Water Temps at Various Depths?

Now that the surface temp at Fork is hovering around 90 degrees most days I am curious what the temp would be at 10 feet, 20 feet & beyond.

I always wanted to buy a good temp gauge and drop it down and record the temps at various depths in the heat of the summer and the dead of winter.

Has anyone ever done this?

Great idea. Very interesting

I know about 6 ft down it feels cooler. that's all I've ever figured out.

It does not drop a lot till it hits the thermocline.

Back when I had a Color-C-lector there was a temp drop of a couple degrees in the first 5 feet but after that almost no temp drops till you hit the thermocline.

I have seen Bill Dance talk about it and use a thermometer at different depths and get readings. Maybe go research him and you might find it and what he was using.

With my lack of scientific data I can’t argue as to how many degrees temps rise or fall at certain depths but who as a child didn’t swim down just 10’ or so in our reservoirs and didn’t experience way cooler water during the summer? I have dove(SCUBA) in several lakes in Texas and temps drop substantially as you go down in the summer. Would be interesting to see some actual numbers.

Look for the thermocline. If you can find it and water in the mid 70s, you have found where 80 percent of the fish in the lake want to be. Doug Hannon did a lot of looking at this. Bill D was a great advocate of it. I started doing it with a lowrance temp guage with 40 feet of wire on it. Then bought one of the early Color-C-Lectors and continue to use it today.

I have been looking at this one:

https://fishhawkelectronics.com/fish-hawk-td/fish-hawk-td/

But have not pull the wallet yet.

Never have done it but you just gave me an idea on what to do with old broke, as in broke off mount bracket, ducer. Put a weight on it and drop it down with it hooked up to unit instead of mounted one.

I was an experienced SCUBA Divemaster at one time, and was used to ocean temps from surface to 110' on the east coast of FL. Summer was mild temps all the way to 60' and just a little cool below that. When I had occasion to do an object recovery dive in a freshwater lake (not spring fed), I was amazed at: 1) how quickly it got dark given that I did not rate the water as "low visibility" as Florida lakes go, and 2) how quickly it got COLD! I had to abort to come back with a dive-light even for the middle of the day - in less than 20' of water. It made me wonder just how much color can actually be seen at those depths.

The Applied Research Lab at UT Austin monitors temperature of Lake Travis down to 40 feet.

Lake Travis Test Station

Temp varies from about 77 at 40 feet to 85 at surface.

Good info. Is there ever any current in Travis?

I've jumped into the lake to cool off many times on Fork in July & Aug. You can feel a marked difference 6-8' below the surface.

Yesterday I jumped in my pool that was showing 90 at the time. I turned on the pool fill to bring the water level back up as there is a lot of evaporation this time of year. The water from the filler comes off the hose bib, felt at least 5 degrees cooler.

The Color-C-Lector will give you all the information. The most valuable part of it is the Oxygen content reading. Any device like this is time consuming to use while trying to fish and the interest in using one falls by the wayside quickly. You are going to get a few degrees cooler in almost every lake at 10 ft.. Lakes that have the thermocline gives you the coldest drop and very low oxygen below that line. Your fish will be working above the line; but will chase below it. They just will not stay below it for very long. This can even change form one area of a large body of water to another area.

Your depth finder will show the thermocline and I used that depth to locate fish quickly and stay on them as the water a few feet above it was cooler and the Oxygen level above it was high. When fishing shallow water the Oxygen level is the most important knowledge you can have. In dead still water the oxygen level is the most important reading to have. Many times the only thing that can help with this when you are in a hurry, is plenty of wind blowing into the area you are fishing. Wind also delivers lots of other factors to support Bass other than the Oxygen.

Probes are interesting; but time consuming. Use the fast track theories instead.
- Fish the mid-range dept to find cooler water.
- Fish above; but near the Thermocline.
- Fish Heavy Cover on wind blown high Oxygen areas.

I don't think the original Color-C-lector measured Oxygen saturation. That's a tough thing to measure - the equipment to do so was expensive back in the day I checked into it.. The Color-C-lector I STILL have measures pH if I remember correctly. The "color" part of it is just bands placed on the dial face of an elaborated pH meter, I believe. I have not had it out of the case in 20 years; I'll pull it and see if I remember any of this correctly.

