Gauging The Water Temp

[gall]

i do a lot of fishing at small farm ponds and small bodies of water and well the problems i have are a. i dont own a boat b. i dont have any electronics to give me depth temperature or anything like that and 3. i do most of my fishing from the bank and i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how i could get the water temperature like anyone use anything like thermoeters or anything please give me any ideas im desperate

[SoopaJig]

I'm in the same situation as you and i use a digital aquarium thermometer i got from petsmart. If you want to spend a little more money you can go with one of those humminbird castable fishfinders that they sell at dicks or bass pro.

-edit- I've never used one of those castable fish finders so i don't know if they're any good or not, i was just throwing that out there as an idea

[gall]

how much did the thing from petsmart cost because i was honestly looking at one of those thermoteres people use for their pools lol but yeah idk how reliable those "fish finders" are and i just want something basic but at least someone knows how i feel when alls you got is your tackle bag and rod and a strip of land

[SoopaJig]

how much did the thing from petsmart cost because i was honestly looking at one of those thermoteres people use for their pools lol but yeah idk how reliable those "fish finders" are and i just want something basic but at least someone knows how i feel when alls you got is your tackle bag and rod and a strip of land

I think the thermometer cost me 10-15 dollars, it's been awhile. I'm sure you could look on their website and see what they've got. Look at petco and any other petstore too.

[clayton86]

Why does it matter what the temp is. I'm in the same boat as u or lack there of I don't care what the temp is I just plug away till I find the right combo

[SoopaJig]

i don't use my thermometer all the time but i like to use it after big events. Like a couple weeks ago after the hurricane came through, or over the summer it was interesting to see how hot the water was when we got that heat wave.

After that hurricane rolled through the water temp at my local pond was only 72. I was surprised it cooled down that much, i would have thought it would still be close to 80 degrees as the weather was pretty warm before.

[SirSnookalot]

Why does it matter what the temp is. I'm in the same boat as u or lack there of I don't care what the temp is I just plug away till I find the right combo

Agree with Clayton................I see no reason to over complicate bank fishing. Satisfying your curiosity is one thing, I doubt your fishing will improve. Reading the water, birds, wind imo will go much further in having a successful outing. Doesn't make much difference what the water temp is if there are no fish in the area.

[clayton86]

Agree with Clayton................I see no reason to over complicate bank fishing. Satisfying your curiosity is one thing, I doubt your fishing will improve. Reading the water, birds, wind imo will go much further in having a successful outing. Doesn't make much difference what the water temp is if there are no fish in the area.

Birds! I catch a lot of fish by watching the birds when I see gulls or king fishers hovering and diving a spot I know there's baitfish i f I can get to that spot I usually throw a fluke or spinner and start nailing bass or trout if on the big lake. Also one thing iv noticed is other wild life like say deer or bunnies if there active and out moving around 9 times outa 10 the fish are the same way and I have an awsome day.

[Goose52]

I fish from the bank a lot and always take the surface water temperature. It probably doesn't matter much during periods when the temperature is relatively warm, or relatively stable, but during fronts and when winter approaches (especially for those of us that get hard water in winter) I think it gives you another useful part of the puzzle.

Anyway, I use a thermometer I got at BPS - it is a glass/alchohol unit with a metal outer shield and is relatively rugged. I also have a small infrared thermometer but don't have the same confidence in it's measurement capability as I do the alchohol thermometer.

This is similar to my unit: BPS thermometer

[gall]

thanks everyone for your help the reason i ask is because right now we just got nailed by an early cold front about 46 at night and 3 days ago it was pushing 80 during the day but i try to watch the wild life only problem only a heron will fly by occisoanlly and for the most part not much the pond is pretty small probably about half acre at the most but the fish are huge and speaking of bank fishing does anyone clear spots that are overly vegatated on the bank because ive been using pruners and clipers but that only does so much and i was hoping someone would have an idea that is better then all that manual labor

[dulouz]

I fish in a river a lot, and the USGS has a website that has lots of realtime info. There is a station upstream that takes temp readings every hour. I study this in the fall and spring to get an idea of what the temp is doing. Maybe there is something like that near you.

[nycgrip]

i use this and its pretty consistant

http://www.amazon.com/MicroTemp-MT-100-Digital-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B000EIVWSW

[gall]

thanks ill have to check that out too and that little pocket thermoterer is perfect cause latley we've been having mid 40s nights and just up and down weather its kinda getting hard to even gauge what its gonna be like for air temp

[Goose52]

i use this and its pretty consistant

http://www.amazon.com/MicroTemp-MT-100-Digital-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B000EIVWSW

That's the infrared unit that I have. From the reviews, it seems to be about the best one out there in that price range.