I'm confused...

[Boomstick]

In the case of the hottest days of the summer, I would have to say Hank Parker is spot on. What happens is the bass like to go deep, but eventually they run out of oxygen. There's a point where small bass will be much shallower, medium sized bass will be deeper, and the only remotely deep ones are the giants. Then there's a point that no bass will go. For this reason, 10-18 ft is considered by many to be the target bass range during the summer. Up here in the north, they may go a but further down, maybe like 20-30ft.

 

Finding the deepest part of the water in deep lakes is never a good idea for bass. You might catch trout or catfish in the deeper sections, but generally many lakes are much deeper than bass will go.

[Bucky205]

90% of the bass are going to be in 10% of the water.  I always try to find what depth they are hanging at and try to fish structure at that depth.  You may find structure without bass, but you won't find bass without some type of structure.  Structures are any areas where there is a variance in the depth or the contours of the bottom, and these changes can range from subtle to dramatic.

[WRB]

26 minutes ago, Bucky205 said:

90% of the bass are going to be in 10% of the water.  I always try to find what depth they are hanging at and try to fish structure at that depth.  You may find structure without bass, but you won't find bass without some type of structure.  Structures are any areas where there is a variance in the depth or the contours of the bottom, and these changes can range from subtle to dramatic.

Explain to the OP structure in a 7' deep pond besides the dam if it has a dam and the bowl shaped bottom.

Tom

[FourRinger92]

About what depth have you found them holding at lately for you on your lake? 

The hardest thing for me is finding the most productive places to fish em. Most of what I’m catching can be pretty deep, but it’s all 1-2 lb fish. Nothing of quality. Any help honing in on this would be much appreciated. 

[Bucky205]

1 minute ago, WRB said:

Explain to the OP structure in a 7' deep pond besides the dam if it has a dam and the bowl shaped bottom.

Tom

Structure in it's simplest form is some change in the bottom.  I would be curious to know if anyone has ever had any success in catching open water bass?

 

[WRB]

10 minutes ago, Bucky205 said:

Structure in it's simplest form is some change in the bottom.  I would be curious to know if anyone has ever had any success in catching open water bass?

 

Structure in it's simplest form is the bottom.

pond bass don't have a lot of choices and grew knowing every inch of the pond, usually patrolling  the perimeter on a daily basis taking up ambush sites based on a pecking order, biggest bass gets it choice.

Will bass be off shore in open deep water? yes if pelagic baitfish are using the open water like threadfin Shad feeding on phytoplankton drifting in open water. Very common occuring in deep structure lakes with shad population to find bass off shore chasing Shad schools unrelated to structure that may be more then 100' below them.

Non of this relates to a 7' deep small pond.

Tom

[Bucky205]

***Shrug*** https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/structure-locating.html

 

[WRB]

1 hour ago, Bucky205 said:

***Shrug*** https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/structure-locating.html

 

How do bass get from shore structure and end up several miles off shore on a underwater hump or island surrounded by water hundreds of feet deep? It's a misconception with a lot of well intended bass anglers to have the belief bass can't travel from point A to point B without following visual structure breaks. Bass often follow breaks and often swim from one side of the lake to the other over deep water. Do you think a 20 mile long deep creek arm the bass most swim all the way around 40 miles too reach the opposite shore less then a 1/2 mile away....no they swim straight across the 1/2 mile without getting lost.

Way off topic.

Tom

[Arcs&sparks]

1 hour ago, Bucky205 said:

  I would be curious to know if anyone has ever had any success in catching open water bass?

 

Yes,  largemouth or small? Suspended deep or at the surface? I’m talking deep as in 70+ft.  I have caught all of the above while targeting other species trolling and casting.  It is no secret that they are out there,  although would be very  difficult to specifically target in most cases.  But as WRB said... off topic

[Deleted account]

7 hours ago, Bucky205 said:

Structure in it's simplest form is some change in the bottom.  I would be curious to know if anyone has ever had any success in catching open water bass?

 

Yes, crusing  shallow, suspending in deep water, or just in the middle of a featureless flat. They don't read, so they don't know they HAVE to be on structure/cover.

[NittyGrittyBoy]

All this over a 7ft pond... 

[EGbassing]

9 hours ago, WRB said:

Structure in it's simplest form is the bottom.

pond bass don't have a lot of choices and grew knowing every inch of the pond, usually patrolling  the perimeter on a daily basis taking up ambush sites based on a pecking order, biggest bass gets it choice.

Will bass be off shore in open deep water? yes if pelagic baitfish are using the open water like threadfin Shad feeding on phytoplankton drifting in open water. Very common occuring in deep structure lakes with shad population to find bass off shore chasing Shad schools unrelated to structure that may be more then 100' below them.

Non of this relates to a 7' deep small pond.

Tom

There actually are a ton of gizzard shad in that pond. I see them schooling out in the middle of the pond a lot. I know they're gizzard shad because I've seen dead ones around the banks in the winter.

[trouttracker]

I think it would be fair to say that it might be possible to locate the thermocline using a fish finder (if there is one - not likely in a shallow pond).  Note that the fish finder can only sense surface temperature.  Therefore, you might find the thermocline by noting the depth of suspended fish; however, although fish are unlikely to be suspended below the thermocline, they could also be suspended well above it.  The only way to judge thermocline depth accurately is to sense water temperature between the surface and the bottom of the water impoundment.

[WRB]

Gizzard Shad are zoo plankton eaters, the forage base baby bass and baby bluegill eat, and get well over 3 lbs.

How big in acres is this shallow pond?

Lets say for the shake of discussion the pond does develop a thermocline at 4' to 5'. If the aquatic vegetation is growing done to 5' to 7' there will be DO at those depth unless the bottom debris is decaying consuming the deeper DO. The life zone will still be relating to cover where the prey source is located in this shallow 7' pond.

Tom