fish on a throwback!

[gfishes]

I guess temp is a a variable that I neglect in the river. Except for during the colder months when I might try and target spots with sun exposure. Is this something you are constantly monitoring?

[Red Childress]

Yes, I pay close attention to water temps while trying to decide areas to target for all species. Just by looking at the graph you posted, you had a 12 degree drop in just 5 days. That alone could really impact your fishing. Trout may love the drop but the muskies could go lay down for a few days.

The relationship between temperature/dissolved oxygen and the oxygen requirements of the species you are chasing has been important for me over the years. For example, if walleye fishing your area when the temps were 80 and knowing walleye like temps near 60, I would likely be checking areas adjacent to moving water. That is where the highest oxygen levels will be and likely have tons of food around.

When comparing lakes to rivers regarding oxygen levels, things can get a little weird.

[gfishes]

My prop boat has some more electronics in it for obvious navigational reasons. I see that many areas in a body of water have very different temps. For the river, because there is so much turnover and water movement do you see a big difference in water temp of one location? I am trying to figure out if a graph is worth putting on the jet boat or if I can just rely on the usgs gauges.

[Red Childress]

Or just get a temp gauge/probe if you do not want the hassle of installation and price for a graph.

Within these larger, slower moving pools within rivers, some of that water is never forced downriver until the water gets high. This can mean weeks or months sometimes. Most of the current in these big pools are just in the top part of the water column and almost always exclusively very near the main channel of water coming in.

The next time you get high muddy water, pay attention to how the big pools clean up. The area near the channel cleans first then the outside edges slowly clean up via the sediment depositing in areas of reduced current. The stained/muddy stuff absorbs the radiant heat from the sun and will be warmer than the new water coming in by the main channel.

Clean vs. dirty and moving vs. stagnant water all impact temperature which directly impacts dissolved O2.

[gfishes]

Interesting, I never thought about stagnant low O2 water in the river. There is a backwater where I normally have a lot of action at. This weekend, I saw no action there at all. The water happened to be very cloudy in there compared to the rest of the river. I believe it gets cloudy from the carp/sucker schools stirring up the bottom. The water had been low for a while. I wonder if the water has been very stagnant in there for a while and the disolved O2 is low.