 + or - degree daily water temperature change is not rare for any time of the open water year. For example, If your lake(s) is like mine, near Los Angeles, California, with good conditions, the daily swing of shallow layered water can be as much as 10 + degrees in a twenty four hour period. The average of that swing would then be the same as the average water temp in the 3-D bulge. A lake under other climate and location conditions must be measured on its own. Doing this temperature reading, you can, more or less, pinpoint the center and the edges of the active fish range.
Some “other” weather patterns - calm, cloudy days, even rain or other run off for example, have to be layered into our thought process. If these conditions are short lived they should not delay the 3-D Cline for long. Good conditions being the case, our search should include finding water that is in or as near to the “X” degree range at the point where the 3-D Cline meets water that is not in the bulge per se. A clue to proper temperature for the species we are after often lines up with the crossover temperature ranges of its expected prey (see supplement #2.).
While it’s not absolutely necessary, math buffs can break this all down In to a formula if you like.
Shallow Water Predator Prey
X* = Temp @ Dawn + Preferred Temp + Preferred Temp
Late Afternoon High + Low High + Low
2 2 2
__________________________________________________ ___
3
* This formula is Based on 90% accuracy, or minus 10 degree “Predator Pursuit Swing, or Zone” after “X” is found. The PPZ is adjustable per species and water clarity. Based on the above, if X = 68 degrees for Large Mouth Bass, then the active fish temperature range would be 58 to 68 degrees at depth, where ever found, inside or outside the 3-D bulge.. If there is more than one expected prey, run through the formula again and again for those prey species that are expected for the spot. Add these answers together. Finally, divide your answers by the number of prey items you have made formulas for. I.E.: If you have 3 expected prey formulas, with an X factors of 68, then 70 - then 65, divided by 3 = 67.666 degrees; for a target water temperature range of 58 to 68 degrees. Once you’ve come to all of your answers, you may have to make a judgment call. I. E.: If one prey item is more prevalent than another, which way would you lean in your conclusion on the active fish range of temperatures? - and - Considering the expanse or restriction, or content of the lake basin at the location we are fishing, where is the closest most reasonable structure/cover element that complies with our findings? - and/or - if the prey item(s) we choose develops final numbers that exceed the high end of the water temp for the area, then we have to consider the lower end of the zone to be more accurate - and/or - If the temperature gradient of the PPZ, compared to the distance to it’s deeper corresponding depth is too great, the predator probably won’t go there. This process may even tell us which baits would be more effective and when to use them. You might want to ask your fishery people what the distribution of predator and prey fish might be and if some will be found more in one area than another.
See Supplement #1. PPZ Worksheet. Sorry, the worksheet would not transfer.
Predator Pursuit Zone:
The PPZ is subjective, but falls back on a core of overwhelming evidence and the already known temperature swing for spawning, and then again for all other activities.
Instincts being, if fish are genetically programmed, or conditioned to “pursue” the mating ritual within a more or less specified temp range, that swing range as a quantity - of a major move, is a cornerstone in the lives of fish, and it will carry over into getting on with the other most important thing in their lives . . . eating. Additionally, it is not just a coincidence that fishery people recommend no more than a 10 degree reduction in live well water temperature to best treat fish held there. Several verified pond studies show fish do not stop feeding unless there is a 10 degree drop in the water temperature. The 10 degree element here is then a stressor max. If you want to go deeper on this, what happens to aquarium fish when the tank water is changed and that changed water is too far out of whack temp wise? Granted, most bass are caught shallow and shallow water temperature is used in live wells. Then, if our bass are caught deeper, in water of some reduced temperature, that 10 degree max reduction would start from there.
• Do you think bass have an instinctive genetic program , or have a conditioned inclination for knowing what water temperature their food comes from, or what areas and times that food is likely to be available?
• Do bass expand and reduce their home territory as the water temp of the 3-D Cline spreads or contracts?
• Is it harder to catch big bass in a bowl shaped lake basin; do fish range farther there?
• Are temperature gradients leading to and at the thermocline “Migrating ‘Structure” in themselves? Think about the predator/prey relationship for a moment. Some specie of plankton rise during the day (think-brighter) and sink at night (think-darker). Some other plankton rise at night and sink during the day. If the colder water at and below the thermocline is much denser than that above it, and the dissolved oxygen levels peter out there, can sinking plankton penetrate that layer as easily as the water above? And do they, like any other living thing, need oxygen to live? Do we in fact have a plankton cline? When plankton suspends, bait fish follow. When bait fish suspend to take advantage of the concentrated plankton feast, would this situation be a bass magnet regardless of conventional wisdom on anchored structure? Following that plankton rise at night, would the predator/prey relationship change location as to position in the water column?
• Could the Fall reduction of the 3-D Cline bring fish closer together making for greater concentrations, greater competition, and the traditionally better fishing of that time?
• Is the confusion of the turnover related to the temporary destruction or mixing of the 3-D cline?
• Then, as the water gets colder, the 3-D cline shrinks to a very narrow band of water, where do we think our fish will go to find stabilization? They will go to the best possible choice under the circumstances. . . relatively deeper stabilized depths. Colder yes, but stabilized all the same.
• In late Fall with colder Northerly winds, what reversals might we see as the best places to find the greatest water temp stability?
I’ve found all of these questions and more are rhetorical for sure when we see the answers for ourselves as natural occurrences and in understanding the workings of the 3-D Cline. These are the visions of Treasure Chests opening a little wider, the gold within shining brighter.
There has been at least two times in my life where I’ve caught State record fish and didn’t know it. Actually, I didn’t care about it at the time, and let just about all my fish live again to fight another day; still do. Both of these fish came from the principals displayed here. Both fish came from a popular lake in Southern Wisconsin, that is fairly heavily fished every week throughout the open water season. Both times I didn’t have a scale with me and couldn’t weigh the fish. But I did measure them. There was a Bluegill that went nearly twice the length of the palm of my hand. I hardly ever fish for Bluegills, but there it was in all my surprised glory. In roughly the same spot 2 weeks later, I caught a Large Mouth Bass that went 3 ½ palm lengths. I don’t have monster hands. From the tip of my middle finger to the base of the palm, my hand measures just shy of 7 inches. . . You do the math. Soon after this I moved out of state for a work promotion I couldn’t turn down. Haven’t been back there for some time. . . But, one day. . .
We need to remember the environment in which fish live, depend on for their existence and livelihood, is hydrodynamically and thermodynamically based; it is a part of their finding stabilization in their everyday lives, and it is natural to them and all fish to be so inclined, so moved. So too, on some level, there is a valid argument to say that it is easier to catch fish in windy conditions, cloud cover, stained water, wee hour water, or deeper water, chemically altered - degraded water. They don’t see, don’t experience their environment quite the same way they would if that water were more clear, with stabilized and brighter conditions.
All in all, the PPZ is part of holding your answers up to the light to see if they make sense. But also remember, unless they are too young, too aggressive to know better, or have no choice - desperation, fish will not pursue prey unless the return on energy expense is in their favor. This means if the prey is too far out of their reach temperature wise, water pressure wise, and distance wise, if they will be exposed to less dissolved oxygen or more adverse Ph levels for too long a period of time than they need to survive comfortably, if the size of the prey and resultant capture and struggle is outside of their capacity to do so, or any combination of the above, they probably won’t go after that prey.
Conserving energy is as important to our fish as it is to being the first law of Thermodynamics - or so my “Physics For Idiots” book tells me. I.E.: The Change in internal energy of a system (fish) is equal to the heat added to the system (food) minus the work done by the system
(moving around, chasing prey, maintaining stability, etc.). Being cold blooded and unable to knowingly regulate body temps - putting on an overcoat - bass adjust body temperature, swim bladder, metabolism, to be nearly the same as the water temperature, or to compensate for water pressure, or segment of environment they happen to hang out in. Our deeper fish are after that part of stability that gives them the most overall consistency for the least effort . . . little energy loss, through heat transfer, by working to maintain stability. Yes, fish are cold blooded, but work produces heat and heat requires energy. Warmer water increases fish metabolism making for a situation where food is constantly in demand in order to maintain stability, and the competition for that food is greater. Subsequently fish will be smaller on a whole and younger simply because they won’t live as long under higher stressor situations.