Update: I pulled out my top-of-the-line model "Combo-C-lector" unit. It has a 4 position switch for OFF & 3 different parameter readings, but NOT oxygen saturation.

always have. old way to find the thermocline. mark the rope in 5 ft spots, record the temp on paper in graph form and it makes an "S" line showing you the thermocline. old school lowrance paper graph days.

color c lector doesnt show o2, another snake oil post.

I know the original "ComboCelector" model didn't do oxygen saturation - because I have one, and it is sitting on the counter as I type this. I don't think it has been out of the case in 20 years. The foam inside the cordura case has begun to disintegrate into a granular powder. I think I'll put a battery in it to see if it will work - it should be good for temperature at various depths, and I can check the temp. probe calibration at home using an accurate thermometer I trust.

It has a probe on the end of a cable with 3 sensors: pH, temperature, and "color" (There's a light sensor on the top portion of the probe.) The meter has a multi-position switch to select which parameter is being indicated. I believe this was the "premium model" for the product in that it could read those 3 parameters - another cheaper model did less, but I don't remember what it omitted.

I remember buying a thermometer that was enclosed in a plastic tube with holes in it and had a
string attached that you could lower it at different depths

Temp probes are less than 5 bucks. Suprised many never tried it, it was common years ago.

This one is a little pricey could buy a nice reel with what this cost

https://www.fishusa.com/Fish-Hawk-TD-Digital-AtDepth-Water-Temp-Gauge

Found this on amazon
Scout-a-Bout Bass Fish Finder 15 bux

The depth range is part of what makes that expensive. They are sending a recording device down - no need for a cable to a topside temperature probe (less expensive approach). For most freshwater fishing, we don't need temps very deep, so that device is overkill.

300 feet = 130 PSI, which is a LOT of pressure on that device. At such a depth, the water is working hard to get inside the case.

It was made for only a few years. Did not know o2 was not included any more.

https://www.nitroowners.com/threads/color-c-lector.66538/

Jim B
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JoinedJan 30, 2002
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Jan 10, 2006
#1
I have one, i have had it for years. It seems neat but i never really use it. If i had the one thay made for a few years with the o2 sensor on it i think i would use it more.

I think that poster was mistaken. I'm in the electronics industry, and have always followed such things, though I did not always buy. Measuring O2 saturation is so difficult that a "color-c-lector" that did would cost another $300 in addition for that feature. Over quite a period of time I monitored what it would cost to buy such an instrument (not just a fishing gimmick) and it was too expensive. Back in those days, $300 was a LOT of money.

Thought this thread was about water temps at different depths

Measuring dissolved O2 is a different story

I bought a camera and it has temp. dropped it down on falcon last year.

water temp was 5 degrees cooler than my boats reading at approx 5 feet down and it was within a degree or two at 35 feet down.

I could do this next time out again and see as my lakes are 78-80 in the am and 85-86 in the evening, but I wont be on my boat for a few weeks as its going in the shop for a repower.

also the camera was awesome. I was marking some fish on a ledge on falcon and dropped it down and a cat fish came up and checked it out, Ive forgotten I had the camera I should bust it out.

It has been so many decades since I had my Color-c-Lector in use I don't remember what the readings were like. So if I understand correctly, when you tried that on Falcon it dropped 5 degrees rather quickly, then only a couple more degrees on the way to 35 feet? That's interesting as my guess would have been more change. (not doubting you, just comparing with what I would have guessed.) If what you found is common, then that makes it harder to use temperature as a reason fish might be at a particular depth - it doesn't readily eliminate a lot of water.

yes exactly.. its been well over a year but for example my boat temp said 70 so that would be 70 at 14" below the surface. the temp 5-6 feet below the surface was 65 and it was within 1-2 degrees of 65 at 35 feet.

I twas not a color c lector I have no idea what that is. I used a camera that has a screen and it reads the depth shows a picture and temp etc.

I havent ever pulled out that camera any other day to see. I should do it and compare. Iowa lakes are mostly 3-1000 acres and some are only 7 feet deep while others are up to 20 feet deep in a few spots.