Interesting Observation

[TOXIC]

We have been able to fish the hot water side of Lake Anna all winter and our usual tactics are Ned’s and when the sun gets up we go blade baiting the deep holes.  My buddies new boat has Live Target and a dedicated Lowrance 9 up front just for that purpose.  He has 2 graphs up front, the 9 and a 16.  The 16 is split screened into downscan and sidescan.  He has 2 graphs at the console both 12’s.  One is for mapping and the other is downscan/sidescan for me to see from the back deck.  If we are fishing, the mapping is in standby.  When we move, he puts the mapping on and the other unit in 2D sonar.  When he got the boat our first trip was to Okeechobee and needless to say the Live Target was worthless so worthless he took the transducer off the trolling motor (ghost) because it was collecting copious amounts of weeds.  Since we have been back, on our last trip I convinced him to play with the LiveScope and it was pretty remarkable.  Here’s the one thing I noticed that really surprised me.  If we were looking at a school of fish suspended in say 30 feet of 60 foot depth of water, as soon as the boat got over them, they immediately dove to the bottom.  It happened almost every time.  We’ve all heard that the big fish hunters all turn off their electronics when fishing for the big girls (amongst other things) but I can understand why now. 

[Deleted account]

I'm thinking it's the boat and not the ff.

[Choporoz]

Do largemouth go down 60 feet?  Real question. 

I have not heard of people targeting them much, if any deeper than 30....but I really have no clue how deep they might visit

[Deleted account]

11 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Do largemouth go down 60 feet?  Real question. 

I have not heard of people targeting them much, if any deeper than 30....but I really have no clue how deep they might visit

Not usually, but I have seen them down about 80 ft down. I'm sure they wander deeper at times if required. 

[TnRiver46]

33 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Do largemouth go down 60 feet?  Real question. 

I have not heard of people targeting them much, if any deeper than 30....but I really have no clue how deep they might visit

Yep, mostly in winter when there is no thermocline 

[Logan S]

41 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Do largemouth go down 60 feet?  Real question. 

I have not heard of people targeting them much, if any deeper than 30....but I really have no clue how deep they might visit

Lake Anna, especially the hot side, all bets are off - The constant flowing warm water mixes enough to where there isn't really any stratification and DO levels should be adequate top to bottom.  6' is the same as 60'.  Anna doesn't follow the rules .  

 

I'd guess it's the boat too, big shadow overhead spooking them.  I do turn off my sonar in shallow grassbeds on the Potomac or Bay, but thats a different scenario than this.  

[TnRiver46]

5 minutes ago, Logan S said:

Lake Anna, especially the hot side, all bets are off - The constant flowing warm water mixes enough to where there isn't really any stratification and DO levels should be adequate top to bottom.  6' is the same as 60'.  Anna doesn't follow the rules .  

 

I'd guess it's the boat too, big shadow overhead spooking them.  I do turn off my sonar in shallow grassbeds on the Potomac or Bay, but thats a different scenario than this.  

The DO is typically the same top and bottom in winter on about any lake . People catch fish 100 feet down on jigging spoons from lake of the ozarks, table rock, down to my area,  and up in the frozen deep northern lakes 

[WRB]

Bass have no problem going deeper, the pressure compresses their air bladder so they simply keep swimming.

DO levels may not be ideal but for short periods of time no issue. May experience is the big bass swim away horizontally more often when detecting a boat, TM or Sonar pulses.

This is the reason I make long casts jig fishing; ie Horizontal Jigging.

Good information, thank you for sharing

Tom

[Catt]

I've been following Todd Driscoll's telemetry study on Toledo Bend. If I remember correctly 38% of the time when the boat passed directly overhead with trolling motor & electronics on the bass moved.

 

Oddly though the rest you could get directly over them as shallow as 8' & catch em Dropshoting.

 

[Dogface]

4 hours ago, TOXIC said:

Here’s the one thing I noticed that really surprised me.  If we were looking at a school of fish suspended in say 30 feet of 60 foot depth of water, as soon as the boat got over them, they immediately dove to the bottom.  It happened almost every time.  We’ve all heard that the big fish hunters all turn off their electronics when fishing for the big girls (amongst other things) but I can understand why now. 