While not necessarily aligning with fish activity levels, water pressure alone amounts to how much and fast fish will move. There is nearly 15 pounds of pressure per inch of body surface for every 33 feet of depth. Fish with greater muscle mass and different body shapes can handle water pressure better. Still, fish look for easy meals before they look for difficult ones, Because of a swim bladder re-adjustment period, it is easier for them to move laterally and up, rather than down - a clue to bait presentation? For this reason and contrasting - silhouette against the light source, it is better to look for our fish holding in the lower end of our PPZ, and present our baits somewhat over the fish.
Having said that, I’ve found the parameters of active range fish temps do not have to stay within the low end of the 3-D bulge. That low end bulge place is a ghostly thing, but can be estimated by averaging the found “X” active fish range. Using the example, the 58 - 68 active fish range divided by 2 = 63. Sixty Three Degrees would then be very close to the deep water average edge of the bulge for the day you are making those readings, and that reading would be on the money for the core hours of the available sunlight for that day. Keep in mind that the bulge grows as the season progresses into Summer. So too then, will the home range, or the Predator Pursuit Swing - Zone in terms of distance traveled.
Process in a Nut Shell:
• Here’s what I’ve done that works. Take surface layer temp of area you are investigating. Take that temp twice; Once at or about dawn, the second time at 3/4ths of the way through the available sunlight hours for the day. Add those two temp readings together and divide by 2. That will give a close average water temp at the center of the 3-D bulge. This “center” is not a pinpoint - not yet.
• Then, factor in the Predator/Prey favored temp range by specie. First the Predator - divided by 2, and then the Expected Prey range divided by 2. We are doing this for crossover temp ranges. Then divide the total of them all by 3.
• If you have more than one expected prey, repeat the formula, remembering to divide by the total entries.
• Determine what effects the shape of the lake basin might have on the whole.
• Factor in the Predator Pursuit Swing or Zone, keeping in mind the various conditions that might expand or reduce the whole. Also see “Striking Distance” and “Water Clarity” illustrations # 10. & 11.
• Hold your comparative answers up to the light to see if they make sense;
leaning toward your better judgment, based on what you have learned.
Know that we must lean toward the shallow end of the bulge early and late; moving deeper than its center as we approach and swing past the middle of the available daylight hours. Our fish won’t necessarily move off of a holding area with this tempo. But they may be oriented to one direction or another based on the time of day and the prey crossover possibilities. Another example of using better judgment can be seen when we compare the fish holding position to the distance traveled to get to the max temperature of the 3-D bulge. Then, unfold our treasure map relative to the average striking distance of active bass.
Striking Distance of Active Bass:
While water pressure, size of fish and light break up, cloud cover, heavy humidity, light blocking/dispersing suspended particles, dawn and dusk, shadow, will have some effect, Illustration #4. is a sampling of Striking Distances up to two atmospheres of water pressure (33 foot depth). As the water pressure becomes greater with depth, or with any form of light degradation, it’s only natural that we can expect more restricted parameters.
Fish can detect weak currents of external energy/electricity which, among other things, helps them locate prey and avoid predators. Vibrations in the water caused by prey or predators prompts the gas in fish swim bladders to compress, making the fish become more alert to the presence of change. The fish Lateral Line works in companion with the swim bladder and hearing mechanism. All of this is simultaneously converted in the brain sensory process whereby it is either acted upon favorably or negatively.
Striking Distances: Illustration #10.: Angle of the Sun permitting more or less light to penetrate. Where light penetration is less for any length of time, from what ever cause, - dirty water, cloud cover, wave chop, permanent shadow, etc., all fish will be oriented toward, move or hold shallower - toward shore or higher in the water column - and / or striking distances will shrink. All “Sun Fish Family” fishes have a similar view of their environment.
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Special Consideration:
Embrace both the spread of temperature in the PPZ and the Striking Distances as a whole. If the maximum Temperature difference in the PPZ is 10 degrees and we have 5 classifications of water clarity, we can develop a chart that tells us the more stained the water the more narrow the PPZ in temperature range.
Illustration #11.: Water Clarity/Striking Distance Converted to Temperature Range.
Sorry, this illustration didn't make it through.
Obviously, the shorter the distance from the holding fish to the max temp range of the PPZ and possibly just beyond, the better. These distances can also hold true for the most effective distance for fish rising for surface bites. Keep in mind that the more clear the fishes environment happens to be, the better they can distinguish this from that. I’ve found it’s a good idea to make your baits and their presentation as realistic as possible under most conditions.
To help clarify this principal even further I’d like to relate an extreme past experience when fishing a muddy pond near Jackson Mississippi. The Farm Pond was maybe 3 acres big and 15 feet deep. The basin was bowl shaped. The water clarity/visibility was no more than a half inch. The most active fish were no more than one foot under the surface and smack up against shore. The reason they were there is because of a combination of factors in their environment and which these fish had to settle for under their circumstances.
Light penetration, oxygen content, food availability, plus water temperature and pressure all came together within that narrow band down to one foot under the surface. Obviously the stressors in their lives in that pond were over exaggerated. They were aggressive, but not particularly big – a big fish in that pond would be 3-4 pounds. The only acceptable light penetration and oxygen content came from the sun overhead and wind hitting the surface but not penetrating very far. More times than not food came from terrestrial rather than aquatic sources. The water temperature, while warmer than acceptable, was the best they could find to balance the other factors and achieve their goal of survival. Because of the impending compounded stress they would encounter if they did so, these fish were not going to move any further than they absolutely needed. We fished this pond during the height of the day and the fish were aggressive. At night they would still be aggressive but our bait presentation would need to be exceptionally close to where they were holding.
Note on Conservation:
Returning to an earlier note on the relationship between water pressure, fish internal gas bladders, and catching bass at depth is in order here. The deeper the fish is located the greater the pounds per square inch of water pressure comes to bare on the fishes body. At sea level and at the surface of the lake there is approximately 16 pounds per square inch of atmospheric pressure. At increased altitude pressure is less.
For every foot of depth in water thereafter, water and atmospheric pressure combine to produce approximately ½ PSI additional pressure down to approximately 33 feet, where the combined affect is then two atmospheres of pressure or 32 PSI. This means that fish holding at 33 feet need to have less pressure in their swim bladders than at the surface. This is significant with respect to how bass move to capture prey. Horizontal, or somewhat upward and downward movement is not a problem.
Development of bladder gas is not spontaneous. Development of pressure can be. If in fact a bass holding at 33 feet makes a mad dash pursuing prey at the surface, their swim balder expands as they rise. After capturing prey under such circumstances, they have no choice but to stay at the surface and suffer the unstable consequences. The greater the starting depth of the bass, and the more rapid it’s assent over great depth changes, the greater the effect. This same “rising to the occasion” occurs when we winch up deep caught fish.
To offset the effects of increased pressure, there is a more or less well known “Fizzing” technique where deep caught fish are needled - as in an injection beneath the skin - at the right point, and the added pressure is relieved; details at another time. Then there’s the undocumented unproven way of through the mouth deflation. There seems to be a fallacy in these approaches. How much gas release is too much or too little? How do we know? The end result is one where the fish suffers stress regardless of our good intentions. Recuperation will take several days, and their vulnerability to predation and disease will be increased. Should the idea then be not to pursue fish that are extraordinarily deep in the water column, and where the water temperature is vastly different from the surface temps? – additional unstable conditions for the fish - The answer is not an easy one. We need to do the best we can with all given techniques. Playing the fish longer, fizzing if necessary, and even putting these fish on a stringer outside your boat for the time of recovery rather than in your live well all come to mind. The stress exerted on fish however caught, or treated can immobilize and even kill them. The answer then, is to educate ourselves on the proper care of fish, stay up to date on these techniques, never take them lightly, and to do everything in our power to preserve the fishery.
Rap – Up:
In all of these diagrams we need to remember that even in crystal clear water, enough progressi
Optional - Picture/imagine something like a partial treasure map and a bass / walleye/fishing boat in the middle; casting/pitching/back-trolling to a big “X” marked on the map.
