Punisher Lures :: Fishing Lures, Bass Jigs, Hair Jigs, Spinnerbaits & More!

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Published in BASSMASTER November 2005

The circle of life for most bass revolves around shad, and the shad's around plankton. Learn to find bass by following what is too small to see...

When legendary smallmouth angler billy Westmoreland passed away in September of 2002, Dale Hollow bass guide Steve Headrick lost a cherished friend and teacher. Heacrick feels blessed for the times that he and Westmoreland fished together on Dale Hollow, and he continues to benefit from lessons he learned from his mentor.

Westmoreland came to mind when Headrick and his friend Mike Moore boated across Dale Hollow for an afternoon of bass fishing. A cold front had pushed away the morning's rain clouds and replaced them with north winds, blue skies and a bright sun. After they had combed several rocky banks with deep diving crankbaits, Headrick and his friend were still looking for the first strike.

Then, Headrick remembered something Westmoreland had told him. He immediately boated to Irons Creek where the wind crashed waves into steep southern banks. Just as Headrick had hoped, shad had moved close to the windward shore to feed in the turmoil. Casting crankbaits to the bank yielded 15 smallmouth bass, nine of which measured more than 18 inches in length.

Was Westmoreland's advice to fish windward banks, or that the wind drives shad against the bank?

Not exactly. He said: "It's not about baitfish, it never has been. It has always been about plankton." His words forever changed the way Headrick looks at a body of water.

Westmoreland told Headrick that shad and other baitfish feed on plankton and follow this food source. Plankton determines the whereabouts of baitfish, and bass follow baitfish like a gaggle of children chasing an ice cream truck.

"I can't tell you how many articles I've read that say the wind blows baitfish against the bank," Headrick says. "I don't think that really happens. Billy said the wind blows plankton into the bank, and that's what brings the baitfish. I believe he had it right."

Westmoreland also told Headrick that high pressure following a front causes plankton to drop deeper, and he responded by bouncing jigs and other baits over deep points and ledges. This strategy continues to pay off for Headrick and his clients. "Another thing Billy told me was that shad move to the back of creeks in the fall because there's an abundance of plankton there at that time," Headrick says.

PHYTOPLANKTON & ZOOPLANKTON

Though Westmoreland's observations are open to debate, there's no question that plankton and baitfish are inseparable. Plankton is composed of floating miroscopic organisms made up of plants called phytoplankton and animals called zooplankton.

Phytoplankton, which converts energy into food through photosynthesis, is the beginning of the food chain in every bass water, and for most of planet Earth, as well. Zooplankton eats phytoplankton and, in turn, provides a food source for larger creatures.

Bill Leopold, an aquatic biologist for Jones Fish Hatchery, Inc., in Newtown, Ohio, states that most fish don't ingest phytoplankton beacuse these organisms are too small. The significant exceptions are shad, which feed on phytoplankton and zooplankton by filtering the water.

"Zooplankton is larger than phytoplankton," Leopold says. "Minnows and shiners feed on it, as do the fry of larger fish, including bass. Strong phytoplankton growth causes a cascading effect and increases the abundance of zooplankton."

Phytoplankton can generate enough energy from sunlight to sustain itself, but it needs nutrients to grow and reproduce, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus. Some reservoirs have nutrient rich soils that benefit phytoplankton, and many reservoirs receive regular doses of nitrogen and phosphorus as a result of pollution from cities and farmlands.

"At the other extreme are gravel quarries which are nutrient poor," Leopold says. "One proper treatment for those is a pond fertilizer that puts food in the water column for phytoplankton. Once the phytoplankton is flourishing, the zooplankton follows."

FOLLOW THE PHYTOPLANKTON

Since bass eat baitfish, which eat plankton, it makes sense to follow phytoplankton when fishing for bass. That's usually not difficult, because plankton isn't in any hurry. It takes phytoplankton several hours to move 10 feet up or down in the water column.

Because phytoplankton is phototropic, it must move toward sunlight. Its routine conists of rising toward the surface during the day and settling deeper at night. Though zooplankton is hardly a speed demon, it has greater mobility and stays hot on the heels of phytoplankton.

