Lake types

[WIII-60]

First off, I hope this is the right place for this question. I apologize in advance if it isn't.

I know very little about what the different names are for different lake types. Can you guys enlighten me? What I'm looking for is what different catagories lakes fall into i.e. a resevior. What makes a lake a certain thing? Give me examples and criteria, I'd like to learn as much as possible.

[Perfect Hook Set]

Reservoir

A natural or artificial pond or lake used for the storage and regulation of water.

Lake

A large inland body of fresh or salt water.

Pond

A still body of water smaller than a lake.

Simply put

Let me know if this helps

[Crestliner2008]

Go to www.in-fisherman.com. There is a wealth of information on lake types there, as well a lot of other solid information as well. There are several "types" of lakes, reservoirs and rivers that you need to know.

[WIII-60]

hey crestliner, that link took me to another search engine kind of thing......

Are there any resources that have the various types of structure defined?

I can point to channel swings and points and so on so forth, but I can't say to you "this here is a channel swing." I just see the various changes and differences.

[Quinn]

hey crestliner, that link took me to another search engine kind of thing......

Try www.in-fisherman.com (the ' should be a -)

[maxke01]

www.dictionary.com

[Guest muddy]

Here you go GREAT INFO here; even if it's not simply put ;D

http://www.wisconsinlakes.org/AboutLakes/laketypes.htm

[Paul Roberts]

Get the In-Fisherman Largemouth Bass Handbook of Strategies. It categorizes lake, pond and river types in language commonly used in fishing.

[Guest muddy]

Hey Paul, going to Brooklyn this weekend, gonna make the trek to STRAND BOOK STORE to look for it

[RoLo]

Limnology is a very comprehensive subject, so I'll just skim the surface.

Two major lake subdivisions are Natural Lakes and Reservoirs (reservoirs are also known as impoundments & manmade lakes)

NATURAL LAKES

Natural lakes are subdivided according to "age", which is closely associated with "fertility", but they do not move lockstep.

OLIGOTROPIC = Young Natural Lake

Oligotrophic lakes are subdivided into "Early Stage" - "Mid-Stage" -"Late Stage".

The lion's share of oligotrophic lakes occur mostly in northern latitudes where the glacier was last to recede.

Oligos are typically clear, cool lakes with low fertility.

MESOTROPHIC = Middle-Age Natural Lake

Mesotrophic lakes are subdivided into Early Stage - Mid-Stage - Late Stage.

Mesos typically have tinged water, medium fertility and support the most different species of fish, plants, reptiles and amphibians.

EUTROPHIC = Old Natural Lake

Eutrophic lakes are subdivided into Early Stage - Mid-Stage - Late Stage.

Eutrophic natural lakes are found mostly in the southerly states, especially Florida.

Eutrophic lakes are normally of dingy to murky clarity, warm water with high fertility.

Old lakes support more fish, but not as many different species as middle-age lakes.

Before a eutrophic lake dies all that may live in their water are roughfish such as catfish, bullheads and carp.

A joke among limnologists refers to "late-stage eutrophic lake"

as being synonymous to "early-stage cornfield".

RESERVOIRS

Manmade lakes are classified according to the topography of the surrounding terrain, just for example:

> Hilland Reservoir

> Flatland Reservoir

> Canyon Reservoir

Naturally we've only scratched the surface of limnology, but at least you have a small foundation to build upon

Roger

[Guest muddy]

Limnology is a very comprehensive subject, so I'll just skim the surface.

The two major lake subdivisions are Natural Lakes and Manmade Lakes,

where manmade are also called Reservoirs and Impoundments.

NATURAL LAKES

Natural lakes are subdivided according to "age", which is closely associated with "fertility", but they do not move lockstep.

OLIGOTROPIC = Young Natural Lake

Oligotrophic lakes are subdivided into "Early Stage" - "Mid-Stage" -"Late Stage".

The lion's share of oligotrophic lakes occur mostly in northern latitudes where the glacier was last to recede. Oligos are typically clear, cool with low fertility.

MESOTROPHIC = Mid-Age Natural Lake

Mesotrophic lakes are subdivided into Early Stage - Mid-Stage - Late Stage.

Mesos are typically have tinged water, medium fertility and they support the most different species.

