When we read the tourney recaps like Mark Rose's win this past weekend on Pickwick, we see he won fishing 25 foot of water. A couple weeks previous, Lloyd Pickett, Jr. won the EverStart event on the same body of water fishing 35 foot deep. Read all the recommendations on the major fishing sites at the moment and you'll see stories about ledge fishing. Naturally, with all this talk, the first inclination for many is to go out and try and find deep fish here in Indiana. That's not always the best move for many of our lakes.
In Part I, we covered the biology around what is happening in our lakes during the summertime. Let's take a little closer look now at what is happening, and why going shallower and not deeper is frequently the right move as the summer heat sets in for both the bass and the bass angler.
If you go to the Army Corp of Engineers website and check out the water temperature and oxygen profiles for our major reservoirs, you'll see something very similar to the one at left (Cataract - 7/26/11). One of the first things you'll notice is that there is no oxygen in the water column below 15', which obviously becomes a big problem if you're looking to find bass in deep water. What's going on?
Our reservoirs are just starting to set up thermoclines. You combine this with high nutrient loads, stained to murky water made even more so by algal blooms (remember the self shading concept?), and high water temps., and you end up with shallow light penetration that means deep water respiration and decomposition "sucking up" all the available oxygen.
Another difference between say, the TVA reservoirs and ourselves is that those reservoirs are primarily used for power generation, and so you have a steady pull of water through the primary and bypass gates which helps keep the whole water column mixed up and stable, stable in this sense being less likely to thermocline and set up into stratified layers. It's along the same principle as to why river systems so rarely develop thermoclines.
So lack of oxygen in the depths is the first significant hurdle - in many cases our fish simply can't go that deep and live for any length of time. But there's another factor going on that contributes to this shallow bite phenomena. Remember the graph to the right from Part I? This was taken from an incoming river to one of my local reservoirs. What you'll see is that during the day when the sun is out and the heat is on, the algae in the water are actually cranking out tons of O2, raising the oxygen level as high as 10-14 ppm. The same basic thing is also happening in the reservoir in the form of supersaturation, where the surface (shallowest) layer has the highest oxygen in the lake, and dropping as you move down through the water column.
Additionally, the main lake has all the pleasure boat traffic and wind/wave action which is helping to create more oxygen infusion into the water where the air/water surface interface is the greatest. It also sets up for very strong currents in the top 5'-10' of water, again helping to keep everything mixed up. In essence it creates an artificial current situation.
So bass being the adaptable creatures they are, and not having a particular issue with warm water temperatures in and of themselves, will find that in many cases, the shallower they go, the more conducive conditions actually are for their survival. Lots of their food base is still shallow in the form of young-of-the-year fish, and in many cases there is also shade or cover to utilize for resting or foraging. Note also in the first graph that water temps are basically uniform from the surface down to about 12' of water and again, there is no real benefit to be gained by moving deeper.
In Part III, we'll cover what the best available options are for catching bass in the shallows (there is still a method to this madness), as well as look at some recent fishing reports I've received to demonstrate what some anglers are finding right now out on the water.
Partners: Can't live with them? Can't compete without them.
Spend a day fishing as a co-angler in a bass tournament and you quickly learn a lot about the sportsmanship and character of your partner for the day. One way or another, there is always adversity mixed in with the success of a particular day of fishing. I make it a point to learn by observing how others deal with adversity. It is one of the things I enjoy about fishing in blind-draw tournaments where you don't know the person whom you will spend the day with.
This is my twentieth year of fishing competitively as a co-angler. I often feel like one of those forever-college students that somehow go to school continually, never getting that one last degree they feel they need to enter the real world. As a non-boater, my "continued education" saves a lot of money. In any case, I still enjoy life fishing from the back deck.
In all the tournaments I have fished in the last twenty years, of all the partners I have been paired with, I can honestly say that there are only two that come to mind as being ones I wish not to get in a boat with again. I figure that's not too bad of odds. Of course there are boaters that were less than great but also many that have become long-time friends. No matter the boater's skill level, I always learn from them. Even if it a matter of learning what not to do.
To be a successful co-angler requires a certain attitude. Having an attitude that includes being conscientious, helpful, and humble. My goal is always to make the most of the opportunities provided. But never trying to compete, cast for cast with the angler in the front of the boat. I have found that deferring casts to your angler early in the morning pays dividends as the day goes on. One of my goals each day is to see if I can make my partner so convinced that I am not a threat to his water that he will relax and actually tell me to "go ahead and cast up there." If he is relaxed, I can relax. We both fish better, minimizing the built-in angler/co-angler tension that is part of a draw tournament format.
Around co-angler circles, you often hear one of them that seems to always get paired with boaters who are jerks. I am convinced that the non-boater's attitude and approach to the day, greatly affects the jerkiness of his partner. Ego plays a huge role in bass fishing. Especially for boaters. The boating industry relies on these egos to sell bigger/better boats! The bigger the "jerk" the more fragile the ego. Boost his ego and you'll have a happier day. Threaten his ego and he'll make you pay.
This past week, I fished Thursday and Friday in the Detroit River Everstart. Failing to make the cut to fish the third day, I drove down to the Ohio River and fished the Hoosier Division BFL. Three days, three partners, three personality types. The ways these guys dealt with various forms of adversity ranged from questionable to inspiring. The range of emotions ran wide from dealing with having to share water with other boats to the fish not cooperating to barely making it back to weigh-in to going without the big motor for the first 2.5 hours one day. But for the most part all three days were enjoyable.
My week did not produce the results I had hoped for, but I finished high enough to stay at 18th in the Everstart Series standings and 3rd in the Hoosier BFL standings. Looks like October may be a busy month with the BFL Regional and the Everstart Championship back to back.
Thank you to all the boaters I have been paired with over the years. I have learned alot from each of you. Thankfully, sportsmanship, character, and dealing with adversity still remains extremely high in the traits of the vast majority of competitive bass anglers. I hope I am one of them.
Rod Yoder
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