Question about current fish location

Ebbetsguy · 08-06-10, 09:53 PM

We had the hottest July on record, my favorite lake is way down, because of new ramp construction and the lake is currently 37 feet deep, at the biggest hole, avg deep water is bet 10 to 12 ft . I have been fishing submerged weeds for 4 to 5 weeks now, and killing them. Today one fish in over 5 hours
There was a strong wind, is it possible this wind is putting some O2 into the shallower parts and shallow rock piles might be a better target area now?

lilmule · 08-06-10, 11:06 PM

I think its a question we all at one time or another asked or wondered just where did they go,they generally go for a reason such as a front or other reason such as their food supply has moved,regardless of ideal conditions or not they relate to it more than optimal conditions.
An oddlity here on ky lake right now is surface temp is 86.2 and 3 meters down its 86.5,I saw those stats released from murry state website and did a double take,confirmed this with a mussel diver,weird aint it.
Yet im catching bass in 3 ft of water and have been all along,with appropriate veggies for shade and a food source.
So if you cant find the bass see if you can find their food source,they wont be far off.

keithdog · 08-07-10, 08:12 AM

I fish in naturally made lakes up here rather than man made impoundments, so my situation is different from yours. But, on windy days, most often I can head to points and banks that the wind is blowing into and start catching bass. That area where the waves are washing onto the bank in a strong wind usually hold fish. I think the micro organisms that baitfish feed on get pushed into this area and the area gets stirred up creating a feeding station as you will for small minnows. The larger fish move in to feed on the minnows. Thats my opinion anyways.

Ebbetsguy · 08-07-10, 08:48 AM

Thans. I have been paying a lot more attention to prey , these last 2 seasons. Hey Keithsdog: I wanted to do what you said, bad issue. Our lake was drawn way down, I am talking the shore is now 9 ft down, the center of the lake is 16 ft. loewer
2 weeks after the bass spawn was over and right dead center in the bluegill spawn, they moved a massive amount of water to blast the old and decaying lauch ramps and pour new concrete ones, the work was finished 4 th of July week and wit the only real source of water, RAIN we are about 1/2 way back
anyways; The side of the lake that the wind was blowing to, is the side with many rocks, stumps exposed and all the weeds are dead. I tried fishing the ledge closest to it, nada

HarveysMinnow · 08-07-10, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilmule

An oddlity here on ky lake right now is surface temp is 86.2 and 3 meters down its 86.5,I saw those stats released from murry state website and did a double take,confirmed this with a mussel diver,weird aint it.

1. Not to quibble over fine points, but these temperatures you mention ... that's a really small difference ... only 0.3 of one degree. I'm just thinking that most digital thermometers have about +/- 0.5 degree of variability, or range of precision, unless they are using are very expensive sensors. This means that the actual temperature anywhere within that three meter zone could be between 85.8 and 86.7. So I wouldn't consider those readings as a significant difference.

2. If that small temperature variation is real, it could be due to evaporation of the water at the lake surface. Evaporation causes cooling.

A question: What's a mussel diver ?

.

lilmule · 08-07-10, 02:34 PM

A mussel diver is one who has a license and commercially dives for fresh water mussels,yes there is a market mostly asian ,mother of pearl,freshwater pearls.ground mussels for fertilizer.Not easy to do as they have to be sized and three different kinds here on the endangered species list.Closely monitored,take short ones in or wrong ones in lose lic.
And that was my point virtually no difference right now between surface and 3.1 meters down under,that is over 13 ft almost 14,and actually a tad warmer with less
oxy.generally 5 deg not ,.03 inbetween.One of the reasons bass go deeper in the summer is to get to cooler water more suited to their tastes.
If one dives in the water normally one can feel the difference as one goes deeper,right now not so unless one dove out reach for a surface diver without oxygen.Right now at 20 ft there is a difference,between that and the surface very lil and a bass would be just as comfortable running on top as 13-14 ft below.
Most of our deeper bite is occurring at 18-22 ft,so the bite is tallying up with where its changing at ,just deeper than normal.
And yes im catching fish shallow as more oxy around green weed beds and cover and shade,yet ledge fishermen stand a better chance at a hog,just not many fish.
Those same ledges are composed of mussel shell beds the better ones,so thick almost like a bed of flat fist size rocks.And that is what guys like Kevin Vandam look for when here.
And its the murry state water station extremely accurate eq and expensive
http://www.murraystate.edu/qacd/cos/hbs/wq.cfm

HarveysMinnow · 08-08-10, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilmule

A mussel diver is one who has a license and commercially dives for fresh water mussels,yes there is a market mostly asian ,mother of pearl,freshwater pearls.ground mussels for fertilizer.Not easy to do as they have to be sized and three different kinds here on the endangered species list.Closely monitored,take short ones in or wrong ones in lose lic.

