White River Thermocline Picture and report

[Bill Babler]

Just a quick report on the upper White River from this Morning.  We splashed in at 5:15 and fished till 1 PM  Long day in the 95 degree heat but for some reason the lake had cooled down considerably over night. 84 at Viney, to a high at Campbell Point of 88  We fished from Big M to Campbell Point and I had a very lucky day, catching fish on most all my guested at locations.

We had zero top water fish and to tell the truth I can pretty much go out with only 2 baits in the boat.  One being the 3/4 oz. Dixie Jet in chrome and the other being a War Eagle Slab 1/2 oz. in White or Chrome

Depending on the area, the fish were ranging from 25 to 40 feet both on the bottom and suspended.   The further up the White you go the shallower the bite.

Here is just a super picture of the Thermocline.  Just like the James it is very hard at about 15'  Enjoy

[cheesemaster]

Nice. I wish I could figure out how to "Fine Tune" my Lowrance Elite to show images like that!!

[BassBlind]

Thx BB!! - Any quick pointers on how and where to fish the two baits mentioned above? Do I jig them up down over deep structure? Throw under deep docks?

[BassBlind]

Would also love to hear your take on all the nonsense going on at Taney outlets!!

[OldMillRoad]

We had the same thermocline today. Our fish came from 15 ft. to 45.  Find shad, find fish.

[dtrs5kprs]

That seems like a pretty shallow thermocline. Interesting to see what happens as summer wears on.

[rps]

A strong thermocline early, like this, can be followed down through July and August. By August we may be looking at 30 to 38 feet. Really cuts down on the number of locations. And the number of techniques.

[Bill Babler]

29 minutes ago, dtrs5kprs said:

That seems like a pretty shallow thermocline. Interesting to see what happens as summer wears on.

I'm with you on that. If it were just up the White River I would say the Beaver tailrace was playing a factor, but with it almost identical up the James River with no tailrace present, I is a bit of a mystery.  I thought it was starting to settle in at 22' a week or so ago, but it was week,   This is full blown.

[bobby b.]

4 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Just a quick report on the upper White River from this Morning.  We splashed in at 5:15 and fished till 1 PM  Long day in the 95 degree heat but for some reason the lake had cooled down considerably over night. 84 at Viney, to a high at Campbell Point of 88  We fished from Big M to Campbell Point and I had a very lucky day, catching fish on most all my guested at locations.

We had zero top water fish and to tell the truth I can pretty much go out with only 2 baits in the boat.  One being the 3/4 oz. Dixie Jet in chrome and the other being a War Eagle Slab 1/2 oz. in White or Chrome

Depending on the area, the fish were ranging from 25 to 40 feet both on the bottom and suspended.   The further up the White you go the shallower the bite.

Here is just a super picture of the Thermocline.  Just like the James it is very hard at about 15'  Enjoy

Been down with some knee problems but went out today just to see if I could see the thermocline on my new Helix 9 - around Indian Point.  Maybe it has not established down this way yet or I just haven't dialed it in yet; however, I did note this (see below) and am asking your opinion as to what it is - kinda looks like Bill's view of a thermocline but at 100ft.  Bait fish does not generally show anything this plus it did not show on the down image view like bait fish always do..

Thanks

Bobby

 

[Bill Babler]

3 hours ago, BassBlind said:

Thx BB!! - Any quick pointers on how and where to fish the two baits mentioned above? Do I jig them up down over deep structure? Throw under deep docks?

We are fishing the Jet on either long points or bluffends, the procedure is a long cast immediately picking up the slack to let the spoon fall on simi-tight line.  Using your electronics to have a good idea of the depth of the fish we are letting it settle to that depth and then swimming it back to the boat.  70% of your strikes will be on the cast and fall.  30% on the swimming retrieve.

Slab spoon is fished vertically to either suspended or bottom fish you are citing and sitting over.  let the spoon drop thru the fish and simply twitch your wrist upward, you don't need to jerk it to the sky, a 1 ft. rise or fall in the spoon with most often trigger a strike.  If this fails the drop shot is also an alternative. 

Good Luck