Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but curious as to what other member's water temperatures are this time of year. My surface temps have been around 82-86 depending on time of day and my bottom temps ( at 8') hold pretty steady at around 75-77 degrees. This is with running aeration 24/7 and average daily highs in the low 90s. Would love to see other's results

Yesterday cloudy skies and after a 1 inch rain and 12 inch visibility I had 85 surface temp. A couple weeks ago it was in the low 90's.I run aeriation 24 hours a day on a 2 acre pond in deep east Texas.

Mine were 80F top to bottom in the morning and 80 at the bottom and 84 at the top by evening over the weekend with 24 hr/day aeration. Highs were in the upper 80's and nigh time lows were upper 60's.

I have found the the top surface reading can be very tricky. I tend to get the thermometer about 2 inches below the surface and have found the the upper 2 inches can fluctuate by as much as 5 degrees. my pond can be very still with little wind.

I'm just taking surface temps, for the last four or 5 days morning temps have been right at 72, evening temps 82 +/-. I am running bottom aeration nightly and surface aeration 24/7.

These readings are 2 days post hurricane Barry. Been cloudy and rainy last three days with 2" of rainfall since yesterday. Surface = 86f, 3 feet = 84f and 10 feet = 80f. I havent run my bottom aeration in two weeks and am running surface aeration 6 hours from 4-10am. Visibility is 36+", but I will be adding black pond dye this afternoon since the rain is pretty much done now. Prior to the storm, surface temp was 96 with a bottom temp of 87.

James, are you afraid that 24 hr aeration when temps are in 90s might take away thermal refuge for LMB? Or do you aerate from an area that isn't too deep?

Mine, in North Central Texas, have been in the mid to upper 80's. But, we have had a relatively mild Summer. That's about to change so I expect fishing is over until Fall.

Surface temp yesterday morning: 72F
Surface temp yesterday evening: 88F
Surface temp this morning: 72F

Secchi disc reading: 14-15" (water is green)

Yes I guess I do worry about my aeriation and all 3 diffusers are in the deep water but suppose I don't worry as much as I should. I have soooo many fish (mostly cnbg)I feel I need as much carrying capacity as possible.I suppose I may wake up one day and fish floating everywhere. I am always wondering how so many east Texas farmers and ranchers with muddy looking ponds like mine can be full of fish with no aeriation or feeding or maintenance at all?? I suppose they are not "raising" trophy fish.

Mike,

How much does the dye affect your water temps? My pond is pretty small, slightly larger than yours. I bought some dye but haven't used it yet, really don't wanna have to. My visibility is at about 40 inches currently.

I added about a quart of black dye yesterday. The pond was already starting to show some clarity from the last of the blue green dye I had applied several weeks ago. Visibility had grown to about 36 inches.

Today I took temp readings at 3pm. With an ambient temp of 91 and heat index of 112, mostly sunny skies all day, the pond surface was 84*f and 82*f at 3 feet. I didnt get a bottom reading today (I wanted to shoot my bow a bit). I'll try to get one tomorrow. I can say this, prior to the recent storm, under similar conditions, the surface would have been very near 90, if not above. I can still see the thermometer in 3 feet (barely) but the dye seems to reflect the UV Ray's so the water doesn't heat up as much.

This evening, I did notice a silvery sheen starting to grace the surface. Probably a bit of a bloom dieing off due to the dye. The surface aeration should take care of it in the morning.

Update... ambient temps identical to yesterday. Surface temp 85*f, 3' deep = 50*f, 10' deep = 76*f. Also took a PH reading from about 16" (elbow deep). 9.0 with a 5 drop tester. That's a bit concerning, but the fish seem to be thriving.

Well, it has been a relatively mild summer by Texas standards, and all the rain helps. I had a fall kill of spawning CNBG a few years ago which likely wouldn't have happened if I'd aerated, so I guess it goes both ways.