X marks the spot. Luke 5: 4 through 7.
The day to day catching of fish can be repeated in the sense that we may do the same things every time we are out on the water. How right or wrong that may be, proves itself at the end of the day.
If we can nail 5 random fish in a day, we can be within the top 10% of all fishermen on a tough body of water by giving conditions just a little more thought. We can reach that goal if we apply what we learned from our day(s) on the water. There are no weird chants to make us better at what we do. But, there are some basic things, and some new things we could look at to have that extra effort pay off. How those things come together for us will always be the secret to our success.
Those 20+ fish a day catches are not out of your reach. I can remember several fishing sorties where the principals of this report paid off handsomely. Putting this method together. as it should be, proves Ralph Waldo Emerson’s’ wisdom on “The years teach much which the days never knew”.
Pre-Planning the Day:
The local weather is the core of building the day. Look at it as a blueprint that may have to be changed as the day goes along. Then again, it could very well be a Treasure Map; more on this later. Your lake map spread on the Kitchen Table the night before your outing, the time you spend here before your day on the lake, will take on new meaning for you.
Shallow Water Changes, Cycles, and Stability.
As fishermen we are all affected by changes in the environment. As we will see here there are many changes to contend with. The observable facts are tried and true about these changes and why species such as Large Mouth Bass are seemingly turned off; don’t bite as well at these times in shallow water. What follows here will help in understanding changes, cycles, and stability.
These shallow fish are turned off, or on by, will or won’t bite because of, the “Change(s)” in their immediate stabilized environment. If we get hung up on any one change, or a concrete , or segregated definition of stabilization rather than the combined difference various changes have on one another, we may come up short sighted. Sometimes we have to go beyond what the best of the dock talk, formal education, and dated experience wants to tell us.
Simply said, good and bad stress level relationships and their mix – offsetting factors can be overlooked if we are not careful. Changes in water temperature, changes in light penetration, changes in oxygen content, in water clarity, in Ph, changes in fishing pressure, in atmospheric pressure, in water pressure, changes in water density/viscosity, changes in water movement and more, all add, subtract, or mix in unique ways. These trade offs are either advocates or opponents of one another. These components have a exponential quality to them, their effect on fish, and acceptable environmental stabilization. Changes prompt a decrease or increase in bass metabolic rates, neuron energy, hormone activity, etc., carrying over to more or less induced activity.
The effect of change(s) on feeding then depends on alternatives that may be acceptable or unacceptable over the time they are experienced by the fish. Sometimes these changes are good for the fish - providing for better than average activity/feeding situations. Sometimes the collection of change is bad - worse than average. These are the times we need to be more subtle, more patient, have more accurate bait presentation, as well as better thought out location factors and approaches. Unfortunately we have no way of telling whether or not that fish has eaten recently. However, heightened metabolism, competition, and relatively easily obtainable food source, can often override normal routine.
Then of course there is always adaptation. Adjustment to conditions, whether temporary or permanent, occurs for practical reasons. Those reasons are survival related and nothing more. Once stress levels become overbearing and cannot be relieved or adapted to, fish will perish. Understand the changes that occur within your lake and whether they will provide more or less of the good or bad ingredients needed - and you will increase you ability to catch those fish.
Commonly referred to as Cold blooded animals – a misnomer - properly referred to as “Ectotherms”. These are animals that do not have an internal mechanism for regulating body temperature fish, snakes, lizards, reptiles, their body temperatures, metabolism, and chemistry more or less matches the surroundings they live in; relying on solar energy captured by the environment (all practical energy, however manifested, comes from the Sun and the Moon). Unlike warm blooded creatures, fish have no comparable way to counterbalance the stress of having to maintain an imbalance. Depending on their chosen niche or starting point, fish become, or lean toward being active when warmer than normal and inactive – moving slower - when colder. In addition, fish have to maintain some consciousness of neutral buoyancy in order to function at their best. Internal gas bladders are the ticket for maintaining neutral buoyancy. Too much fish movement up or down in the water column, or for too long a period of time produces an imbalance of water pressure on the outside and the amount of gas within the gas bladder. Making an adjustment to maintain neutral buoyancy causes stress. Additionally, when a fish moves it produces energy. Muscle movement produces heat energy which to some minor extent offsets normal body temps influenced by external water temperatures. When environmental changes occur, fish have to adjust. Too much, or constant adjustment throws their systems out of whack, stunts growth, and they can not maintain any sense of favorable normalcy one niche to another.
If that environment they live in changes drastically and rapidly enough in one or more ways, they shut down in part or in whole while making an adjustment to those changes. How fast they adapt or how much they need to do so depend on factors we will get into later.
Some Changes to Consider:
After a period of relative consistent-stable weather, a Cold Front moves through your area. Cold Fronts are low pressure weather systems. Cold Fronts normally produce (“L”) low atmospheric pressure as they pass and immediate (“H”) high pressure thereafter. There is also the pall of humidity and to a lesser degree the dew point where their partial ability to block ultraviolet rays from the Sun is affected. These four changes alone tend to relocate fish up or down in the water column, or into hiding otherwise even if only through subsequent inactivity. These fish become figuratively attached to , or anchored to protective surroundings, or way of behaving to wait out the changes; equalizing lost stability. The words “up“, “down”, and “into” are both subjective, and objective. Up or down can mean inches, or it can mean several feet depending on where the fish started when the rapid changes occur. It can mean no physical movement at all, but rather a change in attitude, or physiological processes. Objective does mean that the fish will go only as far as they need to go to find acceptable comfort, and they will make this move more or less in a straight line, or direct response to their immediate environment. Indeed, if conditions are right to begin with, fish may not move at all; preferring to hunker down or suspend in place.
But, there can be more “change“.
Rain:
Cold Fronts usually produce rain and runoff. Falling rain has a different Ph than the lake surface, and that same rain is often of a different temperature; both effecting - changing - the surface or upper layer of the lake. Weather patterns change drastically to much darker than normal skis, and
the wind picks up a great deal, putting further chop on the surface. This in turn enhances the darkness below the waters surface making for both less visibility and greater camouflage through an underwater shadow/ripple effect; promoting unseen movement of predator and prey alike. Predators chase bait during the cold fronts because they know it has changed the core of their life style. They know through life cycle conditioning and genetic inheritance what “changes” are ahead, and how long it might be before they can or will effectively feed again. In one example, this is evident through observation that bait scatters because plankton, the food of many bait fish, rises or sinks or moves more dramatically during these times making it not as easy to be found. Predators are more on the prowl when hunting success is more likely; what better time to achieve their objectives than when conditions are confused and unsettled.
Runoff:
Runoff produces greater turbidity of the water surface in shallow water. The more rain water, mixed with flora materials, which runs off shore features into the water the greater the turbidity and the longer more far reaching the effect on the water column. This in turn again changes the surface water Ph, light penetration, and the water temperature in the area of the runoff.
It then takes several days of stable weather for all these “Changes” to settle into, or be absorbed by, or mixed into the environment and fish resume greater activity levels. The Change is no longer a factor affecting them. Stability sets in gradually and again changes the environment back to some semblance of normal.
Catch and Release, and/or Selective Harvest:
Fish Scales and body slime/mucus reduce water loss, and aid in insulation. When landing fish, handling, and releasing them back to the water, we must take special care not to cause undue stress/change by inadvertently removing these built in protective substances. Yes, still another unstable situation can arise here by making the fish work harder to replace their overall physiological protective state. When in doubt practice Selective Harvest rather than wasting the game to uncertainty.
Exceptions to Rules:
Fish don’t live by the letter of natures law, they live by its spirit.
Enter the primary objective in staying alive; eating. Unless completely satisfied, predators are opportunistic feeders. Even then they have been known to gorge themselves beyond full if the right opportunity presents itself. Seasonal differences also play a role. Winter may be coming with its slow times and relatively absent or readily available food supply. Fish will forgo any number of unlikable things to take advantage of a short-lived, and bunched up feeding opportunity. This too can be a change that is learned over time, becoming a part of the stability for a given body of water, or even a part of that waters territory, and the community of bass (fish) that live in it.
