Bubbles in Lakes

Hey All,

I was fishing over the weekend and observed a lake that had clear ice in one area and highly “bubbled” ice in another. It also appeared that these bubbles were constant, as when I was fishing, I would consistently see one rise on my flasher every minute or so. I remembered back in the summer, seeing the same thing on this lake in the flats of the lake; a lot of bubbles rising up on the graph.

What causes this release on lakes? I have only noticed this on one lake and it isn’t spring related to my knowledge. The bubbles are consistent throughout the entire basin of the lake. It was amazing seeing the ice change from bubbled to completely clear in some sections of the lake.

I am simply wondering to satisfy my curiosity. Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

quick get off that Lake it’s not really a lake it’s a volcano and she’s ready to go, run for your life do not look back. But seriously, if there is accumulated dead vegetation, that can give off gas as it decomposes.

Fish farts.
Decomp like suggested or a bug hatch.
I use to help a freind net bugs in the fall and winter durring these hatches. He made some serious chaching doing this for fisheries and tropical fish stores. Now they use synthetic so the natural market dried up so to speek.

Thanks for the input. It must be some sort of hatch going on.

The bubbled ice started in about 24 feet of water and weededge on this particular lake is around 8 FOW. It is just odd to me that this is happening constantly out there. Everytime I have fished it, I have marked these bubbles rising off the bottom on my graph during all times of the day in this deeper water.

Thanks,

Joe

Could be methane bubbles from decomposing “stuff” on the bottom. Had a 20′ x 20′ roil about 2″ next to my boat for about a minute one time, with all kinds of crap released from the bottom. Another time I augered into a methane pocket under the ice that ended up being under a little bit of pressure that blew chips out of the hole…again a bit interesting. Am guessing little bits of methane released from the bottom is fairly standard in most lakes and especially so for those with softer bottoms.

Methane gas bubbles in the ice

Ever watch Deadliest Catch? Captain Phil (RIP) would tell you they’re crab farts! Maybe these are MN crab (crayfish) cracking a few

After reading replys and watching Joel’s video it leaves me to wonder if the buildup of methane gases which seems like you see this usually around the midwinter slump is effecting oxygen levels and if its effects it might have on a fishes eating habits during these gas bubble releases? Have any studies been done on this subject?