How to get water temp when fishing from bank

[krisjack69]

What do you all use to get water temp when fishing from the bank? 

[TnRiver46]

Swimming pool thermometer

[a1712]

Fly fishing stream thermometer. We'll even cast them out, let them set a few minutes and reel them back in. Brian. 

[Team9nine]

From Orvis (and reads in F, too), but any grocery store will carry a similar type cooking thermometer. Just watch the temp range on them.

 

[Deleted account]

UEI PDT550

[padlin]

AcuRite 00888A3 

indoor outdoor thermometer with 10’ cable probe. I hung a small weight on the probe and can toss it out a bit. Not the fastest reading unit, have to give it a minute or two. Suppose if you wanted the temp close to the surface you could put a bobber on it.

[813basstard]

Put my finger in there:

 

’ah seems nice’= 78-82

’ah, little nippy, refreshing’= 73-77

’nope. To cold for me’= 68-72

’these people crazy’= 63-67

’oh hell nah!’= 62 and under

 

This is verified and backed up by science as well

 

[Will Ketchum]

Just an ordinary house thermometer with a foot or two of light rope. I used a digital thermometer for a while that measured in tenths, but it was overkill.

[Woody B]

Infrared thermometer.  Mine reads the same surface temperature as my sonar.   

[Jmontgomery87]

I steal my wife's digital meat thermometer.

[gulfcaptain]

You can get a floating pond thermometer from a fish/pet store and tie a string to it, let it float for a few and get your reading that way or the above answers work too

[GreenPig]

Digital meat thermometer that stays in my pond bag.

[Bankc]

I use the LakeMonster app.  It's always a few days behind and I'm not convinced that it's entirely accurate.  But it gives me a close enough guesstimate for my needs, and I can get that information before I leave home, so I know what to pack for a day of bank fishing.  

[Deleted account]

24 minutes ago, Bankc said:

I use the LakeMonster app.  It's always a few days behind and I'm not convinced that it's entirely accurate.  But it gives me a close enough guesstimate for my needs, and I can get that information before I leave home, so I know what to pack for a day of bank fishing.  

LOL. I have a large stainless dog bowl that I use a s a bird bath in the back yard, that gives me a good idea as to how my local small spots should look. 

[PressuredFishing]

14 hours ago, Jmontgomery87 said:

steal my wife's digital meat thermometer.

^^^^

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, Bankc said:

I use the LakeMonster app.  It's always a few days behind and I'm not convinced that it's entirely accurate.  But it gives me a close enough guesstimate for my needs, and I can get that information before I leave home, so I know what to pack for a day of bank fishing.  

 

You can delete that app.  I tried it last year and it was so far off on temp and time that it wasn't worth the space it took up.  It had something like a 2-week lag and even when it did change, it was off 5-15 degrees of what the actual temp was 2 weeks ago (based on my being on the water and going back to check it).

 

The best I found for online scouting is using the USGS water website.  Find a couple lakes in your area that have temperature readings and go from there.  I'm lucks that one of the main lakes I like to fish has a temp recording so I know the shallower lakes will be a little warmer in the spring and more reactive to air temps.  But it gets me pretty close.

[Bankc]

1 hour ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

You can delete that app.  I tried it last year and it was so far off on temp and time that it wasn't worth the space it took up.  It had something like a 2-week lag and even when it did change, it was off 5-15 degrees of what the actual temp was 2 weeks ago (based on my being on the water and going back to check it).

 

The best I found for online scouting is using the USGS water website.  Find a couple lakes in your area that have temperature readings and go from there.  I'm lucks that one of the main lakes I like to fish has a temp recording so I know the shallower lakes will be a little warmer in the spring and more reactive to air temps.  But it gets me pretty close.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the USGS website.  Probably because it only has readings for one of the lakes I frequent.  

 

And I've found that app to be pretty accurate.  Not dead on, but accurate enough to be useful.  It might be different in different lakes.  As it uses satellite imagery, I could see how atmospheric changes, altitude, reflections, and water clarity would affect it.  For instance, it says that my local lake with the USGS data is currently between 43-47°.  The USGS website says it's right now 44.6°.  The last time I went out there, two weeks ago (and the lake is 100ft deep so it doesn't change temperature too quickly, and the weather has been pretty stable since then), it was around 46° according to my sonar.  So all of those numbers roughly agree.  

 

But if you don't like that app, then I encourage you to delete it.  I don't have any connections with that company or any of those people that work there, so you won't hurt my feelings any!  But I find it worth the price I paid (free.  I won't upgrade to the Pro version).