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| Was out fishing yesterday and noticed that with the heat wave we are having the thermal cline has become higher in the water column. It is usually at 15-18 and the last couple of days has been in the 10-12 foot range...Pretty interesting, also I can only mark it at night...won't show up on the graph during the day....light interference?Ben |
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Posts: 32959
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | You should be able to read the thremocline anytime, day or night. You may be seeing some sort of plankton or other 'stuff' that sets up at night. If you have a thermometer, drop it down graduated amounts,checking to to find where temps drop quickly, that's the thermocline. |
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| Hey Steve, thanks for the info. I was always under the impression from my days on Lake Michigan that you could mark it, due to density of it. I recall going out deep for steelies where the thermolcline reaches the surface and being able to mark it the whole way out up to the surface. I must tell the stuff that it carries out and up the surface out there was scary, but the steelheads loved...thanks for the help...Ben |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | What you marked was definitely Phytoplankton. Like Steve mentioned the thermocline would be marked regardless the time of day. Did you boat any fish with the phytoplankton that high? The action can be good night fishing when you get the situation you described. |
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| Thanks guys, I misread steve's intial post. I though he said you could not mark it day or night...whoops...no fish last night, the hot weather really is making it tough. The bite is far and few for the most part...cannot wait for the fall....Ben |
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Posts: 42
Location: Highland, IN | The thermocline can get even higher in the water column , depending on the time of year and the recents temps. One day a few years ago , it was really hot out and we ( the family) decided to go tubing on a local lake. After a while it was my turn on the tube and my older son was at the helm ( mistake ), anyway after he dumped me off the tube , while bobbing there waiting for them to pick me up my feet were freezing while the top of the lake was as warm as bath water. I'm 6'1" , so the thermocline can be a lot higher. |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | I have seen on some hot summers the thermocline and no fish life below 8ft on illinois waters. Can be scary. It's also neat to see it completely break up on the windy side of the lake if the wind is up. |
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| Chad Cain had an excellent article on thermal stratification in the summer 2005 issue of Esox angler. Generally, the depth of the thermocline is determined by water clarity unless it is disturbed by wind(seiche effect).
Ben is talking about this effect that occurs on some lakes (Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago are two examples I know about). Anyone who fishes the Wis. side of Lake Michigan knows that west winds blow the less dense warmer surface water out and the cooler bottom water upwells near shore so there may not be a thermocline near shore.
Unless the thermocline was disturbed in this way or a reduction in water clarity occurred (algae bloom), I don't know how the thermocline can rise in warm weather.
Travis hit the nail on the head with his plankton assessment. Plankton will rise off the bottom at dusk and it will literally look like the lake bottom is rising on the locator. |
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Thermolcline movement....