Oxygen Levels In Ponds Vs Lakes

[DeBassin619]

Hi,

I was just wondering what the differences are between the Oxygen levels in lake vs a pond? I want to be able to fish for bigger bass, in deeper water, this summer but want to know how deep they'll be and how to adjust the depth i'm fishing, in accordance, to if it's a pond or a lake.

[BrianinMD]

Only to know is to use electronics to find the thermocline, if one exist. Otherwise its trial and error, not every body of water will be the same.

[NCbassmaster4Life]

Yeah I'd agree with Brian, plus it depends on creeks and or river flowing into the body of water.

[Nitrofreak]

The difference between them all has a lot to do with the hydrology of the body of water, wether it is spring fed or a man made dam for power plants.

The o2 layers differ greatly from place to place or from one body of water to the next.

One thing to keep in mind is that during the summer months, the hottest water floats to the top leaving the cooler water below, usually in between there is a layer of o2 rich water the fish will frequent to escape the other layers of o2 deprived water, usually it is easier to find this layer of water in shallower depths, like the upper branches of a big lake or stream or deeper creek channels.

[Raul]

Hi,

I was just wondering what the differences are between the Oxygen levels in lake vs a pond? I want to be able to fish for bigger bass, in deeper water, this summer but want to know how deep they'll be and how to adjust the depth i'm fishing, in accordance, to if it's a pond or a lake.

Caught my first 10+ pounder in a pond in less than 3 feet of water, my second a couple of hours later in less than 5 ft of water ( the "deeper" end of the pond ) so it´s all relative, going deeper doesn´t mean you´ll catch larger, depth and oxygen levels like many other things are important when put into context and not by themsleves alone.

[DeBassin619]

The difference between them all has a lot to do with the hydrology of the body of water, wether it is spring fed or a man made dam for power plants.

The o2 layers differ greatly from place to place or from one body of water to the next.

One thing to keep in mind is that during the summer months, the hottest water floats to the top leaving the cooler water below, usually in between there is a layer of o2 rich water the fish will frequent to escape the other layers of o2 deprived water, usually it is easier to find this layer of water in shallower depths, like the upper branches of a big lake or stream or deeper creek channels.

Thanks. What about bodies of water that don't really have a real creek or channel?

Caught my first 10+ pounder in a pond in less than 3 feet of water, my second a couple of hours later in less than 5 ft of water ( the "deeper" end of the pond ) so it´s all relative, going deeper doesn´t mean you´ll catch larger, depth and oxygen levels like many other things are important when put into context and not by themsleves alone.

Of course, I'm not denying that you can catch bigger fish shallow but when it's a hot and in the afternoon, you can bet that there will be atleast a couple holding to some sort of deep structure.

The main reason why I asked this question was to find out if it was even worth buying some deep-diving cranks or bothering with some deep-vertical presentations. Theres places I fish that can be 40 ft. deep and just wanted to know how far down I should go.

[WRB]

Water is 2 parts oxygen 1 part hydrogen H2O. What you want to know is the dissolved oxygen levels DO. Bass can serve between 3 to 12 mg/L and prefer 6 to 9 mg/L in 70 degree water, if they can find it.

The thermocline is a layer of water between warmer and colder water where the temperatures change rapidly with a few feet. The highest DO levels are just above the thermocline, if one exist.

Ponds are usually shallower and smaller than lakes, therefor subjected to both warmer water in summer and colder water in winter and subject to water being mixed by wind. DO is mixed into water by weeds producing oxygen during day light, from wind wave action and in flowing water like a river, stream or creek.

During the warm water period bass seek a combination of cool water and good DO levels.

Look for bait fish and the bass should be nearby.

Tom

[George Welcome]

Largemouth comfort level - 1/2 ft. - 20 ft.

They could be deeper but not shallower.

[Nitrofreak]

Thanks. What about bodies of water that don't really have a real creek or channel?

Of course, I'm not denying that you can catch bigger fish shallow but when it's a hot and in the afternoon, you can bet that there will be atleast a couple holding to some sort of deep structure.

The main reason why I asked this question was to find out if it was even worth buying some deep-diving cranks or bothering with some deep-vertical presentations. Theres places I fish that can be 40 ft. deep and just wanted to know how far down I should go.

Bodies of water that don't really have a creek or a channel, the body of water still has to have to be able to stratisfy in order for it to have a o2 layer, as mentioned in multiple posts already, nice job guys !!

Usually the o2 layer in question is no more than 5 feet thick in average, in shallower waters, that is why it is so difficult to compare each body of water to another, so if it is ok with you I will give you an example with the studies and homework I have researched about my home lake here in Va.

My home lake is a nuclear power plant lake, that being said, lets start with hydrology.

