The Spoonpluggers Forum

Here is an interesting idea, i am taking a Water Resources class this term at my school and i have this teacher (very arrogant) tell me that fish scatter when turnover occurs because there is an immense variety of food scattered around the lake from the oxygen coming off the bottom and the zooplankton being scattered around. Im not buying this I have always understood that the fish get very ill with the rapid changing of water. What are your guys ideas.

David, You could explain to your teacher that when the surface water cools, the most unstable condition occurs in the shallows. When this change is taking place, the most stable water where conditions are less changing is in and around the deepest water in the area. This is where the fish will be, where conditions are more stable. Fish do not scatter in deep water, they are in groups, largest fish get the best and the smaller fish will be close enough to the larger fish to see them. John

David here's a link to an article entitled How Changing Water Temperatures Affect Largemouth Bass Behavior and Metabolism… and Perhaps Your Fishing by a fisheries biologist from the Virginia Game and Department of Inland Fisheries. It may help you.

http://www.vabass.com/Features/2002/November.htm

Regards, JWT

I told my teacher what spoonplugging was all about and how i belive in certain things like groups of fish and deep water being the home of fish for the majority of the time. And how turnover affects a fishes responces and makes them ill to the changing water. She listened and started asking questions so i know that even some of the most educated people can learn from Bucks way's... he was so ahead of his time! She spoke to me about how a bloom is considered very bad although i know the fish are easiest to catch with pea soup, i began to wonder... She told me that when blooms occur the oxygen content isn't very good due to lack of deep sun penetration. Maybe that is why the fish come up due to lack of sun light and also because the smaller game fish and plankton need oxygen to survive? I just wonder how many years this (bloom) has to occur before it actually kills fish off.

David that's a nice school of fish to get into. You caught 'em trolling, I presume. What size spoonplug did you catch 'em on?

You're into a complex and fascinating subject, i.e. ecological pyramids, biotic and abiotic factors that affect an freshwater ecosystem, producers and consumers in the freshwater food chain, etc. I don't know how far you are into the course, but don't draw conclusions prematurely.

Your teacher is correct when she says fish scatter(probably more correctly “can scatter”) after fall turnover because mixing of the water, in most cases, eliminates stratification, i.e. epilimnion, metalimnion, and hypolimnion.

Freshwater ecology is interesting to be sure, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Buck Perry was very knowledgeable about the subject. If you think about it, Buck eliminated having to consider many of the abiotic and biotic factors e.g. whether it’s a eutrophic, a mesotrophic, or a oligotrophic lake, the pH level, the O2 level, the CO2 concentration, the degree of stratification, the optimum temperature for the metabolism of a bass or a pike or a musky, the diurnal vs nocturnal movements of zooplankton in the water column and how it affects baitfish, etc. That's all taken into consideration when you put a lure in the water and find the fish. Of course, you do consider factors such as weather, water, and structure.

Yea im just getting into the class. I dont really like the teacher anyways so that is why i got a bit heated when she was trying to battle Bucks words hahah.... Yea them two females came later on after a long day of trolling, i broke one off but, by marking my structure i came back and made another pass and hooked on the second time. They were pretty deep so i had a lot of line out and i was moving real slow the weather conditions were very cold so slow movement was real neccessary. haha
dave

I know I am old now. That post of the honeys was done in February and here it is December and I've just seen it?
My suggestion is throw away all fishing gear and concentrate on the honeys. Much more rewarding and not as difficult to locate as fish.
Avoid those "high maintenance types" though or either lay the soft con on them telling them how "poor you are" (yea I know....just lie) and then they will want to "rescue" you to show how liberal, compassionate, and in touch they are with the universe, the alignment of the planets, etc etc etc.
You got it going on, my man. I am so envious.
Regards,
Douglas