Thermocline, Oxycline, other cline Set-Up, interaction, and Turnover:
(A short version.)
A thermocline is a part of a lake’s summer water stratification. There are normally three layers to the total stratification. These layers of water are called:
• Epilimnion
• Metalimnion
• Hypolimnion
A thermocline usually sets up horizontally in the middle layer and is part of a stratum of water with greater practical stability than any other part of the lake.
The set up and depth of the thermocline (if any) can be shallower or deeper, sooner or later in the season, and long lived or not as long lived depending in part on:
• Depth of the water
• Force of the wind and water current action
• Draw down and flooding situations
• Temperature and volume of water in each stratified layer
• Water clarity
• Direction, duration, and angle of the Sun’s Rays
• Lake basin formation
All of these things and their interplay will tell us a lot about what is going on there.
Cold water sinks because it’s more dense and heavier than warm water. Deeper water is under a great deal more pressure - PSI - than the warmer water above it. Anything under pressure wants to escape that pressure if it can. When the shallow water temperature decrease’s to a point where it no longer has an offsetting factor –holding power - to the water volume part of the equation, the shallower but larger volume of water gains weight so to speak, and pushes downward (gravity), mixing rapidly with whatever is beneath it. At that point all layers would then be of equal temperature, density, and viscosity – the fall turnover once again.
The steeper, narrower, and less wind directed the part of the lakes basin, the shallower, the thermocline will set up, and sooner and the faster the Fall Turnover will occur there. The exception to this entry is stained water. While the thermocline will set up shallower in stained water, the heat retention quality of such water will make the time till turnover longer. In some cases thermoclines do not set up at all. These cases are depth and current related, along with the interplay of the other factors mentioned above to one degree or another.
Warm water holds less dissolved oxygen than cold water. However, the deeper we figuratively look into the water column the more Dissolved Oxygen dissipates. Aside from dead and rotting veggie and animal material consuming any oxygen found deep, wind and wave causing oxygen cant mix deep, colder water is more dense and viscous; acting as a barrier, and deep water pressure squeezes oxygen molecules toward the path of least resistance. All of these actions develop an oxycline just as real and attractive as the ways and means of approaching the thermocline. Other clines such as pH, light penetration, etc., react similarly relative to hydrodynamics, and thermodynamics.
The traditional “Turnover” is a seasonal condition, usually late Fall of the year, where due to colder temperatures setting in from above, the distinctive temperature layered segments of the water column upset each other; thereby mixing all water equally. You will learn later in this material that the Fall “turnover” does not occur all over the lake at the same time. Stratification and turnovers may not happen at all in some lakes and some parts of lakes are continually stable year round. You will learn that the mixing process creates dissolved oxygen levels in some areas deeper and more uniform than before the build up or breakdown of water stratification.
The turnovers characterize a change in the lives of fish. All fish are affected. When Fall surface water cools to near that of the layer below it the rapid turnover occurs. Plankton are befuddled with rising bottom nutrients; food sources become more spread out and confused with non food items. Little fish groups scatter, and the big ones are turned off for a time. Fish slow down because of the uniform colder water temperature. But, they won't leave their own kind. As with some other unfavorable changes, fish tend to roam more to get more of what they need and to find something that suits their needs. What amount of time does it takes for stabilization to set in? Watch the weather. If the weather is stable for several days just after the turnover, the chances of stabilization are greater and shorter in transition. Spring turnover is a more gradual layering of water from the surface down and is longer in transition. The lake water comes to life in the spring, and puts into motion all that is essential to propagation; leading to the good times of summer; a time of plenty.
If I were trying to find fish during Fall or Spring turnover I would start at the effective light penetration depth level for your lake and move shallower from there. Say twice as deep as the mid lake facing weed growth for your lake for example. Follow what bait may be present first, and see if it relates to conventional structure and any underwater current. Look for areas that approximate holding bins, deeper sharper drop-offs adjacent to traditional spawning areas. Fish don't go un-stabilized for long. Sooner rather than later they will end up in these areas. While there are smaller areas that are defined contrary to the rule, for greatest consistency, go for the side of the lake that is shallower than the other and look for areas that receive the most winter time sunshine. Sometimes you can't find all of these ingredients together in big spots. But, do the best you can with what you have or fish another lake that has what you need. Then, you can always ask the Ice Fisherman and bait shops that cater to them, where their historically good spots are. The turnover Bass won't be far away from those spots before it ices up, and they definably will be there just before spawning.
Another Note on Stabilization:
Water entering the lake through creeks or underwater springs represents stabilization. This water is not affected by the turnover. In many ways this water is a flowing river or stream, it is often somewhat warmer, and has greater oxygen content for some distance into the lake. Underwater springs don’t have too much – on the spot - oxygen in and of themselves. But, if shallow enough and if the flow is strong enough to mix the adjoining water, pulling surface water down around the edges, oxygen mix is created in the process. These areas have a more or less constant stabilization all of their own.
The smaller the body of water, or the more segregated, or shallow that part of an overall body of water, the more it is affected by accelerated change. Coupled with understanding external environmental differences we can have a handle on where and when some areas will be more or less productive. . . often within a few feet or yards of one another.
Illustration #1.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/Stability-1.jpg
Coincident Factors:
If we find many of these dynamics taking place and yet the fish don’t seem to be affected, we have to consider those coincident factors I spoke of earlier. Food may be bunched up in a specific area. The water coming into the lake could have been as near the temperature of the lake water so as to not make a difference. The wash that the rain pulled into the lake may not have been off the existing mark as far as Ph levels. There may have been a deep water, or off to the side sanctuary nearby where that immediate area wasn’t greatly effected by the cold front and rain change. Even the mud line, or current edge caused by the effluence can be some of these shelters under the right circumstances. The Cold Front could have been gradual in passing rather than abrupt, there could be successive fronts moving through: providing for a more subtle almost reverse form of stability; contradictive stability perhaps, but constancy all the same. All of these changes can happen in their own way geographically even on the same body of water. All of these circumstantial changes can amount to a situation or area of the lake that is less affected even though it first looks like it has all the ingredients that would normally turn fish off. All we have to do is look for them in a slightly different way.
Water Temperature and Wind:
Shallows warm faster during the day. But, that’s not the end of the story. Wind blows surface water to the leeward side of the lake, making that side warmer, warmer deeper, and again warmer as the day proceeds. Except for the close to shore wave lapping action, the water further out doesn’t move as such; the energy of the chop or driven wave develops heat transfer, causing surface currents following wind.
This tidbit will tell us where to look and when to be there during the day. Coupled with temperature at depth it tells us what depth, in what area, at what time, would be most effective.
In lakes, or sections of lakes where they occur, the thermocline is thought of as being horizontal, and sets up slowly over time. I’ve caught many a ten pound plus - fish at or above the thermocline, where the water temps graduate ever so slightly into that formal layer of water. That traditional thermocline starts shallow, becomes noticeable at about 10 - 25 plus or minus feet, and moves downward as summer comes into play. Sometimes there can be more than one thermocline one on top of the other(s) with varying water temps each to each. Multiple thermoclines are a direct result or aftermath of the water dynamics you will find in this report. Now, here's a twist. What if I were to say there is also a “vertical” thermocline of sorts that sets up in the spring and moves or expands toward mid-lake until it settles in with the more formal thermocline of summer. This phenomena is the early stages of and part of the cause of the formal thermocline.
Boiling Pots and Lake Basins.
When putting a pot on to boil, the small bubbles that form at the bottom edge of or on the pot wall just before coming to a boil are the early stages or signs of convection in the making. Pots of water in the process of boiling are just like a lake basin and its heat transfer set up. Of course the heat for the pot is coming from beneath and the heat for the lake basin comes from above. But thermodynamically the reaction is the same. Thermoclines form from the top down. They form in the middle of the lake and at their sides more so than just from the middle. Mid lake water reactions deal in depth and floatant on it - in it - making the heat progress. The density of that mid lake water is nothing compared to that of the lake basin. At the side of the lake the basin holds and reflects more heat simply because it's more substantial. There’s a section of this report where I go on about shallow dark bottoms and their heating capabilities. The boundary type, vertical approach, and the greater density of the basin/lake walls do the same thing in comparison to the relative density of the mid lake water column. So when a thermocline forms it's a combination of mid lake formation and shore oriented basin events all pushing or migrating inward/downward as the season progresses. Thermoclines are not uniform all over a lake. The activity and structure of the bottom and near shore basin from place to place has a great effect on how the traditional thermocline sets up.
