how far?

[stumper]

How far do fish travel in a day?particularly crappies and blue gills.anyone ever attach a float and 20 ft leader to a fish and release it,then follow it to see were the fish are?i have heard of doing this with perch to follow the school.thought if i get out there and try this asap after ice off and follow with my boat and gps i might be able to track them during the ice season.



stump

[archbishop]

do they swim from A-B or do they circle there territory cause i was always told that if a school moves throgh they will be back   mind you this was from a half arse fisherman id much rather rely on your input


                                         jason

[C.C.]

I was always told the same thing. It seem's to hold some water. If a school moves thru and keeps going usually with in 5 or 10 minutes their back again. The only thing , I don't know if they make a big circle or just back and forth?
       Jim

[d_balm24]

do they swim from A-B or do they circle there territory cause i was always told that if a school moves throgh they will be back   mind you this was from a half arse fisherman id much rather rely on your input


                                         jason

watched the schools on simcoe. People would drive by and scare the school off but after 5-30 min they usually always came back

[icejunky]

I have noticed that on the lakes I fish all the bites seem to come in 15 to 20 minute intervals. We would catch a few fish in a short span, then nothing, then when the next bite came it was accompanied by a few others, then nothing again.

On another note. I was also told about a studied on Bass that showed if caught and then released in a separate area on the lake, it took a lot longer for that fish to return....?

[stumper]

Im thinking with the number of fish in a body of water that when they "show back up" in 10 to 20 minutes its a diferent school. I could be wrong.............


stump

[kerosenecounty17]

Stump,

Regarding the float idea, be carefull.  It could be considered "jug fishing", and is illegal in some states.  Plus, I don't think the fish is gonna act normally with a float dragging along behind.  I've snapped off a few fish where the bobber and hook were still attached to the fish.  Usually they just dive into the thickest cover nearby and that's it.

As far as gills go, they don't go far on a day to day basis in my experience.  Or, if they do, there must be other ones coming in to replace them because something's showing up on the flasher every couple minutes.  If you're on a good chunk of property, you'll have fish under you.  I think you'd be better off searching around for areas that are holding fish and marking them on the gps for next winter.

kc17

[stumper]

This lake is just driveing me nuts!!!for most of the winter,the fish show up  for about an hour in the a.m. and an hour in the evening.the rest of the day they literaly disapear!!!i have searched shallow and deep with cam and flasher and cant find them,Im not talking a day here or there.I searched this lake daily for about 50 days!!!The panfish litterally disapear!!!I have tried other areas of the lake during the "Hot bite" and not caught as many fish as were i usually fish.the only thing i can figure is they go into the reeds were the water level is less than 3 ft deep to the TOP of the ice.i have drilled holes in here and tried to catch fish,NONE!!tHAT WHY IM LOOKING TO TRACK THEM!!I realize once the ice is gone it will change there patterns ,but hopeing to get some data to go on.



stump

[kerosenecounty17]

Aaah, one of those lakes.  I've got one 10 minutes from my house.  10 minute bite, right at sunset.  Nice gills, but it's hard to catch many in a short window.  Does your lake have alot of little (6-12") largemouth bass? 

kc17

[stumper]

Caught 8 bass this year,smallest was 14 inches,biggest 17.5 inches


stump

[Iceshanty]

The DNR was doing fyke net surveys on a lake near me one year right after ice out. They had several nets set in the shallows around a 250 acre lake. They would load the fish into tubs and bring them back to the boat landing to collect the data, age, length and what not, then tag them. What I and they found facinating is that many of the fish returned to the exact same spot within 24 hours, some clear across the lake, many walleyes were caught in the same net again on the next day.

I have been able to follow late ice gill schools that come from the deep basin of a lake in the morning, enter shallow weed beds hang near the weed edges in 5-8' for a couple hours then proceed to move into the 3-5' range where they hang for the rest of the day. For years we only fished the 2 hour window in the morning but I got really bored one day and did a massive search and located the mid day spot now I stay on fish all day.  8)


-Scott

[kerosenecounty17]

Stumper - OK, no little bass.  There goes my theory that the bass are harassing the gills and that's the reason they only bite in the late evening. 

Dave Genz has a new theory about bloodworm migrations around dusk and dawn.  The idea is that the bloodworms begin a migration out of the mud and higher into the water column around dusk.  At the begining of this migration they're all concentrated near the bottom and the easy meal triggers bluegill to feed.  There's an article in the 2005 In-Fisherman ice guide.  I don't know if it holds much water, and wouldn't know a bloodworm if you dropped one in my beer glass, but maybe that's got something to do with it.

kc17

[icejunky]

hey KC17,  here is a macro photo of a blood worm, as you can see they are tiny, this one is on the tip of a guys finger. If chumming is legal in your area you can also buy frozen packs at most aquarium stores. They just disintegrate as soon as they hit the water. I have never used them on the lake but when put in my home tank, a feeding frenzy is sure to follow

[icejunky]

I guess actually attaching the photo would help

[/img]

[Gamalot]

Fish are habitual creatures and when ever or where ever you find them you can bet there is a reason they are there. Food, prefered temp or oxygen levels or cover/ safety. In lakes we may perceive what they do as making big circles but in fact they are following a prefrence or pattern. Some guys swear by fishing the side of a lake that gets the sun last in the morning and at evening the side that looses the sun first. Don't know if this is true or if it works in snow covered conditions but I do know the fish tend to seek cover or shade as protection from predators below.
Back in the early '90s I had an occassion to take a helocopter ride over lake Ontario in late august when the salmon where schooling in shallower water. You could easily see the schools and easily see they were swimming in big circles, grouped in varying sized schools out in front of rivers and streams. On occassion the schools would merge and then break off into seperate schools again. It almost appeared there was a pecking order as to which scholl got the front row seat at the mouth.
I was also able to see that some schools were comprised of much larger fish while others were smaller and they tend to group by size rather then family.
If you happen to be in the area where a large school of large fish comes by then you are likely to catch many fish in a similar size-Slobs. Later, another school of smaller fish may come by and you will catch a bunch of smaller fish-Dinks.
When we figure out the patterns or exact reason the fish are where they are then we will solve the mystery of fishing and probably decimate the schools.
For now I enjoy being in the right place at the right time and having a blast and at other times I come here to see if anyone can point the direction.

[MCSLAMMER]

Scott,
I am currently attending university, and getting ready to graduate. My senior research project is a study that is testing fyke-net colorations on fish in a small lake, around 50 acres. The lake is over ran by yellow perch, so I know that they will be what I have to deal with. I was wondering if you had any additional information on the surveys you were talking about? Any info would help, and even location. It would be a great reference for me to have. Thanks for all!!

  mcslammer