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LOOKING FOR THAT SPRINGTIME AREA OF WARMER WATER

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:46 pm
by tamiron
It should be fairly obvious that finding warmer water (by just a few degrees) this time of year really improves your chances of success. Anybody care to share some thoughts on where to look? I will add some of my thoughts after a few tips from others have been posted. / Jim

Re: LOOKING FOR THAT SPRINGTIME AREA OF WARMER WATER

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2020 9:48 pm
by Greenhorn
That is an important and sometimes overlooked key to finding early spring fish. Good topic Jim. Here are a few thoughts to get the ball rolling.


- where a stream/river dumps into the lake.
- shallow water
- rocky areas that receive a lot of sun
- springs
- warm water discharge (such as the nuclear plant on Ontario)

Re: LOOKING FOR THAT SPRINGTIME AREA OF WARMER WATER

Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2020 11:10 pm
by tamiron
Greenhorn wrote:That is an important and sometimes overlooked key to finding early spring fish. Good topic Jim. Here are a few thoughts to get the ball rolling.


- where a stream/river dumps into the lake.
- shallow water
- rocky areas that receive a lot of sun
- springs
- warm water discharge (such as the nuclear plant on Ontario)
Stream or river will also provide the direction of warm water by direction of plume. It also could provide "colored or stained water" as cover for spooky fish.

Shallow water can sometimes be tricky especially if there are NO rocks to act as heat sinks in the same area. But if there are some, then there should be pools of warmer water nearby especially if relatively calm

If you find a warm water area, mark it with your GPS and recheck to see if it may be due to a spring. If surrounding areas are usually colder ... you may have found a gold mine!

Warm water discharge from any type of plant has warmer water that sometimes also gets trapped in coves nearby that source. Could be a hotspot for a long time without wind to mix it up.

Sunrise/sunset ... New York side warmer in morning, Vermont side warmer in afternoon and early evening.

Large Rock Formations, shore rubble, will hold a lot of warmth combined with Sunrise/Sunset feature.

Surface temp measuring devices are very in expensive relative to potential benefits. Better ones will provide temp changes with your boat going a higher speeds.

Wind direction will push warm surface water to windward land.

Bird activity will point to possible warm water with congregating forage ( especially the early spawners like smelt.)

Remember you are only looking for a couple of degrees of difference.

Re: LOOKING FOR THAT SPRINGTIME AREA OF WARMER WATER

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:52 pm
by tamiron
NOW some heresy!!!

In 1975 there was a book written by Earl Holdren
https://www.amazon.com/Fishing-State-fa ... B0006W80KY

It was a book that I lived by before salmon in Lake Ontario. It was his contention that many cold-water species never strayed far from the 39 degree temperature all year, as long as there was forage and sufficient oxygenated water nearby.

As a matter fact, in the spring time as the shore waters warmed, I would use a hand held temperature gauge to find 48 degrees on the bottom (not warmer) where it was closest to shore. That could be in various depths every day as wind, waves and currents changed directions and moved it closer or further from shore ( fishing with live smelt, then live alewives). This is somewhat of a contrarian view, but it was dynamite. Ever since then, if I can't find warm water, I will fall back to at least forage bait balls in colder water with moving predators AS A BONUS on my graphs.

Re: LOOKING FOR THAT SPRINGTIME AREA OF WARMER WATER

Posted: Wed May 13, 2020 9:07 pm
by tamiron
USGS 04294500 LAKE CHAMPLAIN AT BURLINGTON, VT 88 ft down

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?04294500

Solunar Tables
Enter zip and hover over date
https://www.in-fisherman.com/content/be ... mes/245806

TOPO MAP - WHALLON'S BAY SPLIT ROCK THOMPSON'S POINT
https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#b ... 7DdmG~ln~L

NO DISCLOSURE!! :o

GOOGLE SEARCH :)

Re: LOOKING FOR THAT SPRINGTIME AREA OF WARMER WATER

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 11:47 am
by Gecha (Gerry)
Thanks very much Jim.

Re: LOOKING FOR THAT SPRINGTIME AREA OF WARMER WATER

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 9:22 pm
by tmcaul
Thanks for your post, Jim.

I spent some time going over the Navionics chart and reflecting about where on the chart I had caught salmon. The analysis seemed to me that my salmon catch had nothing to do with bottom contours. I may be like other fishermen who finally resort to catching lakers which are more plentiful and tend to congregate on identifiable bottom contours (based on my limited experience, I would say around dropoffs into deep water and around submerged 'islands" that are at least 35-40' deep).

Now that the water is warming I'm going to seek out 55 degree water and try to fish there. But not in more than 100'+ of water.

In about 6 weeks bait balls will usually be in 80-100' of water. Fish are shown down near these bait balls. But I have caught only lakers when I have dropped my balls to 95'.

One last data point that throws my limited knowledge out the window....after the Frostbite Tournament about 3 years ago, my son and I continued to fish. We were trolling towards Essex, NY and saw Controlled Chaos with whom I had fished in a DYP event a couple of years earlier. We had just spoken with him at the Frostbite get together. They're biting out here, he generously told us. He was about 300 yards east of the Essex Marine, south of the ferry crossing, and fishing over water that was 150' deep. He is fishing in the middle of nowhere was all I could think. I still think the same thing every time I recall this.

"Salmon are nomadic they just follow bait" another fisherman told my son. Maybe that's it, maybe that's the answer.

Comments and tips welcome.

Tom

Re: LOOKING FOR THAT SPRINGTIME AREA OF WARMER WATER

Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 10:47 pm
by tamiron
tmcaul wrote:Thanks for your post, Jim.

"Salmon are nomadic they just follow bait" another fisherman told my son. Maybe that's it, maybe that's the answer.

Tom
Tom:
You are welcome! There is only one thing wrong with your conclusion .... NO MAYBE

All lake fish that feed almost exclusively on smaller forage fish ARE nomadic. Although, bait balls may appear in identically the same place from one day to the next, it does not mean that it is the same bait!! :o

Sea Grant in Brockport, Ney York (many years ago) tracked Brown trout and their bait balls over a distance of 7 miles in a 24 hour period. But different trout were found in the same location as the day before ... still surrounded by bait as were the trout that were now seven miles apart.

It has been my contention ever since I joined this forum, that Anglers and their self fulfilling prophesies determine hot spots and boat traffic ... Not nearly the full availability of your cold water fishery. As a matter of fact, with a lot more cooperation, the difference could be dramatic. And if I am wrong, then you should get a new hobby because the over crowding that takes place now will only get worse with more secrecy and less sharing (IMHO)/JIM

Re: LOOKING FOR THAT SPRINGTIME AREA OF WARMER WATER

Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 12:35 pm
by ReelInvestment
This season not only has water temp made a difference, but also water color and spoon colors. I started researching brown trout fishing on lake O and using some of what I’ve learned there on Champlain and having some success. Spoon color is huge depending on water clarity. Murky/muddy water we have been running a lot of “unnatural” colors, chartreuse and orange and red,being the easiest examples. In clear water we have been running more natural colors, cop cars, black uv, smelt pattern/color pinks. Clear water is what saved our trip last Sunday. And as soon as we got into it I changed to natural colors and also downsized as much as I could. Hope this might help some this season! Get out there and wash spoons that’s all we can do!
-Tom