Considering the winds effect, we are not necessarily describing a “Seich” in this case. A Seich is an abnormality of water levels caused by extremely strong directional winds on larger lakes (see definition of Commonly Used Terms at the end of this report - you can learn as much from these as throughout this report.). The wind pushes the upper layer of water and causes an uphill swing in the level of the thermocline at the leeward end of the lake. No not a Seich, but maybe the principal effect - peripheral stages of one. This vertical thermocline process is what I will call a Three Dimensional Vertical Thermal Mass or DVTM Cline. . . 3-D Cline for short.
As the season moves along air temperature increases, weather patterns mix, the Sun shines, the wind blows, nighttime temperatures creep in, and the warm surface water then rises, deepens, spreads, and moves. All of this works to enlarge, shrink, shift, and swell the near shore 3-D Cline in size.
Planning:
Up until mid to late summers deeper and formal thermocline, what needs to be done at any given time on the lake is to:
Check the air temp, wind direction, and speed, etc. over the season, and the last several days. That information will tell us what part(s) of the lake will be affected the greatest. I can’t tell you the number of times that this has been the case and has paid off beyond imagination. That wind, means the warm lake surface water is on the move; pushed toward the leeward side of the lake. That layer of water piles up there, mixing surface warm water with and beneath the invading warm water. The invading water is slightly warmer or colder than the resident water, so that the resident water mixes, sinks, expands or contracts somewhat. The result is that this relatively warm water layer will be thicker and more buoyant than the water below it. This wind-wave action may be as wide as the lake and as long as a reasonable physical approach will allow. This wind/water movement depends on the size and lay of the land, the above and below waterline strata of the lake, other weather patterns, and to some effect for our study - the energy of the Coriolis – Stokes Forcing and Langmuir Circulation effects.
My Limnology reviews over the years tell me all of these amount to 3 naturally defined processes. Riverine Circulation, or the inflow and density of incoming water mixed with ambient lake water. This inflow can be segregated to specific spots on the lake or be captured as a whole. Inflow of water can come from external sources and intake outtake of any kind can occur to the whole or a specific area. Mixed Layer Dynamics, which is wind plus surface layer flux. Internal Wave Behavior, .which is the periodic raise or lowering in a given stratum of water.
Illustration #2. Lake Basin 3-D Cline
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/3_DCline.jpg
We then need to pick standard or isolated structure/cover along the way that gives us the right depth for that wind - pushed water.
After the late Summer Period, the 3-D Cline process reverses itself through a natural progression/about face of the seasons.
One particular lake that I know of and have fished regularly is 4-5 miles long and 1-2 miles across. This lake is laid out more west to east, and the historical spring, summer, and nearly year round wind pattern is westerly. This means that this lake has good potential for a 3-D cline set up in the east side, and north/south sections along the way to the eastern shoreline. This lake is extremely clear water, and the area gets little rainfall. Our finding for this lake is that the active fish are at 20-30 feet of water under mid Spring conditions. I’ve consistently caught specifically located 4-8 pound fish - some bigger - some smaller - in this lake all year long.
Then, we have to key in on the overall preferred temperature range of species of fish we are after.
That fish favored temperature can be up down or in the middle of that range of 3-D water. Finding this strata will involve a submersible water temp probe and a slow search starting eastward in this case, moving against the wind, in the direction of the most likely potential. (See Illustrations later in this report.)
Illustration # 3.: This particular probe of mine is more than 20 years old. This probe has a 50 foot cable. It’s more sophisticated than needed for this report. This meter gives Temperature, pH, and it will even give it’s idea of what colors to use. There are submersible water temp probes on the market currently that run about $100.00-$150.00 (2007) that will do the job admirably.
Next is the job of depth finder; matching the cline temperature components with structure/cover; metering for active fish. I’ve found the ticket to be to look for two or more fish on any one spot. Fish that are “stacked’ no more than two + or - feet in, on, or away from the structure/cover are the ones you want to target. No pressure bites here, your baits will be hit hard.
Years ago, before modern picture depth finders, I used flasher units. I use to think that depth was the main key to these fish until the lights went on in the attic. Along with finding the thermocline with a submersible temperature gauge, I started recording the actual temp at the basin gradient I fished. I noticed that the bottom temperature over time stayed within 3 degrees with every fish caught of a specific species. Different species came from different temperature ranges. I won’t tell you about the monster I set the hook on one day but never saw. Or will I? No bite off. But, a steady thumping run with 150 yards of 8 pound test mono, double bending my medium action rod and stretching the line to near breaking point all the way to being spooled; never even turned the fish. Couldn’t back troll fast enough to stay with it. Don’t know what that fish was, but it had to go 20 + pounds easy. I still have good bad dreams about losing that fight.
Once we get the hang of the method it will become second nature to us,
and we won't have to go through the rig-a-ma-role, we will just know by close estimate (See Illustration #9. For “the quick way“). As the season moves along any change in the succeeding 3-D Cline(s) position can be pretty well estimated. Then, if “things” are not what you expect, retrace your steps.
I’ve found that the warm water bulge of the 3-D Cline will be greater on the main lake in the wind; that is, greater in the main lake and on greater stretches of shoreline that match with the uninterrupted wind direction. However, wider - deeper coves can have some of this result.
With a leading westerly wind, the chain of effect will run west to east with those spots further west showing less bulge result, less water pushed/pushed than those spots further east. Actually there is an upwelling of colder water displacing the warm surface water being pushed with the wind. There is a reversal of temperature gradients at these points, and the band of productive water is narrower. When the wind comes from another direction, adjust locations accordingly. For the westerly wind, that means we will find those isolated structural basics shallower the further west we fish, and a bit shallower for the north / south facing shorelines. The horizontal band of at depth target water temperatures will be narrower for these areas.
Illustration # 4.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/Untitled-8.jpg
Illustration # 5.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/gradients1d2-1.jpg
Illustration # 6.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/gradients1c-1.jpg
Illustration # 7.:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/gradients-1.jpg
Revisit Illustration #2. for another view of this area.
That underwater structure/cover we are looking for doesn’t have to be very big; it just has to be in the right place underwater temperature wise. Find regular and irregular areas, or submerged flats, or wide points. Then look at the deep water edges and other places for our structure. Sometimes the edge of a drop - at the right temperature - is all we need; Water temperature is a migrating “edge” all by itself.
With shallow spots, the depth finder pulse will only scare the fish off before you mark them. It took me a time or two to learn this. In these cases mark the spot and come back to it. Turn the depth finder off. Fish all those shallow spots as if they had fish on them. If you don’t catch a heart pounding fish within 10 minutes, move on. In any event, catch only two fish off of any one spot and move on. We don’t want to disturb the quality of these areas. Don't discount any side of the lake. Just take the changes into account. Not catching more than two fish off of any one spot is important. Here’s why. . .
Fish School Smartz
Depth Finder Observations and formal fishery observations have been such to see various groups of fish closer together at times, and further apart at other times. After the research the bottom line is then, whether or not fish are feeding (more spread out) or being fed upon/threatened (more bunched up). For example, look at the newly hatched bass fry as opposed to subsequent growth of those fish. All fry are schooling because they are prey. As fish grow larger and larger they become more and more exclusive predators; no longer needing the protection of the school.
We need to remember that bass also school. Some well known fishery people refer to grouping of older bass as aggregates rather than schools. This observation simply means that without the threat of predation, fish are less likely to ball up. Predation however, can take the form of one or more fish of an “aggregate” being caught by fishermen. In this case “fishermen” means you or anybody else on the lake fishing the same fishery collectively. Ages old studies have proven when fish, including bass, are threatened from, or caught by predators including man, they release chemicals that telegraph the fear message to the other fish of the group. This overall observation and resultant summary needs to include that the bigger the fish, the more separated from the pack they will be. Singularly large fish will not likely be associated with any other bass.
