Some Information On The Bite That May Be Helpfull.

[Mike Worley]

I had a half day trip Thursday fishing the Diamond City area. Early morning we tried the bass bite with no luck but we really got soaked in a series of thunder storms. judging by how much water I had to pump out of the boat I would guess we got about 2" in about 2 hours. We switched over to bottom bouncers about 9:30 and caught 6 walleyes with 4 being nice keepers 20"-22". We went in at 12:30 and from what I saw on the sonar the walleyes were really just starting to move in. What we have been finding about the bite the past couple of weeks is that PD is right about the termocline setting up at different levels I think this maybe due to the lake level dropping with both Table Rock & Bull Shoals dams running water. The walleyes & bass seem to be suspending above the 20' thermocline in about 30'-40' and fishing deeper than that isn't catching much of anything except small bass. The better bite seems to be mid-day which may be due to the full moon phase or when the generation starts at the dams or both. Surface temp was 90 degrees so the temperature at the bite level must have been in the mid 80's and the fish felt very warm to the touch when we netted them. One other surprising observation is that the walleyes were doing quite well in the live well even with 90 degree water pumping in, some of the walleyes lived several hours in the live well with no additional air being pumped in. I think this means that the O2 content of that shallow water must be good.

[rlcarter]

mike how do you find out at what depth the thermocline is??

[rps]

mike how do you find out at what depth the thermocline is??

1. drop a instant read thermometer on a long cord and watch for the dramatic temp change

2. use a regular thermometer and pull it up really really fast from various depths

3. talk to the divers

4. some sonars (like the ancient paper roll Lowrance) register the thermocline when set certain ways because the colder water is (more dense?/less dense?)

5. look for bait fish holding depth

[Jerry Rapp]

the best indicator I have found is to idle past a deep bridge pier. Look at what depth where the fish are stacked up. The Thermo will be a couple of feet below that.

[powerdive]

It registers on sonar, assuming your settings are good, due to the differing water densities. At times, in deeper water, you can see thermal breaks in different depths.