Temperature going down fish movement

[CorneliaGale]

When the temperatures drop and fish move up towards the upper ends of the lake, do you think all the fish move or do they stay scattered all over the lake. Since they are stocking fish all over the lake now do you think that is a factor in the fall movement?

[Deleted]

Probably going to be a lot of varying opinions on your question.....

A vast number of fish move up river in the fall, but by no means do all of them. In my opinion, a lot of the the larger fish move waaaay up. (but not all of them )...... Can't speak for the dam area as I don't fish down that way fall thru winter, but there is plenty of scattered fish from mid-lake to bayroc from fall on...

As to the fall movement of the fish due to the different stocking sites.....doesn't seem  like it affects it to me....the fish movement in the fall seems like it's the same as it always has been......  I do think with the fish being stocked all over now, that it may affect them in the spring when spawn time comes.....I've seen some really good schools of fish iabove the bridge during the spawn....no doubt where they were stocked at.....

again, just my opinion.......


to clarify from fall on......I mean when the water temp gets around 70-71 degrees....

[striperjohn]

I used to think that stocking location had something to do with where they spawn. But its been stated on her that fish were never stocked in Cedar Keys, then how do you explain the spawning cycle that went on there for years and years? What was the attraction? Why are they not spawning there now?
     I can name a couple of places in Tennessee where the fish spawn that have similar features: deep water leading into a shallow water area with flats, with a high voltage power line(many theories have connected this to their actions) running near the surface of the water.
I'm not so sure anyone really knows what influences cause them to spawn in certain areas. I do no that in Kerr, Santee Cooper and most saltwater connected river basins they (like bigun said-the bigger fish) move up river in the fall into 4-6 feet of water. Tagged fish studies have shown they remain in these areas until the spawn.  Thus allowing for the 60 hours of water movement for the eggs to hatch. But I've seen nothing to explain there actions in most freshwater systems where there is a "fake Spawn".

[striperjohn]

Sorry Corneliagale I didn't mean to hijack your post. Kinda fits a little. lol

[2 oars & a trash can]

Sept 26, 2014 5:53:54 GMT -5 striperjohn said:

with a high voltage power line(many theories have connected this to their actions) running near the surface of the water.

If you in the cove near my dock, steer clear of the bare wire hanging over the water.

[Deleted]

Heck john, I can't explain the fish movement on SML, just basing my opinion on my observations over the past 35 years.......I do know there are some big fish that show up in the river and i'm seeing fish in places during the spawn that i've never seen before.....

[striperjohn]

I agree bigun. I watched a school during spawn last year, breaking, thrashing around, water was milky from all the eggs and milt. It was in an area that I had never fished and have never seen anyone else fish. They caught my eye as I was running down the lake. It did however have deep water running up onto a long 4-5 ft shallows where the fish were.

Sent from my SCH-R760 using proboards

[Deleted]

Hard to believe there are no other thoughts,  opinions on Corneliagales question......  

[CorneliaGale]

I had always thought that they were down towards the dam in the spring cause they were trying to get back to salt water, They go up stream to spawn and then go back to Salt water to spend the rest of the year, since they can't go any farther down stream they have to stop there.

[formula180]

Fish are going to go where there is food.

When living in Santa Barbara, years when the bait fish moved into the channel, so did the bonito and silver salmon.

I would think that they would stay scattered all over the lake and conserve energy by not moving around.

[BentRod]

It's all been discussed before. To me, you put one nice school of fish at Hardy or Moormans with all that bait and you're gonna have a lot of people catch fish and think it's the place to be in the fall. But there's 4 other nice schools roaming the rest of the lake that are harder to track day to day, but still there. So do they all move up? No. Are the ones that do move up easier to catch? Yes they are. I've seen massive schools below Hales Ford in the fall and fish down there more and more to avoid the crowds. The problem is those schools move around a lot and it's hard to keep up with them until mid November when they settle into the creeks. Once the water cools, the fish can go anywhere, so if you've got a lower lake creek with good bait, there will be stripers there.

I have no idea on the spawn. Dan said they never stocked in Cedar Keys so he wasn't sure why they went there other than that it might have been a learned trait by the younger fish following the older fish until all of the older fish died in 2003. Guess that kind of makes sense - think they go around the dam now for flow but I don't think they have a clue what they're doing mainly. The biggest stripers (25+lbers) in the lake have all been coming on the lower end the past 4-5yrs with a handful exceptions.

[prodigal]

Well, as much as I know there are MANY here that are more knowledgeable than me, I will respond. I fished the lake from the 70s with my family, which started before then. We also lived on the lake during the late 80s and early 90s. We always caught fish throughout the entire year in the mid-lake area. We fish(ed) nearly always artificial. I would get out of school, take dad's boat out on a regular basis as a youngster and fish the main lake because I wasn't allowed to go any further. I'm sure I haven't helped, but there it is.