How Deep To Fish?

[FishChaser1]

The main part of my pond is a giant drop off that goes down to 60 ft deep in the center. Assuming there is some form of cover at each depth, how can i know how deep the bass will be on any given summer day?

[senile1]

The bass won't go any deeper than the thermocline in your pond, once it develops in the summer.  A shallower pond fed by a lot of current or stirred by a lot of wind may not develop a thermocline.  I suspect if yours goes down to 60 feet deep there will be one.  To see a thermocline go out on the pond with a fish finder and turn the sensitivity all the way up.  You should see a dark line across the screen at the depth of the thermocline.  In a nutshell, the thermocline is created by the change in water temperature of the upper layers of the water column.  The colder water is denser in the summer and stays deep.  All living things that die end up in this water and as they begin to rot the oxygen content of the water below the thermocline can become anoxic to the point where it doesn't contain enough oxygen for bass and other fish to live down there.  In the fall, the upper layers will cool until they reach the same temperature as the deeper layers and the water will mix, thus creating the fall turnover.  In the Winter, once the water reaches 39.4 degrees and below on top, this warmer water becomes more dense and sinks below the cooler water.  (One of the strange things about water is when the temperature is above 39.4 degrees, warmer water is less dense and floats on top of the cooler water.  When it is below 39.4 degrees, warmer water becomes more dense and sinks.)

[everythingthatswims]

Fish everything. Ponds are nice because you can cover most of the water and figure out a pattern quickly. You also didn't give close to enough information for anyone to give good advice (type of cover, water clarity, bass species, forage, water temp, bass size, etc)

[RoLo]

Sounds like an abandoned strip pit, where the lion's share of the deep basin will be useless to bass.

If you're on-the-hoof, I'd take the time to walk around the perimeter of the pond

in search of the best looking weedbeds. In a boat, this can be quickly accomplished by running

the 6 ft contour line while watching your sonar unit. Once you've isolated the best vegetation (food-shelves),

then you can expand your search into deeper water where the outer weed-line joins the drop-off.

 

Roger

[senile1]

Good point, Roger.  It does sound like a strip pit.  I have never heard of a pond that deep. 

[FishChaser1]

Good point, Roger.  It does sound like a strip pit.  I have never heard of a pond that deep. 

It's a 50 acre pond

[senile1]

Is this a private pond . . . . or should I say lake?     If so, and it contains a good population of bass, I would be spending a lot of time learning it.  Oh, and the thermocline information should definitely apply in this case.

[doyle8218]

The main part of my pond is a giant drop off that goes down to 60 ft deep in the center. Assuming there is some form of cover at each depth, how can i know how deep the bass will be on any given summer day?

Basically... You can't.

[RoLo]

It's a 50 acre pond

 

Every waterbody is either 'natural' or 'artificial'.

Some natural lakes with a surface area over 2,000 acres have a basin depth less than 10 ft.

The origin of a 50-acre pond with a 60-foot basin and no visible DAM, does not leave many possibilities.

One possibility is a natural lake that originated from a karst (sinkhole).

Another possibility is a manmade strip mine that encountered an underground spring.

I know of one case in Parsippany, NJ where the excavation company struck an underground spring

in the evening, and over the weekend their heavy equipment was basically inundated.

The equipment they failed to rescue now serves as bass cover. In 'any' case, water depths greater than 20 ft

are less valuable to bottom-relating largemouth bass, than depths greater than 20 feet.

 

Roger

[papajoe222]

I also fish a natural lake/pond that's only 60 acres and has a max. depth of 45ft. and locating active fish can be a daunting task.  The majority of the day the fish will stay deep and only venture up to the shoreline vegetation between dusk and dawn.  Just because they stay deep doesn't mean you can't catch them, but you'll need to know two major factors in your search.  The first is obvious, water clearity.  In the lake I mentioned, I can see a white spinnerbait on the bottom in 15ft. of water, in 20ft. it disappears. That depth is where I begin my search.  The second factor is some structural element that the fish will use when migrating to and from the shallows. There are two points on this lake, one drops sharply to 30ft and the other tapers slowly to the deepest spot in the lake.  Both produce, but the slow tapering point is easier to locate fish on. Once I do, I'll target the other point using that depth as a starting point.  Hope that helps

[Deleted account]

I wish someone could invent and electronic device that would interpret sonar echos into visual images on a color screen, but I guess that's asking too much. Now a virtual electronic library where all sorts of misinformation abounded, well that would be catastrophic...

[mod479]

Take a lap around the pond and toss a frog / topwater / weightless fluke out in open water, see if they'll come up and show you where they're at.

[WRB]

The OP didn't indicate if the pond/small lake has a dam or not.

If the deep water is spring feed, no thermocline may develop. Mid summer if a thermocline develops, then it is important to determine if it exists and the depth. For sake of not knowing the bass should be no deeper than 35 feet for all practice purposes you can fish nearly every bass lure.

I would fish late afternoon until a few hours after dark or before dawn to mid morning the 1' to 30' zone around the perimeter of the small lake if shore bound or survey the lake for any isolated structure elements like rock piles or humps, road bed, the dam area if man made. Flooded trees, weed beds, docks, any points no matter how small are good areas.

Could be an excellent jig lake, a variety of soft plastic presentations, nearly everything should work.

Good luck.

Tom