Ziert
12-04-2008, 08:27 AM
Primordial Anomalies
This piece is primarily directed at bass fishing, but can be converted to Walleyes; changing specie habits. In the spirit of never being 100% correct, I would like your comments. Thank you.
Chasing green fish can be tough as the season gets colder. Chasing them can be easy as well if you know where to do your chasing. Wisdom says to focus on points and cover on steep drops: all traditional cold water holding spots based on experience. Mixing this with power plant lake anomalies brings us to the best choice we can make at this time on any lake.
Bass are stacked into little areas of deep water: often a stretch maybe 20-50 yards long. With ice formed on the shallow, upper end of the lake where the creek feeds in, and plant discharge water being much, much warmer on the other end, We need to find a happy medium, a stability haven.
What holds 'em there.
Thermal protection is one reason. Aside from the proximity to the warm discharge, high bluff banks and steep shores offering protection from current/waves in/on shallower slopes and banks. Depth plays a role from the standpoint of being able to move marginally deeper or shallower quickly and with little effort to compensate for environmental conditions.
Conservation of energy as to feeding opportunities comes into play. These deep/steep areas tend to concentrate all kinds of fish (baitfish and gamefish) in a single area that leads to lots of food opportunities in a small area. The other is ease of feeding from a containment standpoint. Steep banks, or steep/deep weedlines, etc. act as a wall that limits movement of potential prey. With lowered metabolisms, having a vertical wall as well as a horizontal wall (the bottom and the surface) enhances feeding success. Think in terms of a bass in a box where the structure mentioned serves as 3 side to that box, with the pursuing bass actually forming a fourth side. It makes trapping your food source much easier when they have a limited amount of area to use as a possible escape route. A bass never really needs to roam, cruise or flush feed in these scenarios. He can find everything he needs in a very small, contained environment.
It's all fine and well that we go through the process of sorting it out for ourselves.
I'd like to back us up for a second or two, to look at a more primal view.
Cold water to cold blooded fish/creatures means everything slows down. Everything means everything from the smallest to the largest living thing. The steep drops are a sanctuary where stability is more abundant - to everything in a continuing big picture lifestyle.
Steep drops and access to spawning areas add to what happens when "they" (all life): come out of their winter stupor. With gradual seasonal changes, they position themselves there to find the greatest stability - not to exert undue energy - between all the factors that make up their on going lives. With conditioning and maturity, fish come to know where to be and when. If we were flexible enough to see weeds as the same thing vertically, as a bluff wall, then our position would be confirmed there as well. In other words, it makes no diff as to the substance of the wall - whatever it's made of - the diff is ease of movement and food availability. Remember, a weed bed as a whole, and its parts, is a series of wing dams blocking current; thermal mixing current, as well as flowing current.
Many seem to think bass eat only big stuff. Wrong ! They eat whatever is available - bugs, crawly creatures hidden in crevices, hidden under weed leaves and stems/stick ups – what have you; even the ver small stuff they started life with, when that's all there is to eat at the time. It just so happens that this small stuff is common in those areas we've noted and is also attracted there at the time. That "stuff" is also common on steeper rip rap and bulk head walls. That small stuff is also favored by and is attractive to somewhat bigger prey, If that bigger prey is attracted to those same vertical areas/consistently reliable food sources, that prey becomes food for bass at the time.
The key to "stability" is a combination of several factors; balanced as best they can at the time and place. Again, it's primordial. A relatively reliable and unchanging food source. . . Shelter/Energy Conservation/Non or little fluctuating water temps. . . Reproduction. . . Social Benefits in realizing the first three needs. It just so happens that the winter habitat we speak of (whatever form it takes) provides all of these things including the promise of a better chance at future reproduction.
Just as "stability" is not all things to all people, it is not the same thing to all fish at the same time and place within the part of the ecosystem they occupy. As said “Stability” is a combination of water temperature, current, food availability, ease of living, and more: how these things all come together at the time. Total Stability is unachievable utopia, but near stability is the best they can do with what they have at the time and place they are there, or from reasonably close by to where they started. The statement of reasonably close by, means different things at different times of the year, and of the moment for that matter. Stability is also the best adjustment to conditions within their immediate sphere of influence.
In the moment, fish cannot consciously move/search to find something because they have no idea where that "something" is to begin with. They can and do move more when the water is warmer, or when conditioned to do so by other annual changes with their food source or their metabolism. In fact their metabolism is higher in summer right along with other fish they might be after. They have to move more at this time because food is also more on the move for the same reasons. They can't afford to do this with colder water temps because they would lose more of the stuff (energy conservation) than the benefit derived from a more adventurous endeavor. Deeper fish are experiencing colder water temps any time of the year, and adjust accordingly to a slower world. Younger fish might not have learned all that they should have, and certainly not as much as the older fish. They – some of them - then become food for their indiscretion, or lack of maturity.
We need to recognize that fish live a life of conditioning; something has to happen before something else, a conditioned response, takes place. They learn as they grow and the implanted recognition of when things work and when they do not work stays with them over time. . . not all fish are as aware as others no matter what happens to them. All life forms have learning curves.
One very basic hydrodynamic principal of water and especially moving water of any kind is that the water next to the basin and steep embankments – even underwater cliff like strata - runs slower because of the friction of the water running into that basin or wall. A few feet out from those places, the water runs either marginally or much faster because that friction is absent. This wouldn’t make much difference if those underwater surfaces were smooth, or if there was no current to speak of. But there is always some current even under the ice, and the surfaces are never smooth; with pockets of various sizes and shapes to form mini wing dams and edifices behind. In fact due to natural or man made erosion, forces, those eddies change over time. Slower water is more stability for fish because of the energy conservation mentioned earlier.
This same principal applies to all fish of all sizes; predator and prey alike. Think of it as a wind chill factor. Cold water is cold, but moving cold water feels colder. Over their life time they come to know that this is where they have to be to achieve that part of stability.
Also, please don’t think that wing dams, mini or otherwise, are exclusive to basin walls, rivers and streams. Twists and turns and other things that block the route of wind and water also act as underwater wind or wing dams; current absent havens. Havens where they can watch the world of passing opportunity.
The other part of all this is that fish of any size are going to eat the easiest meals they can find at the time and place. Mix that statement with the “best meal” available for what lies ahead for them, and you have the basis for very sound bait selection. When water is cold, if given a choice of a slow moving big worm and a fast moving small minnow in the same square yard of water, they will go after the worm. If the tables were reversed on the size of each prey above and it was the abundance of summer they’d still go after the worm unless the minnow gave them a better immediate opportunity; it was closer, unsuspecting, or injured. This principal applies all year but again is tempered with the rate of metabolism mentioned earlier. Remember: If cold they need to move less. If warm they need to move faster, and more often.
This piece is primarily directed at bass fishing, but can be converted to Walleyes; changing specie habits. In the spirit of never being 100% correct, I would like your comments. Thank you.
Chasing green fish can be tough as the season gets colder. Chasing them can be easy as well if you know where to do your chasing. Wisdom says to focus on points and cover on steep drops: all traditional cold water holding spots based on experience. Mixing this with power plant lake anomalies brings us to the best choice we can make at this time on any lake.
Bass are stacked into little areas of deep water: often a stretch maybe 20-50 yards long. With ice formed on the shallow, upper end of the lake where the creek feeds in, and plant discharge water being much, much warmer on the other end, We need to find a happy medium, a stability haven.
What holds 'em there.
Thermal protection is one reason. Aside from the proximity to the warm discharge, high bluff banks and steep shores offering protection from current/waves in/on shallower slopes and banks. Depth plays a role from the standpoint of being able to move marginally deeper or shallower quickly and with little effort to compensate for environmental conditions.
Conservation of energy as to feeding opportunities comes into play. These deep/steep areas tend to concentrate all kinds of fish (baitfish and gamefish) in a single area that leads to lots of food opportunities in a small area. The other is ease of feeding from a containment standpoint. Steep banks, or steep/deep weedlines, etc. act as a wall that limits movement of potential prey. With lowered metabolisms, having a vertical wall as well as a horizontal wall (the bottom and the surface) enhances feeding success. Think in terms of a bass in a box where the structure mentioned serves as 3 side to that box, with the pursuing bass actually forming a fourth side. It makes trapping your food source much easier when they have a limited amount of area to use as a possible escape route. A bass never really needs to roam, cruise or flush feed in these scenarios. He can find everything he needs in a very small, contained environment.
It's all fine and well that we go through the process of sorting it out for ourselves.
I'd like to back us up for a second or two, to look at a more primal view.
Cold water to cold blooded fish/creatures means everything slows down. Everything means everything from the smallest to the largest living thing. The steep drops are a sanctuary where stability is more abundant - to everything in a continuing big picture lifestyle.