Thank you for that enlightenment. In my sheltered existence, I had never heard of mussel divers.

.

lilmule · 08-08-10, 12:54 PM

Understandable the Tennessee river is home to about the only fresh water mussel business,with actual pearls found in them.Also home to the only fresh water pearl museum with a working pearl farm,while its in one room of Birdsong resort,other then the actual mussel pens,staked beds in ky lake to show visitors in case they take the whole tour.They still raise them in those pens for harvest,the mussel divers generally go after the wild population.
http://www.birdsongresort.com/pearlfarm/index.php
http://www.karipearls.com/freshwater...tennessee.html
There are other museums mostly in tn but not working farms as well.
Over 200 licensed jug and net catfishermen,paddlefish as well,with strict regs.
Go by anyone in this portion of tn they will wave as friendly.but ask a mussel diver where there are beds at and he will say Yeah I know where there at,both types of commercial fishermen are rather closemouthed about what they do for a living.
They assist with creel surveys,pay a stiff price to be able to do what they do year round,not only in money but toll on the body,as they dive year round,some have thermal wetsuits that put or warm the water with a contraption from the boat.
And if you were in trouble in a boat they would assist,to where it wasnt life threatening or even beyond.But they just aint friendly folks as far as their lifes work is concerned.
A diver generally places them in say a feed sack,getting two sackfulls a day is a good days work,thats a lot of mussels they then have to be sorted culled etc paying I think 85 cents a pd,depending somewhat upon the class size etc.
Eq needed a commercial johnboat and divers wet suit with some type of air from a compressor,minimal eq that is,along with a lic.Hard work.
I might add that last year the bay here at paris landing froze,it was commercial fishermen who kept a lane free out to the main lake breaking the ice every morning.

Ebbetsguy · 08-09-10, 09:46 AM

I am fishing a small 339 Acre Lake, that is way low right now. The lake usually goes over 48 ft by the dam, down to 31 ft. There is no tide, it is NOTHING like those TVA lakes with tides etc. and nobody is diving for mussles here, you can believe that.

lilmule · 08-09-10, 02:34 PM

Tva lakes dont have tide,they do have man made current generated at the dam but not much this time of year.
Id look for structure of some sort for them to suspend on otherwise like every one else right its a tuff bite.Im resorting to flukes and unweighted wacky rigged senkos
using a small circle hook.Mostly fish are suspending here at about 6 -8 ft,schoolers that is.Running 12 -16 in,15 is legal here.
Went out today caught only 4 and about 1/4 in shy.Just to hot.

Ebbetsguy · 08-09-10, 06:33 PM

Stay hydrated, and safe out there, thanks for your input

08-06-10, 09:53 PM	#1
Ebbetsguy BassFishin.Com Active Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sacramento, California Posts: 483	Question about current fish location We had the hottest July on record, my favorite lake is way down, because of new ramp construction and the lake is currently 37 feet deep, at the biggest hole, avg deep water is bet 10 to 12 ft . I have been fishing submerged weeds for 4 to 5 weeks now, and killing them. Today one fish in over 5 hours There was a strong wind, is it possible this wind is putting some O2 into the shallower parts and shallow rock piles might be a better target area now?

08-07-10, 02:34 PM	#6
lilmule BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Buchanan,Tn Posts: 2,685	A mussel diver is one who has a license and commercially dives for fresh water mussels,yes there is a market mostly asian ,mother of pearl,freshwater pearls.ground mussels for fertilizer.Not easy to do as they have to be sized and three different kinds here on the endangered species list.Closely monitored,take short ones in or wrong ones in lose lic. And that was my point virtually no difference right now between surface and 3.1 meters down under,that is over 13 ft almost 14,and actually a tad warmer with less oxy.generally 5 deg not ,.03 inbetween.One of the reasons bass go deeper in the summer is to get to cooler water more suited to their tastes. If one dives in the water normally one can feel the difference as one goes deeper,right now not so unless one dove out reach for a surface diver without oxygen.Right now at 20 ft there is a difference,between that and the surface very lil and a bass would be just as comfortable running on top as 13-14 ft below. Most of our deeper bite is occurring at 18-22 ft,so the bite is tallying up with where its changing at ,just deeper than normal. And yes im catching fish shallow as more oxy around green weed beds and cover and shade,yet ledge fishermen stand a better chance at a hog,just not many fish. Those same ledges are composed of mussel shell beds the better ones,so thick almost like a bed of flat fist size rocks.And that is what guys like Kevin Vandam look for when here. And its the murry state water station extremely accurate eq and expensive http://www.murraystate.edu/qacd/cos/hbs/wq.cfm Last edited by lilmule; 08-07-10 at 02:42 PM.