Fred Snyder, a fisheries biologist who is an extension specialist for Ohio Sea Grant, claims that neither type of plankton can move quickly through the water or overcome water currents.

"Any current in the water determines where plankton goes," Snyder says. "Wind driven currents surely push plankton against the shore and cause an accumulation. The baitfish pick up on that and go there to feed."

PHOTIC ZONE

The area from the water's surface to the maximum depth of sunlight penetration is called the photic zone. Below this zone, phytoplankton can't photosynthesize. Water clarity directly affects light penetration and the depth of the photic zone.

"The maximum depth for photosynthesis to occur is where the light is reduced to 1 percent of its brightness at the surface," Snyder says. "Below that depth, phytoplankton cannot capture light."

Baitfish that eat plankton stay within the photic zone to be near their food. You can determine the approximate depth of the photic zone by lowering a white object, such as a plate, into the water. Scientists use a white disk called a Secchi disk.

"Lower the white object down to the point where it just disappears, and measure the depth," Snyder says. "Then multiply that depth by about 2.7. That should be very close to the depth of the photic zone.

COLD FRONTS

Strong winds that usually accompany cold fronts can mix the water from top to bottom, or to the depth of the thermocline. This greatly affects plankton distribution.

"Fish may move deeper with a cold front, but I don't think it has anything to do with plankton," Snyder says.

Light penetration increases when bluebird skies follow a cold front, which allows photosynthesis to occur at greater depths. Phytoplankton can drop deeper under these conditions and continue to feed and grow, but they are still drawn toward the surface and greater light intensity. Veteran Oklahoma pro Ken Cook, who has a fisheries degree, is unsure of the cause and effect relationship between bass, baitfish, plankton and cold fronts.

"I think that's one of the pieces of the puzzle we don't fully understand yet," Cook says. "I do know that baitfish can change depths from day to day and that their vertical movements are more dramatic in clear water."

When fishing ultraclear Western reservoirs, Cook has seen baitfish drop from 40 to 60 feet deep under bright blue skies after a cold front. Under similar weather conditions on a lake that has fertile, stained water, he claims the baitfish may drop only 1 to 2 feet.

GREEN WATER

So, if it's all about plankton, as Westmoreland believed, how do you use this knowledge to put more bass in your livewell? What do you do when there's no wind to drive plankton against the bank? What are your options during steady weather under hazy skies? And, since these microorganisms are too small to see, how do you know where they are?

"Two words," Cook says, "green water. A normal phytoplankton bloom makes the water look green. It prevents you from seeing very far into the water, but the water isn't muddy."

The color green tells Cook the water has plenty of nutrients to support baitfish and bass. When he scouts a reservoir prior to a tournament, Cook often runs up the major creek arms looking for green water that may tip him off to an ambulance of bass. This approach has lead him to paydays on many lakes, including Table Rock.

"More nutrients feed into Table Rock from the James River than from any of the lake's other watersheds," Cook says. "That's due to Springfield and other population centers along the James. Historically, the James has greater plankton blooms, a larger shad population and consequently, faster growing bass." 

Green water is generally easier to find up the creek arms of reservoirs in the summer and fall.

"I think that's why fall fishing up creeks is such a strong pattern," Cook says. "Nutrients washing into the creeks cause a stronger bloom than on the main lake, and shad are attracted to the tributaries that carry the most food."

If you venture up creeks looking for stained water, Cook stresses that muddy water isn't necessarily rich in plankton. Truly muddy water reduces light penetration and hampers photosynthesis.

"Brown water isn't what you want," Cook says. "The key is green."

AQUATIC VEGETATION

What about clear, natural lakes that are not fed by tributaries? Though you normally won't find green water in such environments, you can make the plankton connection simply by fishing submerged aquatic vegetation, such as hydrilla, milfoil, coontail and pond weeds.

"Zooplankton graze on submerged weeds and on the microscopic filaments that grow on the weeds," Leopold says. "It's an environment that provides food and cover for the entire food chain, including bass."











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