Fall Lake Turnover Explained
Catch fish despite a tough bite!
Normally, the fishing is on fire in our midwest lakes as the lake turnover ends. With a prolonged “Indian Summer” in the midwest states the larger lakes have maintained their surface temperatures and lake turnover has been delayed on most of them. The bait is still spread out all across the lake with some schools in the coves but for the most part fishing is has been difficult as evidenced by the National Professional Fishing League (NPFL) event on Lake of the Ozarks recently in October. Limits were difficult to fill and even the eventual champion, Nick Brown turned in only one 5 fish limit on day 2. There were only 5 of the 117 anglers that turned in 5 fish limits each of the three days with several anglers that didn’t turn in any fish.
The Eco Fishing Big Bass 250 was held the day after this NPFL event and really was no different with the tough fishing conditions. Some of the 163 anglers found fish while almost half the field did not fill a limit despite no minimum lengths on the bass for this event. There was only one 20 inch bass caught and would be the $10,000 fish which was caught by Stony Floyd of Kansas. He also had the longest stringer bringing in another $6,000.
While you can see bait literally everywhere you go it can be difficult to find the bass. The water looks dirty and your sonar will show a lot of small particles on the screen. The fish are spread out and it’s difficult to make decisions on how to catch them. Obviously the Lake of the Ozarks was in the process of turning over. If you didn’t know that this lake can produce some giants you would think that it was not a very good fishery. But Lake of the Ozarks and so many others like it are absolute gems in this area.
So, what is lake turnover and how can an angler overcome this natural phenomenon? Some of your northern lakes will actually have two turnovers including a mild one in the spring and a major one in the fall. But most of the lakes across the country have one. So what is lake turnover?
The lakes will stratify during this process. As the water warms you get an upper layer of water and during the summer a thermocline develops where the warm water and lower level cooler water meet. There is no oxygen below the thermocline. When this happens all of the fish will be in the upper level which biologists call the epilimnion and the lower colder and denser water level is the hypolimnion. The thermocline is usually 20-25 feet deep. Depending on your lake makeup it can be deeper or shallower.
Here is a simple description of what happens during the lake turnover. As the surface water cools down it becomes more dense. When that water becomes the same temperature as the lower section that water will sink and the bottom layer will rise. This action mixes all of the oxygenated water with the unoxygenated water. This is so important for the health and well being of the lake as the nutrients are spread out through the entire basin. This is why your shad are also so spread out throughout the lake during this process. The baitfish can pretty much feed wherever they want since the plankton is not in a specific area. This process puts the bass in a position to be just about anywhere on the lake since the food is everywhere on the lake.
So, what are the signs that the lake is turning over? First, you may notice an unpleasant smell coming from the surface. This smell is a result of the decaying organic matter that is brought to the surface as a result of the turnover. You might even see some gunky matter floating on the surface of the lake. The clearer lakes will often have a discolor to the water during the lake turnover yet still be a bit clear. If using sonar you will notice particles on your screen just like you turned up the gain on it. Remember, that you can also see a distinct thermocline line and the debris on your 2D sonar as well. Just turn the sensitivity down on your sonar unit and you will have a clearer picture.
How will all of this affect your fishing? Since the baitfish are scattered everywhere we might need to take a different approach. Of course, the easiest option is to pick another lake that is shallow or even a river where there isn’t a turnover. Shallow lakes are not as affected by lake turnover. Especially if those shallow lakes are affected repeatedly by wind. And most rivers won’t turnover as there is a constant current going through them. But most of the time anglers don’t have this option of moving, especially when it comes to a tournament being held during a lake turnover like the NPFL and the Eco Fishing 250 recently in October on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.
Here are some ideas that may help you catch fish during the lake turnover. First, you have the option to fish shallow. This is a high percentage area as the bass will be more comfortable in shallow areas during the lake turnover. There will also be a food supply there since the bait is everywhere anyway. Another option is to fish wind blown areas. Remember, the wind is your friend! The wind keeps the water oxygenated. Long shallow points, riprap, big lay downs in shallow areas, or even docks that have wind pushing water on them are great places to start. When the wind stirs up the water in these areas the bass become very comfortable here and will most likely be eager to bite.
Personally, when I fished Lake of the Ozarks during this lake turnover I found fish on the front of docks in shady areas, especially where there were lay downs. There was also a creek channel nearby with a very shallow shoal with a 3-4 foot drop into the channel. The bass were pushing bait up onto the shoal and I used a Mini Max chatterbait to entice them to bite. The water was only about a foot deep on this shoal and also very clear. My third pattern came on wind blown docks in fairly deep water where I ran a jerk bait along the edges of the docks and out on the ends as well. The bass were tucked up under the docks in great numbers and got a lot of bites there.
Here are some other options for baits you can use to get bites in these particular areas during the lake turnover. For top water baits you can use buzzbaits, spooks, Whopper
Plopper’s, poppers, and Choppo’s. Beneath the surface square bills, jerk baits, spinner baits, chatterbaits, and flukes are a great option. You can also flip or pitch a swim jig. For the finesse angler a weightless Senko wacky rigged is deadly. Just flip it into a shaded area on a lay down or dock and let it fall and dead stick it. Be ready for a bite!
Sometimes, these lake turnovers can usually last from a couple days to more than a week. Once it is complete those baitfish will pack up into large bait balls and the fall bite will be on fire! Eventually, the lake turnover will help replenish the entire water column with fresh oxygen and cleanse the water so that the fish can move to the depths during the winter months where they will stay until spring.
A couple more tips include downsizing your baits and fishing them slow. If you notice any topwater activity you can throw a small crank or buzz bait in that direction for a quick catch. One method that really helped me catch fish on the Lake of the Ozarks was to fish slowly and methodically when I knew there were good numbers of bass around the area I was fishing.
Remember, there is always a hungry fish somewhere and with the tips provided above you should have a great chance to catch a few during the turnover of a lake. Good luck out there! The fall season is one of the best times to catch ‘em!