Special Tip:
My catches increased when I tried using larger, longer, more contrasted baits/worms in the Sunny Day wind/chop. On Cloudy Days with or without chop making these baits somewhat brighter - the less light penetration from whatever cause, the bigger the bait. I also use smaller plain baits with no wind. I use more see-through baits/worms in clear water, more solid colors in stained water.
For your better catches, the movement or speed, or just holding your bait still, should match how well the available light circumstance stacks up.
The less light that makes it through to show off your bait at its point of presentation, the more bait movement, the more of everything that gets that bait noticed, the better overall profile the better. More clear the water requires slower stop and go - darting - presentations (camouflage) with less flash and with more stops - holding in place or suspending - more than go.
Fish of all kinds use camouflage to their advantage. The only thing that spoils good camouflage is movement. Shorter, smaller, narrow baits hide better in the underwater ripple shadow/effect caused by surface chop. If there is a chop on the surface, or the water is less than clear for whatever reason, that circumstance(s) is/are a camouflage situation for fish. In clear water the best camouflage for prey is often just holding still. In less than clear water and along with their own natural camouflage, prey bait movements, contrast and flash - and even noise must be exaggerated if the predator is to pick up on the prey. Your baits should be as realistic as possible in appearance and movement in clear water; they can be more plain and artificial in water with less light.
Most predators attack from beneath and behind their prey, turning the prey to swallow only after the capture. Our predators do this for a number of reasons, chief of witch is the Sun over head - silhouette or contrast value to the approach.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/Draginbaitlake-1.jpg
Dragon (Bait) Lake - Somewhere USA: Lake Map Illustration #8. showing “some” positive areas favorable to Westerly Winds - Areas rated 1-3 , with #1. showing greatest 3-D Cline potential. Use the qualified pattern of the above areas to find additional spots in your lake. As the wind shifts, or becomes predominantly from another compass direction for a long period of time/days/seasonally, the affected areas will shift appropriately. Special Note: Shallower mid lake humps or underwater islands, thicker weed beds, etc., can experience the same effect as shoreline.
Speaking of those shallow underwater islands mentioned in illustration #8., It’s my experience where there have been many 50 fish a day caught in Fall when Smallmouth Bass were swarming on such humps in the right place. These places lined up with the 3-D cline / PPZ principal to a T. I don’t like to have those days too often. It down right spoils you for anything else.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/LikelyShoreline-1.jpg
Illustration #9. of “likely” shoreline. You can take several temperature readings at various depths if you like. Then, there’s the quick way. Slowly zig-zag your boat through the area. Mark all structural or cover elements in the area. Throw marker buoy or use your GPSs. Turn off your depth finder. Anchor the boat upwind and about 30 yards out from each buoy. Go fishing. If you don’t catch a heart thumping fish within 10 minutes, move to the next buoy or spot. Record your findings accordingly.
An important note to go back to would be on water travel. The lay, rise, or fall and content of shoreline and lake basin, along with upper layer water slippage or movement due to atmospheric pressure, and the Coriolis Effect all play a role in the shape of the 3-D bulge. These issues may not have equal result everywhere in the lake at the same time. These features can be seen on lake basin, or topographic maps, and fine tuned with on the water experience.
Perhaps if we looked sideways or at a tilt up, or even an underwater version of a running stream or small creek it would suggest part of those topographic lake basin eddies, natural wing dams, “edges”, and such. The shape of the vertical thermocline depends in part on what water runs into, settles down around, or turns back on, coupled with atmospheric pressure as it governs the fast or slow movement of the upper layer of water.
If you haven’t noticed by now, we have been more than knee deep into the subjects of Hydrodynamics and Thermodynamics. For further example, a lot of folks have heard that if they find a patch of dark colored lake bottom the water in that area will be warmer. The reason is because dark objects attract and radiate more heat. Not so well known is that the greater the size of that dark bottom - width - length - height - the warmer that area will be.
So it is that we need to become geologists as well. Even the molecular structure of the sedimentary bottom or rock will tell us the quantity of heat produced. In other words if all other conditions were the .same, I’ve seen where if one hunk of black bottom 20 yards across and long, and another one 40 yards each way, 50 yards away from the first, the second hunk will be warmer than the first. But, if the first spot had irregular height dimension added, it would be warmer than a flat dark area of the same length and width.
Then, if one area is made up of a different kind of bottom or rock, despite color, some kinds of sediment and rocks and their molecular structure radiate more heat than others. All the more reason to watch the strata and flora along the water line and as it angles into the lake. Then too, the type, size, color, and quantity of particles suspended in the water, or the kind, and thickness of one weed patch over another, or the kind of stick ups/lay downs/standing timber will have the same effect.
Could be, Would be, and Something More.
• Could the movement of the 3-D Cline fit one of the reasons shallow fish react to cold fronts?
• Could the evening bite and shut down be influenced by the drop in water temp and light penetration, much the same as when a frontal system moves through the area;
a microcosm?
The smaller the creature, the less surface area to their bodies, the less they are effected by change; that includes cold fronts. Bugs will rule one day; a microcosm for sure! The “change” picture also includes small bass versus large bass, and small prey versus large prey. As small fish grow in age and body surface area, they become more aware of, more sensitive to, more patient with, and finally more respectful of their environment. For more information on this, see the various publically held definitions of “Classical conditioning , Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning”.
• Would the 3-D cline be the reason for another old axiom holding true? Fish are easier to catch, and more active in the early morning and evening wee hours of the day.
They are this way because of water temperature and light penetration at the place and time coupled with available prey. Convert that thought to another place and time when those conditions are present. My experience tells me time and again the answer is deeper water during the core of the day.
In all that you discover here, lean toward fishing shallower than the center of the 3-D bulge, and top water in the wee hours; fish deeper during the core hours of a sunlit day. Adjust for other light penetration circumstances accordingly. In these, and if the area gradually or suddenly becomes choppy or calm, look for the turn on or turn off of active fish.
Specie Characteristics/Habits. (Guideposts Only)
We need to fold the following into the Treasure Map. (The numbers and time frames will change for your specific lake, conditions, and species.)
For Example:
We know that the mood of Large Mouth Bass can be affected by water temperature.
We know fish have preferred temperature ranges.
We know that some species can detect as little as a fraction of a degree of water temperature.
We know in some cases Large Mouth Bass spawn/protect fry at 55 to 75 degrees water temperature at the depth of the spawning nest. The spawning temperature and the range of time and temperature as it relates to “Moving Up” to spawn is the easiest to benchmark and acts as a starting point for the feel part of going forward with our findings.
We know when spawning, fish are not actively chasing baits to eat them.
We know that it is fun to sight bedded fish. We also know it takes too much time to catch them within the consistently of the “active” fish format of this report.
We know that it takes “some time” for these fish to recover from spawning.
We know that after egg dropping/fertilization occurs, an average of 10 days will go by before the eggs hatch.
We know that male bass guard the eggs, and they guard the hatchlings for something like 10 days; imprinting, stimulating the young to be what they are to become.. During this time the females recuperate in some other area.
We know that it’s only after this time that Large Mouth Bass become steadily active again.
We know that the larger females could possibly “turn on” faster than males simply because they have been on the road to recovery longer.
Food will always be right up there at or near the top in any fish list of things they need at any given time. This report accepts everything in the food chain chasing world is relatively "normal" except that the targeted fish have not eaten for some time. That lead alone will make these fish lean toward being more active.
We know that not all fish are doing the same thing all over the lake at the same time. Some fish spawn sooner than others. Some fish will stay shallow, some will go deep, and are going to be easier or tougher to catch than others - depending on the setup for that special part of the lake.
Another reason our deep fish are more active is that we know shallow water experiences far greater fishing pressure by anglers - we should know that fish know this too through the lessons we’ve taught them - stress avoidance. Our deeper active fish are in tune with the stability associated with being near or in line with the active fish temperature range of the 3-D bulge and surrounding water.
