Turning Over

[joshm]

When does a lake turn over and what does it do to the fish?
I've been fishing for a while and have always heard people tell me that a lake has turned over-which usually means I start fishing deeper. Do you look for bait fish to drop? If anybody has some advise/pointers I would appreciate it.
thanks
joshm

[Ron C]

...a few weeks ago:

Now there is one HUGE factor that we have to take into consideration – The weather. If we get several cold winter storms back-to-back-to-back, the surface temps will drop drastically, which will scatter the fish. They will still seek out the warmest water that they can find but, for the most part, there won’t be any. When the entire water column temperature becomes universal from top to bottom, we will experience the winter turnover. But once again, this is a normal annual condition (except during those rare occasions where we have extremely mild and dry winters).

During the winter turnover, there is no real comfort zone or level for the bass, so they will spend most of their time suspended. This is the time to located baitfish (those that survived the die-off – and there should be a lot of baitfish this year, judging by the amount that is currently in the lake) with your electronics. When you find balls of baitfish that bump into structure (points, ledges, underwater humps and islands, etc.), there will be bass near by. Keep in mind that the colder the water temp, the slower the bass’ metabolism will be. They usually will not chase a bait unless it hits them on the nose. Whatever you do, DO NOT throw a spoon or an Ice Jig under these conditions! (wink, wink).

Hope this helps.