lake turnover

[CAHughes]

went fishing today at lake alan henry, fish not biting too good, water very murky, not anything like i've ever seen it before, after checking online, kevin (kd) tells me that that lake had turned over and that is the reason for the murky water. Wonder if this has anything to do with how the bass act??? Any info welcome, please and thank you....

[skeeter944]

yeah,it will really slow down the bite. a lake or pond turnsover when the water on top of the water column becomes heavier and sinks to the bottom. i have never caught fish during the period of a turnover,which usally lasts 3-7 days.

[Christopherkeene9]

We're probably gonna get ours soon since a cold front just came through with a high of only 71 on Sat. with a low of 48 compared to our 80's and 60's.

[flfireman]

I don't really see Fl getting as big a turnover as the other areas. Most Fl lakes are so shallow that the water temp is constant from top to bottom give or take a few degrees. I'm sure some of the deep water lakes may experience a turnover similar to the Northern lakes. Right now the water temp is dropping around the 70 mark, that will make some great fishin'.

[Christopherkeene9]

Cool, the lake me and Hula fish is only about 18ft. deep! Hopefully it turns on soon and I can get my first 5+ pounder in.

[zooker]

am with skeeter fishing can be REAL tough during rollover..

zooker

[pig n jig]

The turnover causes fish to be difficult to catch because the oxygen levels change in the lake at that time.The water gets murky and fishing gets tough because the fish aren't staying where they normally hold, they will go out and suspend. I have had better results fishing out towards the middle while holding the boat close to shore.Fishing Rattle traps and suspending baits, topwater baits in open water.Saddles in between 2 close points that are near your good fishing spots is a good place to start.P N J

[Jolly]

How long does it take for the turnover to stop affecting the fish... I mean until it is normalized throughout the lake and the water clears up. The lake CA is talking about is normally extremely clear and the murky water probably really messed with them since they are normally visual hunters. I am headed there on tues and wed so hopefully it has cleared up by then.

Thanks,

Jolly

[pig n jig]

Jolly, The murky water and dispersed oxygen level is due when the water temperatures actually do turnover the lake, but I am not exactly sure there is a time frame you can put on it.Check for a thermocline reading on your fish finder.I am not sure where the thermocline is where your at, but here its usually at 20-45' feet deep. If you have got a gray thin thermocline reading then it should be , or on its way to be getting back to normal.Let me remember how it goes, the thermocline is a thin layer of water between the warmer surface water and the colder bottom water.What happens is the warmer surface water is hit by alot of wind and colder temperatures which cool the surface water below the bottom waters temperature and the surface water drops to the bottom and the bottom being warmer rises to the top taking all sorts of debri with it causing the murky water, therefore named the turnover.The oxygen levels disperses as there are no plant life in the bottom sections of the lake because of the depth won't allow sunlight to penetrate and grow plants which produces oxygen along with the wind creating waves on the surface.At this turnover time there is oxygen where there usually isn't an acceptable amount for bass to live,so at the turnover time bass can be caught in all depths of the lake, making it difficult to fish for bass since you basically rely on the thermocline to help you orient the bass where you catch them when the turnover is not in effect.Jeepers cats this is a long post.Let me know if I lost you, or if you have specific questions, feel free to instant message me, I will try to clarify what I said if I can.P N J

[Jolly]

Thx pnj, that seems correct... I just hadn't ever been out there when it was doing that... then again I'm not usually out there this late in the year.

Thermocline is usually around 22' in this lake... is that where the water clears up or are the fish just sticking in the warmer water?

Jolly

[pig n jig]

Lmao....Jolly , your taxing my brain. OK, bear with me because I learned it a while back. I'll break it down best to my knowledge.

-------------------surface of lake----------------------------

this section is called the epilimion ? its wamer water and has alot of oxygen

================Thermocline sandwhiched in ==========


this section of water is called the hypolimion ?Its the coldest and lowest oxygen level of the lakes water.


__________________Lake bottom_________________________


What happens is a cold temperature makes the epilimion layer colder than the hypolimion layer of water so it drops to the bottom and the bottom turns over to the top.The 2 layers are so close in temperature and oxygen levels from the turnover, the fish can swim throughout the whole lake .There is no thermocline because the 2 layers are realtively the same temperature.Its easy to know when turnover hits here, there are millions of alewife and smelt dead along the shoreline from the turnover stage.Once the lake stratifies and the epilimion layer warms up and creates a higher oxygen level than the Hypolimion layer the thermocline appears sandwhiched between the 2 layers.Once the thermocline is established, the bass are easier to fish for knowing where they will be located by using the thermocline layer as a guide.I am curious as to how many people use the thermocline to fish ? I learned it years ago when I fished for trout, different trout species hold in different levels of the lake.the thermocline helped you know where you had to be in order to catch them.It holds true better for bass than it does the trout. P N J

[Jolly]

OK, PNJ, I'm catching the next plan to NY and we are having a study session -- LOL. Thanks for the clarifying... I'm not stupid, I promise. So the fish are at the bottom right?







Just kidding,

Jolly

[pig n jig]

Jolly, bring your cold weather gear.Its still snowing this morning. You might want to drive,I know a guy who lives up by Marty who has a 1995 Champion 192 Elite for sale for $11,000.00. Its really nice, got 2 gps systems front & console, 2 flasher units, 107 lb thrust trolling motor(36 volt), but it only has a 150 Merc on it, which is all you need for the lakes and speedlimits in my area.I want to buy it since I know the boat and I have fished out of it for the last 4 years, but I just bought a new home and can't afford to buy a truck to haul it with the boat. P N J