08-08-10, 12:54 PM	#8
lilmule BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Buchanan,Tn Posts: 2,685	Understandable the Tennessee river is home to about the only fresh water mussel business,with actual pearls found in them.Also home to the only fresh water pearl museum with a working pearl farm,while its in one room of Birdsong resort,other then the actual mussel pens,staked beds in ky lake to show visitors in case they take the whole tour.They still raise them in those pens for harvest,the mussel divers generally go after the wild population. http://www.birdsongresort.com/pearlfarm/index.php http://www.karipearls.com/freshwater...tennessee.html There are other museums mostly in tn but not working farms as well. Over 200 licensed jug and net catfishermen,paddlefish as well,with strict regs. Go by anyone in this portion of tn they will wave as friendly.but ask a mussel diver where there are beds at and he will say Yeah I know where there at,both types of commercial fishermen are rather closemouthed about what they do for a living. They assist with creel surveys,pay a stiff price to be able to do what they do year round,not only in money but toll on the body,as they dive year round,some have thermal wetsuits that put or warm the water with a contraption from the boat. And if you were in trouble in a boat they would assist,to where it wasnt life threatening or even beyond.But they just aint friendly folks as far as their lifes work is concerned. A diver generally places them in say a feed sack,getting two sackfulls a day is a good days work,thats a lot of mussels they then have to be sorted culled etc paying I think 85 cents a pd,depending somewhat upon the class size etc. Eq needed a commercial johnboat and divers wet suit with some type of air from a compressor,minimal eq that is,along with a lic.Hard work. I might add that last year the bay here at paris landing froze,it was commercial fishermen who kept a lane free out to the main lake breaking the ice every morning. Last edited by lilmule; 08-08-10 at 02:37 PM.

08-06-10, 11:06 PM	#2
lilmule BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Buchanan,Tn Posts: 2,685	I think its a question we all at one time or another asked or wondered just where did they go,they generally go for a reason such as a front or other reason such as their food supply has moved,regardless of ideal conditions or not they relate to it more than optimal conditions. An oddlity here on ky lake right now is surface temp is 86.2 and 3 meters down its 86.5,I saw those stats released from murry state website and did a double take,confirmed this with a mussel diver,weird aint it. Yet im catching bass in 3 ft of water and have been all along,with appropriate veggies for shade and a food source. So if you cant find the bass see if you can find their food source,they wont be far off.

08-07-10, 08:12 AM	#3
keithdog BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: IN Posts: 8,308	I fish in naturally made lakes up here rather than man made impoundments, so my situation is different from yours. But, on windy days, most often I can head to points and banks that the wind is blowing into and start catching bass. That area where the waves are washing onto the bank in a strong wind usually hold fish. I think the micro organisms that baitfish feed on get pushed into this area and the area gets stirred up creating a feeding station as you will for small minnows. The larger fish move in to feed on the minnows. Thats my opinion anyways.

08-07-10, 08:48 AM	#4
Ebbetsguy BassFishin.Com Active Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sacramento, California Posts: 483	Thans. I have been paying a lot more attention to prey , these last 2 seasons. Hey Keithsdog: I wanted to do what you said, bad issue. Our lake was drawn way down, I am talking the shore is now 9 ft down, the center of the lake is 16 ft. loewer 2 weeks after the bass spawn was over and right dead center in the bluegill spawn, they moved a massive amount of water to blast the old and decaying lauch ramps and pour new concrete ones, the work was finished 4 th of July week and wit the only real source of water, RAIN we are about 1/2 way back anyways; The side of the lake that the wind was blowing to, is the side with many rocks, stumps exposed and all the weeds are dead. I tried fishing the ledge closest to it, nada

08-09-10, 09:46 AM	#9
Ebbetsguy BassFishin.Com Active Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sacramento, California Posts: 483	I am fishing a small 339 Acre Lake, that is way low right now. The lake usually goes over 48 ft by the dam, down to 31 ft. There is no tide, it is NOTHING like those TVA lakes with tides etc. and nobody is diving for mussles here, you can believe that.

08-09-10, 02:34 PM	#10
lilmule BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Buchanan,Tn Posts: 2,685	Tva lakes dont have tide,they do have man made current generated at the dam but not much this time of year. Id look for structure of some sort for them to suspend on otherwise like every one else right its a tuff bite.Im resorting to flukes and unweighted wacky rigged senkos using a small circle hook.Mostly fish are suspending here at about 6 -8 ft,schoolers that is.Running 12 -16 in,15 is legal here. Went out today caught only 4 and about 1/4 in shy.Just to hot.

08-09-10, 06:33 PM	#11
Ebbetsguy BassFishin.Com Active Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sacramento, California Posts: 483	Stay hydrated, and safe out there, thanks for your input

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