gkrane
Contributor
Be mindful fish may not choose to live equally at all depths. In a coral reef ecosystem, you've got an ecosystem at depth; 30 - 200 feet or so? In a kelp forest, you've got plant production with food & habitat at depth. In a freshwater body...well, I don't think much plant growth happens at depth. If you quarry dive an area with some emergent vegetation around the perimeter, you see quickly that rooted green plants don't extent to all that much depth. I used to dive a shallow quarry that was around 30+ feet deep; it had some plant growth on the bottom, but you need pretty good viz. to sustain that I imagine.
And how much of a thermocline effect is there in the Great Lakes? I ask because if at depth you've got much colder water & less food, why would trout & other fish hang out down there?
In the local quarry I dive occasionally, I see many bluegill, plus some catfish & bass, in the shallows. But at 90 feet deep almost no life, & a dead fish on the bottom looks free from scavenging.
Richard.
There is a thermocline in Lake Michigan and the Salmon and Trout prefer to be beneath it. Warm water equals poor fishing in Lake Michigan. They are also found frequently at recreational dive depths. Lake Trout almost always sit on the bottom at depth in deeper water. They feed on alewife's which are a baitfish.