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Warm temps causing fish to move??

oleWalter

By oleWalter
in Ice Fishing

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oleWalter Enthusiast

oleWalter

Posted
Posted

Im down in Winona and haven't been able to catch any fish lately. Is this just due to the randomness of fishing or are the warm temps causing the fish to relocate? I don't have a flasher so it's hard for me to find the fish anyways but if they are moving depthwise that would help me out.

Thanks, stay safe on the ice

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mixxedbagg Veteran

mixxedbagg

Posted
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Quote:
Im down in Winona and haven't been able to catch any fish lately. Is this just due to the randomness of fishing or are the warm temps causing the fish to relocate? I don't have a flasher so it's hard for me to find the fish anyways but if they are moving depthwise that would help me out.

MY hunch is that they have suspended in the same areas. The sun and changes in snow cover might have just brought them up in the column a little. During the January cold, I had a great school of fish (sunnies and crappies), quite active, holding tight to the bottom in 18'. Now, those fish are still there and still biting ravenously, but they're only 10' to 12' down. I can't buy a bite on the bottom anymore.

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Crm7290 Community Regular

Crm7290

Posted
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ole walter, how deep were you fishing? We have been having trouble finding fish on the lake. We did not find them suspended but by the time I decided to move shallow we decided to leave.

I have a flasher also so I would have noticed them. I had fish suspended before the cold snap about 6 feet off the bottom before it got warm and now I can't find those same fish. Next time I'm going shallow.

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Nick Kuhn Grand Master

Nick Kuhn

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Could it be that due to warmer waters the fishes are moving to warmer water. They would prefer really active live baits?

No such thing as warmer water until the ice is out. With all the water running in though, they may be moving toward better oxygenated areas of the lake. Really, the oxygen levels are probably close to the lowest they get all year, so fish really want to limit activity in low oxygen areas.

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TooTallTom Mentor

TooTallTom

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No such thing as warmer water until the ice is out. With all the water running in though, they may be moving toward better oxygenated areas of the lake. Really, the oxygen levels are probably close to the lowest they get all year, so fish really want to limit activity in low oxygen areas.

You're right about the warmer water (but I suppose it's possible that there might be pockets of relatively warm water) and I think that the higher oxygenation levels makes sense. Of course, I really have no background/ education in this to fall back on. (Other than the fact that water in my HS lab stayed the same temp until all the ice melted. But, lakes are a bit bigger scale, hence the speculation about potential differences.)

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My_Key Community Regular

My_Key

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There is such thing as warmer water in frozen lakes. Get yourself a Vexilar Deptherm and test it for yourself. Start somewhat shallow, the water will be around 33 degrees, and you very seldom will find fish in those areas. Then go deeper, you'll find water in the 38-39 degree range. You can even do the test vertically over the lakes basin. Water closer to the ice is colder then the water down at the bottom.

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BobT Grand Master

BobT

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Quote:
You're right about the warmer water (but I suppose it's possible that there might be pockets of relatively warm water) and I think that the higher oxygenation levels makes sense. Of course, I really have no background/ education in this to fall back on. (Other than the fact that water in my HS lab stayed the same temp until all the ice melted. But, lakes are a bit bigger scale, hence the speculation about potential differences.)

How does warmer air temps relate to warmer water under the conditions we have today?

About the only thing I can think of is if maybe it was warm long enough that the rivers and streams have begun to flow with the runoff but that would mean the warmer water would be located at the flow-age inlets to the lake. I don't think it was warm long enough to melt enough snow for that to happen except maybe in southern MN. The snow is still too thick on the ice and reflecting too much of the sun's energy to allow the sun to start warming the water underneath. The air temp has little to do with that, that's radiant heat that will warm the water under the ice beginning with the north side of the lake as the lake bottom absorbs the sun's energy.

I'd suspect the bright sunny days and barometric pressure change have had more to do with things than anything else. There's not doubt the water temperature varies throughout the water column and throughout the lake but the outside air temp will have little effect in the short term.

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Ed Carlson Grand Master

Ed Carlson

Posted
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Fish do tend to move up and in to structure as the March thaw begins and the days lengthen. We just seen a significant February thaw, and I see these patterns already emerging where I fish.

Most fish species tend to suspend higher and then make trips into like depth structure at peak and low light periods. This includes walleye often thought as strictly bottom dwellers under the ice. I find this far from true, they suspend often and do so increasingly so into late ice.

I look for this pattern as the days lengthen and the nutrients start to spike in the run off stimulating forage concentrations in defined areas.

As always, it's a fallow the food thing.

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kfk Collaborator

kfk

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Posted

The photo period is the main reason fish may be moving now in general. Daily weather such as sunlight and barometric pressure will also have short term effects on fish behavior. The water temperature can't physically change if a lake is still ice covered.

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      Just Food and Drink

      By Wanderer · Posted

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