Steep drops and access to spawning areas add to what happens when "they" (all life): come out of their winter stupor. With gradual seasonal changes, they position themselves there to find the greatest stability - not to exert undue energy - between all the factors that make up their on going lives. With conditioning and maturity, fish come to know where to be and when. If we were flexible enough to see weeds as the same thing vertically, as a bluff wall, then our position would be confirmed there as well. In other words, it makes no diff as to the substance of the wall - whatever it's made of - the diff is ease of movement and food availability. Remember, a weed bed as a whole, and its parts, is a series of wing dams blocking current; thermal mixing current, as well as flowing current.
Many seem to think bass eat only big stuff. Wrong ! They eat whatever is available - bugs, crawly creatures hidden in crevices, hidden under weed leaves and stems/stick ups – what have you; even the ver small stuff they started life with, when that's all there is to eat at the time. It just so happens that this small stuff is common in those areas we've noted and is also attracted there at the time. That "stuff" is also common on steeper rip rap and bulk head walls. That small stuff is also favored by and is attractive to somewhat bigger prey, If that bigger prey is attracted to those same vertical areas/consistently reliable food sources, that prey becomes food for bass at the time.
The key to "stability" is a combination of several factors; balanced as best they can at the time and place. Again, it's primordial. A relatively reliable and unchanging food source. . . Shelter/Energy Conservation/Non or little fluctuating water temps. . . Reproduction. . . Social Benefits in realizing the first three needs. It just so happens that the winter habitat we speak of (whatever form it takes) provides all of these things including the promise of a better chance at future reproduction.
Just as "stability" is not all things to all people, it is not the same thing to all fish at the same time and place within the part of the ecosystem they occupy. As said “Stability” is a combination of water temperature, current, food availability, ease of living, and more: how these things all come together at the time. Total Stability is unachievable utopia, but near stability is the best they can do with what they have at the time and place they are there, or from reasonably close by to where they started. The statement of reasonably close by, means different things at different times of the year, and of the moment for that matter. Stability is also the best adjustment to conditions within their immediate sphere of influence.
In the moment, fish cannot consciously move/search to find something because they have no idea where that "something" is to begin with. They can and do move more when the water is warmer, or when conditioned to do so by other annual changes with their food source or their metabolism. In fact their metabolism is higher in summer right along with other fish they might be after. They have to move more at this time because food is also more on the move for the same reasons. They can't afford to do this with colder water temps because they would lose more of the stuff (energy conservation) than the benefit derived from a more adventurous endeavor. Deeper fish are experiencing colder water temps any time of the year, and adjust accordingly to a slower world. Younger fish might not have learned all that they should have, and certainly not as much as the older fish. They – some of them - then become food for their indiscretion, or lack of maturity.
We need to recognize that fish live a life of conditioning; something has to happen before something else, a conditioned response, takes place. They learn as they grow and the implanted recognition of when things work and when they do not work stays with them over time. . . not all fish are as aware as others no matter what happens to them. All life forms have learning curves.
One very basic hydrodynamic principal of water and especially moving water of any kind is that the water next to the basin and steep embankments – even underwater cliff like strata - runs slower because of the friction of the water running into that basin or wall. A few feet out from those places, the water runs either marginally or much faster because that friction is absent. This wouldn’t make much difference if those underwater surfaces were smooth, or if there was no current to speak of. But there is always some current even under the ice, and the surfaces are never smooth; with pockets of various sizes and shapes to form mini wing dams and edifices behind. In fact due to natural or man made erosion, forces, those eddies change over time. Slower water is more stability for fish because of the energy conservation mentioned earlier.
This same principal applies to all fish of all sizes; predator and prey alike. Think of it as a wind chill factor. Cold water is cold, but moving cold water feels colder. Over their life time they come to know that this is where they have to be to achieve that part of stability.
Also, please don’t think that wing dams, mini or otherwise, are exclusive to basin walls, rivers and streams. Twists and turns and other things that block the route of wind and water also act as underwater wind or wing dams; current absent havens. Havens where they can watch the world of passing opportunity.
The other part of all this is that fish of any size are going to eat the easiest meals they can find at the time and place. Mix that statement with the “best meal” available for what lies ahead for them, and you have the basis for very sound bait selection. When water is cold, if given a choice of a slow moving big worm and a fast moving small minnow in the same square yard of water, they will go after the worm. If the tables were reversed on the size of each prey above and it was the abundance of summer they’d still go after the worm unless the minnow gave them a better immediate opportunity; it was closer, unsuspecting, or injured. This principal applies all year but again is tempered with the rate of metabolism mentioned earlier. Remember: If cold they need to move less. If warm they need to move faster, and more often.