TAKEOFF
By TJ Maglio
BASS SCIENCE
illustrations by ron finger
HYDRODYNAMICS FOR ANGLERS
H
UNDERSTANDING THE SCIENCE OF MOVING WATER CAN LEAD YOU TO BETTER FISHING
ydrodynamics is the branch of physics dedicated to
the study of liquids in motion. If you’ve ever watched
pollen swirling on the surface of a lake, or storm
water running down a drain and into a culvert, you’ve
watched some serious hydrodynamics at work.
A basic understanding of hydrodynamics and how water
moves can not only help you explain and understand many
common phenomena, it can also help you catch more bass
in rivers, reservoirs and lakes by being able to more easily
predict their locations.
water’s interaction with the infinite number of obstructions.
The best way to describe this is to imagine floating a leaf
through a set of riffles on a stream. You could float it 100
times, and it would take a slightly different path each time.
Even though currents are constantly changing based on
flow and other factors, turbulent action is predictable
enough in some situations to provide an idea of where bass
might be holed up.
Laminar vs. Turbulent Flow
24
Imagine a waterbody with perfectly smooth sides, a reg-
ular channel and no obstructions. Were current to flow
through such a place, it would likely flow in what scientists
call a “laminar” path, which means a parallel and unobstruct-
ed flow.
In this scenario, there is no difference in the velocity or
direction of flow throughout the water column.
In reality, our rivers, lakes and reservoirs are full of
obstructions, depth changes, bottom composition changes
and many other factors that create what scientists call turbu-
lent flow. This means that water velocity and direction move
in a chaotic way t hroughout the system based upon the
laminar flow (top) and turbulent flow
FLWFISHING.COM I AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2018