Thermocline

[thewolf123]

Hey everyone im new to the site and new to bass fishing, ive been fishing seriously for about a year on are local lake and done good till the summer. The lake is 230 acers and its gets to about 32feet at the deepest part, ive noticed on my lowrance fish finder that there seems to be a thermocline set it at around seven feet with the water surface temps at 85 degrees, the lake doesnt have alot of cover but a brush pile here and there not very big but there in too deep of water like 12 -15 feet , the shore line from end to end has grass growing around it but it doesnt come out that far into the water maybe a foot or two, i guess im looking for advice on how to locate these fish there main forage in the lake seems to be crayfish lots of crayfish with little surface activity what should i be pin pointing on the lake? it is a heavely fished lake in a crowded area thanks 

[Smallmouth Hunter]

Hey everyone im new to the site and new to bass fishing, ive been fishing seriously for about a year on are local lake and done good till the summer. The lake is 230 acers and its gets to about 32feet at the deepest part, ive noticed on my lowrance fish finder that there seems to be a thermocline set it at around seven feet with the water surface temps at 85 degrees, the lake doesnt have alot of cover but a brush pile here and there not very big but there in too deep of water like 12 -15 feet , the shore line from end to end has grass growing around it but it doesnt come out that far into the water maybe a foot or two, i guess im looking for advice on how to locate these fish there main forage in the lake seems to be crayfish lots of crayfish with little surface activity what should i be pin pointing on the lake? it is a heavely fished lake in a crowded area thanks 

Locate a creek channel and fish it SLOW with jigs or something similar that you are confident in. Oh, and by slow I mean 4-5 minute retrieves if necessary to catch fish..

[WRB]

Welcome to the site. There is a search tool, however not familiar with it, try key word search "thermocline".

A 7' thermal break isn't that unusual, however a 7' thermocline is! There difference is a 4 to 5 degrees water temperature change within 2to 3 feet depth change. Properly tuned sonar can easily display the water density change as a dark line or dark haze. The reason you need to know is low dissolved oxygen levels are usually below a thermocline in lakes without aeration or current.

I would suggest doing a survey looking for suspended fish and determine at what depth you see the most activity. If you meter nothing below the 7' depth, then you know it's a thermocline, so don't fish any deeper. If you meter baitfish or larger fish deeper than 7', then down to whatever depth you have determined the life zone to be at.

If the lake is highly pressured with bass anglers and the primary prey source is crawdads, then fish during low light periods or at night. Look for transition of soil types, clay and rocky areas give crawdads a place to hide in.

Jigs, soft plastics and noisy top water lures like a buzzer are good night lures.

Also fish the outside weed breaks and any open weed pockets. If the lake has a dam, fish there.

Tom

[aavery2]

Seems a little shallow for it to be a thermocline, did your lake have a recent algae bloom?  Without knowing much about your lake I would think that the thermocline would be closer to 12-14 ft area.

[BuckMaxx]

The only time I think about the termocline is heat of summer and winter. Generally speaking I find that during those times that depth is roughly half of the depth of the lake. You can find it on your FF but as a general rule of thumb that's it.

I am fishing a new to me lake on Saturday. I had very limited time to prefish so I am going to head to wherever 12-14 ft of water meets the structure. On this lake it would be the rip rap dam. I am going to throw a jig from 6 foot out to 18 feet and find em. You can pretty much bet if you get one or two in an area that's the depth they will all be this time of the year.

[Wayne P.]

Find the thermocline=find the fish.

This lake is somewhat deeper but the principle is the same: