We haven’t heard too much lately about the fall turnover. This week I’m going to try to change that.
The turnover is tough. There’s no doubt about that. But, if your trip is during the turnover it doesn’t mean that all is lost. You can still catch them. It’s a matter of understanding what the turnover is, and how it affects the fish.
Turnover is nothing more than the warmer and lighter top layer of water turning cold and heavy. This causes it to drop to the bottom of the lake. When it’s over — usually no more than a week or so — all the water will be pretty close to the same temperature.
The problem is that the lowest layer rises to the top. And, it brings with it ugly stuff that’s been on the bottom. (This process also messes with the oxygen content in the water but we’re not going to worry about that this week.)
You can usually look at the water and tell if it’s turning over. In shallow lakes the water will have debris floating around in it that has obviously spent most of the summer on the bottom. In deeper lakes the water will look turbid and have a lot of floating particles in it. Regardless of the water’s depth, think nasty looking gray-green pea soup.
If you see water that’s turning over, you’ll recognize it immediately and never forget what it looks like.
The first thing I do when I see turnover water is run away. Very few bodies of water turnover all at once. If I’m down near the dam, I run up the lake until I find better looking water. If I’m up the lake and it looks turnover I run down towards the dam. There’s no use fighting a problem that can be easily solved.
But sometimes it can’t be solved.
When you have no choice but to fish turnover water you’ll need to keep a few things in mind to save your outing. First, the fish will be scattered. Second, the deep fish will tend to suspend. Third, the shallow fish will move tight to cover.
I’ll fish for scattered fish if that’s my only option but I’d rather find them in one or two places. And suspended fish are really tough to catch so I’m not going to chase the deep ones. That leaves me with shallow bass that are holding tight to cover.
You can catch them a couple of different ways. One is to flip and pitch to cover, especially wood. Drop your bait so close that it scrapes and bounces off the bark or wood as it falls. Set your rig up so that you get a slow and gentle fall and don’t bounce it around too much.
Another option is to cast, or skip, a plastic stickbait into thick cover or under docks. Again, don’t get in a hurry. These fish will bite, but I can’t say they’re actively feeding.
The fall turnover is no time to panic. It’s a time to think use your knowledge of bass behavior to your advantage.
We’ve only covered the basics here. If you have more detailed questions, give us a call during the next Ike Live show and we’ll see about answering them. It’s this Sunday, November 23rd.
Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter or visit his website, mikeiaconelli.com.