Highly Important:
I had to take a different point of view by asking myself how much will the 3-D Cline be affected during this 20 + day hatch and recover period for that part of the lake I was probing, and will the fish then adjust themselves to another part of the lake? With favorable weather, a 1 to 5 + or - degree daily water temperature change is not rare for any time of the open water year. For example, If your lake(s) is like mine, near Los Angeles, California, with good conditions, the daily swing of shallow layered water can be as much as 10 + degrees in a twenty four hour period. The average of that swing would then be the same as the average water temp in the 3-D bulge. A lake under other climate and location conditions must be measured on its own. Doing this temperature reading, you can, more or less, pinpoint the center and the edges of the active fish range.
Some “other” weather patterns - calm, cloudy days, even rain or other run off for example, have to be layered into our thought process. If these conditions are short lived they should not delay the 3-D Cline for long. Good conditions being the case, our search should include finding water that is in or as near to the “X” degree range at the point where the 3-D Cline meets water that is not in the bulge per se. A clue to proper temperature for the species we are after often lines up with the crossover temperature ranges of its expected prey (see supplement #2.).
While it’s not absolutely necessary, math buffs can break this all down In to a formula if you like.
Shallow Water Predator Prey
X* = Temp @ Dawn + Preferred Temp + Preferred Temp
Late Afternoon High + Low High + Low
2 2 2
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3
* This formula is Based on 90% accuracy, or minus 10 degree “Predator Pursuit Swing, or Zone” after “X” is found. The PPZ is adjustable per species and water clarity. Based on the above, if X = 68 degrees for Large Mouth Bass, then the active fish temperature range would be 58 to 68 degrees at depth, where ever found, inside or outside the 3-D bulge.. If there is more than one expected prey, run through the formula again and again for those prey species that are expected for the spot. Add these answers together. Finally, divide your answers by the number of prey items you have made formulas for. I.E.: If you have 3 expected prey formulas, with an X factors of 68, then 70 - then 65, divided by 3 = 67.666 degrees; for a target water temperature range of 58 to 68 degrees. Once you’ve come to all of your answers, you may have to make a judgment call. I. E.: If one prey item is more prevalent than another, which way would you lean in your conclusion on the active fish range of temperatures? - and - Considering the expanse or restriction, or content of the lake basin at the location we are fishing, where is the closest most reasonable structure/cover element that complies with our findings? - and/or - if the prey item(s) we choose develops final numbers that exceed the high end of the water temp for the area, then we have to consider the lower end of the zone to be more accurate - and/or - If the temperature gradient of the PPZ, compared to the distance to it’s deeper corresponding depth is too great, the predator probably won’t go there. This process may even tell us which baits would be more effective and when to use them. You might want to ask your fishery people what the distribution of predator and prey fish might be and if some will be found more in one area than another.
See Supplement #1. PPZ Worksheet. Sorry, the worksheet would not transfer.
Predator Pursuit Zone:
The PPZ is subjective, but falls back on a core of overwhelming evidence and the already known temperature swing for spawning, and then again for all other activities.
Instincts being, if fish are genetically programmed, or conditioned to “pursue” the mating ritual within a more or less specified temp range, that swing range as a quantity - of a major move, is a cornerstone in the lives of fish, and it will carry over into getting on with the other most important thing in their lives . . . eating. Additionally, it is not just a coincidence that fishery people recommend no more than a 10 degree reduction in live well water temperature to best treat fish held there. Several verified pond studies show fish do not stop feeding unless there is a 10 degree drop in the water temperature. The 10 degree element here is then a stressor max. If you want to go deeper on this, what happens to aquarium fish when the tank water is changed and that changed water is too far out of whack temp wise? Granted, most bass are caught shallow and shallow water temperature is used in live wells. Then, if our bass are caught deeper, in water of some reduced temperature, that 10 degree max reduction would start from there.
• Do you think bass have an instinctive genetic program , or have a conditioned inclination for knowing what water temperature their food comes from, or what areas and times that food is likely to be available?
• Do bass expand and reduce their home territory as the water temp of the 3-D Cline spreads or contracts?
• Is it harder to catch big bass in a bowl shaped lake basin; do fish range farther there?
• Are temperature gradients leading to and at the thermocline “Migrating ‘Structure” in themselves? Think about the predator/prey relationship for a moment. Some specie of plankton rise during the day (think-brighter) and sink at night (think-darker). Some other plankton rise at night and sink during the day. If the colder water at and below the thermocline is much denser than that above it, and the dissolved oxygen levels peter out there, can sinking plankton penetrate that layer as easily as the water above? And do they, like any other living thing, need oxygen to live? Do we in fact have a plankton cline? When plankton suspends, bait fish follow. When bait fish suspend to take advantage of the concentrated plankton feast, would this situation be a bass magnet regardless of conventional wisdom on anchored structure? Following that plankton rise at night, would the predator/prey relationship change location as to position in the water column?
• Could the Fall reduction of the 3-D Cline bring fish closer together making for greater concentrations, greater competition, and the traditionally better fishing of that time?
• Is the confusion of the turnover related to the temporary destruction or mixing of the 3-D cline?
• Then, as the water gets colder, the 3-D cline shrinks to a very narrow band of water, where do we think our fish will go to find stabilization? They will go to the best possible choice under the circumstances. . . relatively deeper stabilized depths. Colder yes, but stabilized all the same.
• In late Fall with colder Northerly winds, what reversals might we see as the best places to find the greatest water temp stability?
I’ve found all of these questions and more are rhetorical for sure when we see the answers for ourselves as natural occurrences and in understanding the workings of the 3-D Cline. These are the visions of Treasure Chests opening a little wider, the gold within shining brighter.
There has been at least two times in my life where I’ve caught State record fish and didn’t know it. Actually, I didn’t care about it at the time, and let just about all my fish live again to fight another day; still do. Both of these fish came from the principals displayed here. Both fish came from a popular lake in Southern Wisconsin, that is fairly heavily fished every week throughout the open water season. Both times I didn’t have a scale with me and couldn’t weigh the fish. But I did measure them. There was a Bluegill that went nearly twice the length of the palm of my hand. I hardly ever fish for Bluegills, but there it was in all my surprised glory. In roughly the same spot 2 weeks later, I caught a Large Mouth Bass that went 3 ½ palm lengths. I don’t have monster hands. From the tip of my middle finger to the base of the palm, my hand measures just shy of 7 inches. . . You do the math. Soon after this I moved out of state for a work promotion I couldn’t turn down. Haven’t been back there for some time. . . But, one day. . .
We need to remember the environment in which fish live, depend on for their existence and livelihood, is hydrodynamically and thermodynamically based; it is a part of their finding stabilization in their everyday lives, and it is natural to them and all fish to be so inclined, so moved. So too, on some level, there is a valid argument to say that it is easier to catch fish in windy conditions, cloud cover, stained water, wee hour water, or deeper water, chemically altered - degraded water. They don’t see, don’t experience their environment quite the same way they would if that water were more clear, with stabilized and brighter conditions.
All in all, the PPZ is part of holding your answers up to the light to see if they make sense. But also remember, unless they are too young, too aggressive to know better, or have no choice - desperation, fish will not pursue prey unless the return on energy expense is in their favor. This means if the prey is too far out of their reach temperature wise, water pressure wise, and distance wise, if they will be exposed to less dissolved oxygen or more adverse Ph levels for too long a period of time than they need to survive comfortably, if the size of the prey and resultant capture and struggle is outside of their capacity to do so, or any combination of the above, they probably won’t go after that prey.
Conserving energy is as important to our fish as it is to being the first law of Thermodynamics - or so my “Physics For Idiots” book tells me. I.E.: The Change in internal energy of a system (fish) is equal to the heat added to the system (food) minus the work done by the system
(moving around, chasing prey, maintaining stability, etc.). Being cold blooded and unable to knowingly regulate body temps - putting on an overcoat - bass adjust body temperature, swim bladder, metabolism, to be nearly the same as the water temperature, or to compensate for water pressure, or segment of environment they happen to hang out in. Our deeper fish are after that part of stability that gives them the most overall consistency for the least effort . . . little energy loss, through heat transfer, by working to maintain stability. Yes, fish are cold blooded, but work produces heat and heat requires energy. Warmer water increases fish metabolism making for a situation where food is constantly in demand in order to maintain stability, and the competition for that food is greater. Subsequently fish will be smaller on a whole and younger simply because they won’t live as long under higher stressor situations.