EUTROPHIC = Old Natural Lake

Eutrophic lakes are subdivided into Early Stage - Mid-Stage - Late Stage. More eutrophic natural lakes are found in the southerly states especially Florida. Eutrophic lakes are normally dingy to murky, warm and of high fertility. Old lakes support more fish, but not as many different species as middle-age lakes, before they die they harbor only roughfish such as catfish, bullheads and carp.

A joke among limnologists refers to late-stage eutrophic lake

as early-stage cornfield.

RESERVOIRS

Manmade lakes are classified according to the topography of the surrounding terrain, just for example:

Hilland Reservoir

Flatland Reservoir

Canyon Reservoir

Naturally we've only scratched the surface of limnology,

but at least you have a small foundation to build upon

Roger

Hey Roger: thats pretty much the same info from my link. Where can i get more info like this? Is it possible for the same body of water to be in different stages. Like the ol fishing hole GREENWOOD LAKE? Back arms Eutrophic and the main lake Meso?

[WIII-60]

A joke among limnologists refers to "late-stage eutrophic lake"

as being synonymous to "early-stage cornfield".

There go those crazy limnologists with their off-color humor again.......

Thanks Roger for all that info, that's exactly what I was looking for. Know much about cover types?

[RoLo]

Hey Roger: thats pretty much the same info from my link. Where can i get more info like this? Is it possible for the same body of water to be in different stages. Like the ol fishing hole GREENWOOD LAKE? Back arms Eutrophic and the main lake Meso?

Absolutely Dom

Mom & I frequently vacationed on Lake Huron, Ontario (30, 000 Islands),

which as you know is an immense oligotrophic water (precambrian shield).

The water is crystal clear with a rocky bottom and cavernous depths.

Before each vacation, I used to preselect the mesotrophic bays

at home using a hydrographic chart, and meso bays are very common in large oligotrophic waters.

The oligotrophic main lake body has great "picture-postcard appeal"

with its gorgeous rock outcroppings and clear blue water, however the water suffers from low fertility.

The middle-age bays support far more fish per acre, because increased sedimentation reduces the depth,

provides more color to the water (color is good) and higher water fertility.

As a result, the meso bays is where you'll find the lushest weed growth and greatest biomass of warmwater fish

such as northern pike, muskellunge, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass.

Each mesotrophic bay is treated like a seperate lake within a large ecosystem.

All that said, if you were targeting coldwater fish like lake trout or salmon,

you'd be better off sticking to the clear, sterile oligotrophic waters of the the lake.

It's the same on any large body of water in the United States.

In most huge oligotrophic lakes, you'll find mesotrophic bays.

In many large meso lakes you'll find backwaters and sloughs

that function as eutrophic waters (more color, higher fertility).

Bear in mind that all this applies only to natural lakes,

and since reservoirs are "manmade" they have no part in this discussion.

Roger

[RoLo]

hanks Roger for all that info, that's exactly what I was looking for. Know much about cover types?

A little bit, but you need to narrow down the field

[WIII-60]

What about if I said I was looking for the five most common types? Would that give you somewhere to start?

[RoLo]

Whether the lake is Natural or Artificial has a profound influence on the best cover in that lake.

In my opinion at least, the "cover-preference" of bass never changes, what changes though

is the "availability" of their favorite cover. Find a fisherman who fishes artificial lakes,

and he will tell you that "wood" is the best cover (stickups, blowdowns, stumps, brush, etc).

Ask a fisherman who fishes natural lakes and he'll tell you that any cover is good as long as it "weeds".

When I lived in Georgia I fished West Point Lake a lot (an impoundment). At that time (1990s) I was not able to find

any weed-beds except in two sluggish headwater arms. In the entire reservoir "wood" was King,

and of course manmade structures like sunken roadbeds, barns, culverts, yada, yada.

However, if you were fishing in either of those headwater arms, it would take dynamite

to separate the bass from the weeds. In general, the order of cover preference is: Weeds - Wood - Rock.

For smallmouth bass you'd just reverse that order (hard to soft).

Not all fishermen agree as to the best plant species for largemouth bass, but these are among my favorites:

> Pondweed (called "cabbage" in north, "peppergrass" in south <> Botanical Name: Potamogeton)

> Hydrilla

> Bulrushes

> Eelgrass

> Waterlilies (good ole lily pads)

Roger