I've been spearing local lakes for carp for the last couple of years. From early spring through the end of August I can almost always find them in the shallows close to shore and then they seem to just disappear. Are they going deep already for winter? Doesn't seem to make sense as you would think they would still seek out the warmer water near shore, especially as it's getting colder out. I would like to know what's going on as I would like to go after 'em when the fall "clear-up" happens in the lakes.
And a part two to my question, when do the lakes typically clear up in the fall in this area? Is it primarily due to algae dying, or is it more about the temperature "turnover"?
Thanks in advance for any knowledge on the subject.
Over the years we've noticed the same thing about the carp. We've searched high and low for them in the fall and never found where they were hiding. This past week at the U.S. Nationals Freshwater Spearfishing tournament an experienced spearer said they move up the rivers and will actually be in the shallows. That's a place we sure didn't do any looking, but will this year.
Still looking for the big buffalo....
Fred
carp prefer warm water. in areas were there are warm water discharge(like nuclear or waste water treatment etc) they will crowd in ever thicker masses as the water cools. they feed less and probably start schooling suspended off shore. thus you'd likely not encounter them on typical reefs were you see them in the warm water, feeding/breeding. the carp population has been dropping for many years due to low water levels. spring spawn success requires banks to flood over grassy shores(like this year). should have good numbers again in two years.
as to your second question to water clarity. I'm sure you'd get many answers to that. my thoughts are that our lake clarity comes from both green planktonic algae and suspended(milk) solids. water was super clear in the shallows last week, i was hoping to take advantage of that this weekend until we got a down poor last night. green portion of water turbidity will clear up as the day shortens and temps cool down. milky portion of water turbidity might increase as weeds start to lay down for winter.
some areas are clearer in the heat of summer when weeds are fully developed.