Fishing Articles
Oxygen & Fishing
Water oxygen levels is a vital component to the
location of holding fish and understanding what stresses may or may
not contribute to the willingness of biting fish.
Timothy Kusherets
Truly turbid conditions stain water making it nearly
impossible to see more than a few inches at a time, increases water
temperature, and depletes oxygen levels. In the photo above note how
the river has deposited particulate silt, suspended load, to either
bank and that the river is running clear at the same time. Eventually
this river level will rise suspending the silt starting the entire process
all over again. Understanding natural stresses that fish undergo makes
it that much easier to put them on the bite at the first stages of rivers
leveling-out or receding.
Oxygen levels is a vital component to the location of holding fish.
Areas devoid of plentiful oxygen will have fewer fish. Determining the
relative amount of oxygen can be done by ascertaining turbidity, suspended
loads, bed loads, river depth, current speed, and foliage above and
below the surface along both banks.
Depth of river and lake water usually means that oxygen is present,
provided there is enough water movement to introduce oxygen into the
environment. Shallow water usually means that there is a depletion of
oxygen that keeps larger species of fish from gravitating to those holds.
Shallow water usually means that a lack of current is present thus making
it hard for fish to survive in them. Shallow holds can produce large
amounts of air for fish provided there is a certain amount of speed
such as riffles found below a tail-out. Aside from fast water, shallow
holds are worth avoiding for fishing purposes.
Current determines temperature, oxygen, and speed of each hold. Current
is largely due to the gradient of rivers and streams. Dense riparians
can keep water from evaporating or seeping into the surrounding ground,
which adds to the rate of water flow that anglers refer to as current.
Speeds of current vary by depth, with fastest currents flowing near
the surface. Holds with significant depth often times have fish holding
beneath fast water making it vital that anglers use enough weight to
get beneath fast water without using so much weight that it startles
fish at the bed of the river.
Foliage accumulation has an adverse affect on the amount of oxygen,
temperature, and speed that water flows at. The more foliage that is
in a river or stream can slow down enough that plants can literally
suck the life out of the water it’s in. Areas of water that have
large accumulations of plant life in rivers usually means that there
has not been a significant amount of rainfall for an extended period
of time; this creates a unique kind of pressure that can put fish off
the bite as they struggle to breathe in the harsh environment. Salmon,
Steelhead, Trout, and Bass can all experience this type of pressure
at any given time of the year that excessive growth occurs. Ironically,
there are some systems that produce large numbers of fish that can be
“seen” during migration making them prime spots for anglers
to fish; however, due to the stress of struggling for oxygen fish don’t
often bite during these times.
Spotting excessive foliage is fairly easy when waters run clear. Waters
that experience turbid conditions due to flooding, or freshets, don’t
have sign of foliage since essential scouring rids the bed of them.
© Timothy Kusherets 2008/09 Copyrighted
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