While not necessarily aligning with fish activity levels, water pressure alone amounts to how much and fast fish will move. There is nearly 15 pounds of pressure per inch of body surface for every 33 feet of depth. Fish with greater muscle mass and different body shapes can handle water pressure better. Still, fish look for easy meals before they look for difficult ones, Because of a swim bladder re-adjustment period, it is easier for them to move laterally and up, rather than down - a clue to bait presentation? For this reason and contrasting - silhouette against the light source, it is better to look for our fish holding in the lower end of our PPZ, and present our baits somewhat over the fish.
Having said that, I’ve found the parameters of active range fish temps do not have to stay within the low end of the 3-D bulge. That low end bulge place is a ghostly thing, but can be estimated by averaging the found “X” active fish range. Using the example, the 58 - 68 active fish range divided by 2 = 63. Sixty Three Degrees would then be very close to the deep water average edge of the bulge for the day you are making those readings, and that reading would be on the money for the core hours of the available sunlight for that day. Keep in mind that the bulge grows as the season progresses into Summer. So too then, will the home range, or the Predator Pursuit Swing - Zone in terms of distance traveled.
Process in a Nut Shell:
• Here’s what I’ve done that works. Take surface layer temp of area you are investigating. Take that temp twice; Once at or about dawn, the second time at 3/4ths of the way through the available sunlight hours for the day. Add those two temp readings together and divide by 2. That will give a close average water temp at the center of the 3-D bulge. This “center” is not a pinpoint - not yet.
• Then, factor in the Predator/Prey favored temp range by specie. First the Predator - divided by 2, and then the Expected Prey range divided by 2. We are doing this for crossover temp ranges. Then divide the total of them all by 3.
• If you have more than one expected prey, repeat the formula, remembering to divide by the total entries.
• Determine what effects the shape of the lake basin might have on the whole.
• Factor in the Predator Pursuit Swing or Zone, keeping in mind the various conditions that might expand or reduce the whole. Also see “Striking Distance” and “Water Clarity” illustrations # 10. & 11.
• Hold your comparative answers up to the light to see if they make sense;
leaning toward your better judgment, based on what you have learned.
Know that we must lean toward the shallow end of the bulge early and late; moving deeper than its center as we approach and swing past the middle of the available daylight hours. Our fish won’t necessarily move off of a holding area with this tempo. But they may be oriented to one direction or another based on the time of day and the prey crossover possibilities. Another example of using better judgment can be seen when we compare the fish holding position to the distance traveled to get to the max temperature of the 3-D bulge. Then, unfold our treasure map relative to the average striking distance of active bass.
Striking Distance of Active Bass:
While water pressure, size of fish and light break up, cloud cover, heavy humidity, light blocking/dispersing suspended particles, dawn and dusk, shadow, will have some effect, Illustration #4. is a sampling of Striking Distances up to two atmospheres of water pressure (33 foot depth). As the water pressure becomes greater with depth, or with any form of light degradation, it’s only natural that we can expect more restricted parameters.
Fish can detect weak currents of external energy/electricity which, among other things, helps them locate prey and avoid predators. Vibrations in the water caused by prey or predators prompts the gas in fish swim bladders to compress, making the fish become more alert to the presence of change. The fish Lateral Line works in companion with the swim bladder and hearing mechanism. All of this is simultaneously converted in the brain sensory process whereby it is either acted upon favorably or negatively.
Striking Distances: Illustration #10.: Angle of the Sun permitting more or less light to penetrate. Where light penetration is less for any length of time, from what ever cause, - dirty water, cloud cover, wave chop, permanent shadow, etc., all fish will be oriented toward, move or hold shallower - toward shore or higher in the water column - and / or striking distances will shrink. All “Sun Fish Family” fishes have a similar view of their environment.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/ziert/patterning%20Active%20Fish/StrikingDistances.jpg
Special Consideration:
Embrace both the spread of temperature in the PPZ and the Striking Distances as a whole. If the maximum Temperature difference in the PPZ is 10 degrees and we have 5 classifications of water clarity, we can develop a chart that tells us the more stained the water the more narrow the PPZ in temperature range.
Illustration #11.: Water Clarity/Striking Distance Converted to Temperature Range.
Sorry, this illustration didn't make it through.
Obviously, the shorter the distance from the holding fish to the max temp range of the PPZ and possibly just beyond, the better. These distances can also hold true for the most effective distance for fish rising for surface bites. Keep in mind that the more clear the fishes environment happens to be, the better they can distinguish this from that. I’ve found it’s a good idea to make your baits and their presentation as realistic as possible under most conditions.
To help clarify this principal even further I’d like to relate an extreme past experience when fishing a muddy pond near Jackson Mississippi. The Farm Pond was maybe 3 acres big and 15 feet deep. The basin was bowl shaped. The water clarity/visibility was no more than a half inch. The most active fish were no more than one foot under the surface and smack up against shore. The reason they were there is because of a combination of factors in their environment and which these fish had to settle for under their circumstances.
Light penetration, oxygen content, food availability, plus water temperature and pressure all came together within that narrow band down to one foot under the surface. Obviously the stressors in their lives in that pond were over exaggerated. They were aggressive, but not particularly big – a big fish in that pond would be 3-4 pounds. The only acceptable light penetration and oxygen content came from the sun overhead and wind hitting the surface but not penetrating very far. More times than not food came from terrestrial rather than aquatic sources. The water temperature, while warmer than acceptable, was the best they could find to balance the other factors and achieve their goal of survival. Because of the impending compounded stress they would encounter if they did so, these fish were not going to move any further than they absolutely needed. We fished this pond during the height of the day and the fish were aggressive. At night they would still be aggressive but our bait presentation would need to be exceptionally close to where they were holding.
Note on Conservation:
Returning to an earlier note on the relationship between water pressure, fish internal gas bladders, and catching bass at depth is in order here. The deeper the fish is located the greater the pounds per square inch of water pressure comes to bare on the fishes body. At sea level and at the surface of the lake there is approximately 16 pounds per square inch of atmospheric pressure. At increased altitude pressure is less.
For every foot of depth in water thereafter, water and atmospheric pressure combine to produce approximately ½ PSI additional pressure down to approximately 33 feet, where the combined affect is then two atmospheres of pressure or 32 PSI. This means that fish holding at 33 feet need to have less pressure in their swim bladders than at the surface. This is significant with respect to how bass move to capture prey. Horizontal, or somewhat upward and downward movement is not a problem.
Development of bladder gas is not spontaneous. Development of pressure can be. If in fact a bass holding at 33 feet makes a mad dash pursuing prey at the surface, their swim balder expands as they rise. After capturing prey under such circumstances, they have no choice but to stay at the surface and suffer the unstable consequences. The greater the starting depth of the bass, and the more rapid it’s assent over great depth changes, the greater the effect. This same “rising to the occasion” occurs when we winch up deep caught fish.
To offset the effects of increased pressure, there is a more or less well known “Fizzing” technique where deep caught fish are needled - as in an injection beneath the skin - at the right point, and the added pressure is relieved; details at another time. Then there’s the undocumented unproven way of through the mouth deflation. There seems to be a fallacy in these approaches. How much gas release is too much or too little? How do we know? The end result is one where the fish suffers stress regardless of our good intentions. Recuperation will take several days, and their vulnerability to predation and disease will be increased. Should the idea then be not to pursue fish that are extraordinarily deep in the water column, and where the water temperature is vastly different from the surface temps? – additional unstable conditions for the fish - The answer is not an easy one. We need to do the best we can with all given techniques. Playing the fish longer, fizzing if necessary, and even putting these fish on a stringer outside your boat for the time of recovery rather than in your live well all come to mind. The stress exerted on fish however caught, or treated can immobilize and even kill them. The answer then, is to educate ourselves on the proper care of fish, stay up to date on these techniques, never take them lightly, and to do everything in our power to preserve the fishery.
Rap – Up:
In all of these diagrams we need to remember that even in crystal clear water, enough progressi