Depth Question

[Bittle]

After scuba diving last weekend I noticed that all the fish seemed to be anywhere from 24 to 14 feet deep. Anything deeper, nothing but crawdads. When people are saying that they are fishing jigs in the 40 foot range are they just swimming them or are they talking about their boat locations. I'm not real experienced in fishing deep so any advice would be useful. I was diving in the dam area and the theromcline was about 26 feet i believe.

Thanks in advance.

[Stump bumper]

I know when I say 40ft, I mean 40ft and a lot of times this time of year it is deeper. There is a belief that there is no dissolved oxygen in water below the thermocline but that is only if the water is dirty enough that light does not penatrate to the deeper water.

It's the algie and other water plants that give off oxygen and when they die they sink to the bottom and give off carbon dixoide, but if light can get down 80ft then those plants can live at that depth and turn that carbon dixoide back to oxygen.

I know what you mean about seeing so many fish up shallow, I will snorkle over an area I have fished this time of year and see big bass and walleye sitting in the rocks I just covered, it is really amazing how many game fish are there when you get in the water and see them for yourself.

The fact you saw so many crawdads in the open when you dove deep tells me that is a good feeding ground.

Did you get a temp reading at 26ft?