 

I have been reading about this subject for a few years and I believe there is something to it. Last year I started turning off the electronics when I fish certain areas. I feel I get more bites but have no way to confirm that.

 

I should start keeping notes on what I do and document the results.

 

 

1 hour ago, Catt said:

I've been following Todd Driscoll's telemetry study on Toledo Bend. If I remember correctly 38% of the time when the boat passed directly overhead with trolling motor & electronics on the bass moved.

 

 

I wonder how the transducer frequency being used comes into play. 

 

Has anyone done any studies regarding frequencies?

[WRB]

Bass locked on beds an’t gunna move with a boat sitting on top of em. I think most drop shot anglers are casting the rig in lieu of dropping it straight down. 

In clear water you can watched bass react to boats, the bigger bass almost always disappear.

Todays forward looking LiveScopes “see” regardless of the water clarity day or night, game changer!

Tom

 

[Trox]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

I've been following Todd Driscoll's telemetry study on Toledo Bend. If I remember correctly 38% of the time when the boat passed directly overhead with trolling motor & electronics on the bass moved.

 

Oddly though the rest you could get directly over them as shallow as 8' & catch em Dropshoting.

 

I've been following that too, it's pretty fascinating 

[TOXIC]

Do you really think the boat casts a shadow straight down in 30 feet of water?  I doubt it.  The water is clear but not that clear.  It also was cloudy most of the day.  As for bass in 60 feet, we catch them there a lot on that body of water.  Along with catfish, white bass and even striper and bluegills.  The other odd thing was that they did not disperse like they were fleeing something, they stayed schooled up and just dove deeper.  

[BassNJake]

22 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Do largemouth go down 60 feet?  Real question. 

I have not heard of people targeting them much, if any deeper than 30....but I really have no clue how deep they might visit

40-45 feet is my deepest this winter

Although I was marking them in 50 feet, you have to stop the bait above them

If it gets all the way down to them they get skittish/ I cant get bit

keep it above them and they will come up to get it eventually

 

By eventually, I mean on probably one out of five schools you can locate

That deep water suspended bass is a picky eater

 

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, TOXIC said:

Do you really think the boat casts a shadow straight down in 30 feet of water?  I doubt it.  The water is clear but not that clear.  It also was cloudy most of the day.  As for bass in 60 feet, we catch them there a lot on that body of water.  Along with catfish, white bass and even striper and bluegills.  The other odd thing was that they did not disperse like they were fleeing something, they stayed schooled up and just dove deeper.  

 

Yes.  I can't help from the bass perspective, but as a scuba diver I can tell you that even on dark days when the boat passes overhead you know it.

 

I can also say that sonar pings are noticeable underwater.  Most dive boats don't have them so I've not felt it before but we were in the bahamas in November and the boat we were on was a multi use boat that also trolled for bluewater fish.  They left the sonar on while we were diving and every time you passed near it you could hear the pings/clicks.  If you went directly under it it was actually painful for my ears as it created a pressure wave inside my ears/sinuses.  I'm not sure if it bothered anyone else but it did me.  I have to imagine that the bass feel it to since they are more attuned to being in the water than I am.

 

rick

[TOXIC]

7 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

Yes.  I can't help from the bass perspective, but as a scuba diver I can tell you that even on dark days when the boat passes overhead you know it.

 

I can also say that sonar pings are noticeable underwater.  Most dive boats don't have them so I've not felt it before but we were in the bahamas in November and the boat we were on was a multi use boat that also trolled for bluewater fish.  They left the sonar on while we were diving and every time you passed near it you could hear the pings/clicks.  If you went directly under it it was actually painful for my ears as it created a pressure wave inside my ears/sinuses.  I'm not sure if it bothered anyone else but it did me.  I have to imagine that the bass feel it to since they are more attuned to being in the water than I am.

 

rick

Great perspective.  Thanks.  Are you talking about seeing in the boat in fresh or salt?  If fresh then I agree both the boat and sonar probably contributed.

[casts_by_fly]

All of my diving has been salt water, primarily tropical locations.  Visibility varies.  We've never done 'chocolate milk' dives like in a stirred up quarry (who wants that?) but we've had more than a few dives in upwellings where you get a cloud of microorganisms and nutrients and you can't see more than 5'-10' or so.