UK.BASS, Before I go fishing I check the COE site for the lake I am going to fish. I find what depth has at least 2 parts dissolved Oxygen, then on the lake I don't fish any deeper than that depth. If you look at any of the charts, the oxygen content will usually increase the closer you get to the surface; therefore I think there is enough oxygen to hold bass from the thermocline to the surface. Also, I will usually motor around an area and watch my fish finder to see if I can find a depth where they fish seem to be staying at OR ABOVE, and then fish from that depth to the surface.

From everything I have read and experienced, the thermocline (and the dissolved oxygen line) will be at about the same depth EVERYPLACE in the lake. So, lets say its at 15 feet, I don't worry about it when i get into the shallow parts of the lake, e.g. less then 30 feet dpeth, because there isn't enough depth for stratification to set up and I may fish anyplace for the surface to the bottom. Conversely, if I am sitting in 40 feet of water I do not bother fishing on the bottom or anyplace deeper then I found the thermocline to be.


Now to the second part of your question, after the fall turnover, there won't be any thermocline and the dissolved oxyben content will be almost uniform from top to bottom AND THE FISH MAY BE ANYPLACE FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. In my example early in this thread, I said that the reading for Rough last October showed 5.1 dissolved oxgen at the surface and 4.3 at 50 feet, so there is plenty of oxygen for the fish at any depth and you just have to find them the old way: look for them.

Hope this helps,

Grumpy