Hydrology is the study of current bodies of water have, an angler who understands this will be much more successful than the average angler just there for the day, with a power plant the current is used to generate electrical current by using the waters current to propell turbines, in most of these the current flows down stream, in the case of a nuclear power plant however you have a much different picture, the lake is pourposely built to cool the reactors, with my home lake of 23,000 acres of water, there are 3 cooling ponds for the water to travel before it reaches the main lake to be returned to the power plant.

In short what this means is this lake has a induced recirculation pattern, the water flows up stream, biologists have studied this lake and found that this recirculation pattern actually increases the upper layer of water in the lower end of the lake known as the epilimnetic layer, this increases the amount of dissolved o2 at this end of the lake.

What this means is the upper layer of water holding the o2 spreads to much lower depths, which in turn decreases the dead layer layer of water or the anaerobic layer of water.

The upper o2 rich layer of water can range as deep as 30 to 40 feet here even in the summertime, this means the fish have a lot of room to roam around at the lower/deeper/wider end of the lake, this area is often anywhere from 1/2 to 1 mile wide at times and an average of 30 feet deep, there are depths over 100 feet near the dam.

Now lets break down the sections of this lake into 3 sections, the upper, the middle and the lower ends and look at the characteristics of each.

First the upper, most of these type of lakes have almost river like stretches where 2 or more creek channels come together or confluences, better known as splits.

Most of these areas are for the most part, generally shallow, in the upper regions, 3-10ft deep, these areas can be slightly stratisfied in the summer according to water temps, ever dove into a creek and felt a cold pocket of water under a warm layer of water?

You are going to want to find the coolest water possible during the hot summer days to find these fish, they will generally feed for short periods of time in this enviroment, hence the early am and late afternoon bite.

As we proceed to the middle parts of the lake we find the water here starts to get deeper on average, 10 to 25 ft., here the middle layer of water or metalimnion, is on avereage only 3-5 ft thick, this part of the lake is more like open expances of water and less river like, the water itself starts to become more clearer and deeper for the most part, it is here you will find that the water will stratisfy even more during the summer and you will have to understand structure and it's key to unlocking the bass and their travels, the comfort zone for these fish will often be below 20ft of water.

As we head down lake it's here the fishing becomes even more difficult, the average depths are generally over 40 feet, most of this water stratisfies distintcly in the summer months but will mix in the winter, when the plants turbines are running the upper layer of warm water has been found to run 30 to 40 feet deep and can contain uniform levels of o2, while there may be a middle layer, the fish can comfortably inhabit this very often huge upper layer section of water.

Sorry for being long winded but I hope this helps you to understand a little about fishing deeper verses shallow waters, and the effects that o2 levels have on fishing.

[WRB]

Ponds are tiny lakes; some man made with dams others natural or have beaver dams. To support a bass population the water needs to be within a survialble temperature, DO levels and food.

The reason DO levels are higher near a thermocline is the cooler water then the upper water above can hold higher levels of DO. The reason water temperatures above 85 degrees are near the limit a bass can survive is the hot water no longer contains DO level above 3 mg/L....the hot water isn't the problem, the bass can't breath!

If the water doesn't layer and is within 40 to 85 degrees with good DO levels, the bass could be at any depth where they feel comfortable. In deep structure lakes bass are often 50' of deeper or up in 3' of water, depends on where they feel safe and food is plentiful. If the water layers into a strong thermocline, the bass rarely go below that level. Power generation lakes can have mulitple thermoclines with bass at mulitple depths.

Tom

[Blue Streak]

Fish the weeds, the heavier and thicker the more likely they are to hold bass. Vegetation produces oxygen and you always find bass there.

[Kyle Mahaffey]

Fish the weeds, the heavier and thicker the more likely they are to hold bass. Vegetation produces oxygen and you always find bass there.

This post is spot on. Everyone says look for structure. This is not always right. Always look for vegetation first. If it is by a dock, the bass will be there. But if there is not vegetation in 50 yards of a dock, that dock might be useless. But remember rule number 2, You should not overthink what a bass should, or might do.

[WRB]

This post is spot on. Everyone says look for structure. This is not always right. Always look for vegetation first. If it is by a dock, the bass will be there. But if there is not vegetation in 50 yards of a dock, that dock might be useless. But remember rule number 2, You should not overthink what a bass should, or might do.

So just curious; how does this answer DeBassin619's ? He wants to know where to find big bass, not the young adults or juvenile size bass that tend to seek cover, in ponds and lakes.

Only green weeds produce oxygen during the sun light periods through photosynthesis, so look for green weeds near deeper water would be a good suggestion.

The #2 rule is know what the big bass are feeding on. #1 rule; know where they are located. Lets add that deep structured lakes often have very few docks and sparse weeds. Most ponds have no docks.

The vast majority of big bass will not be shore orientated during the day light hours, for that reason most anglers that fish shore targets catch smaller bass.

Tom

PS: if the pond or lake has very little fishing pressure, then those obviuos spots could hold big bass and a few are can be up tight in cover.