Fishing the turnover

[Blaserdude1]

Greetings,

Some lakes are in turnover right now. Any suggestions for success during this time? I have always found it difficult to catch fish during this time.

Regards,

bc

[bronzebackhuntr]

Shouldn’t be turnover this late into spring. Probably an algae bloom I would think. It can get tough during either. But I’ve found that bold colors like rexinator or clown work good during those events or dark colors in soft plastics. Basically in dark water I.e. turnover, algae bloom, muddy, you want to go to extremes, dark, light, or bright. 

[Blaserdude1]

Thanks. I was on Boone last Friday and the surface was a whopping 57 deg. Pretty chilly for late April. We have had a ton of rain and very few warm days. Everything is a little off this year.

bc

[31Airborne]

The term "turnover" is usually associated with the flip of water layers (colder and warmer) that occurs in the fall.  That said, the heavy rains and up-n-down weather we've had lately would certainly cause lakes to go thru turnover kinds of activity.  The challenges you're having right now are more likely associated with the timing of the spawn (fish tend to shut down during and immediately after) and the up-n-down weather.  Unstable weather means unstable water, esp when you factor in 1-3" of rain.  Temperature swings like the ones we've had recently will shut fish down.

In addition to algae bloom you may be experiencing the effects of pollination.  Trees, esp pine trees, are deep into their annual reproductive cycles now so you've prob got a good layer of pollen on everything, incl the water.

[Tubejig]

The unstable water and late "blooming winters" combined with a lot of pollen, allergies are killing me,  result in a different spring.  Turnover occurs in the fall and not necessarily every year .

The spawn might be a bit later than normal due to cooler water temps but the bite has been good on Douglas.    Noisy baits have been good, probably because the water clarity has been stained at best and muddy at worse.

OP asked for suggestions, I suggest go fishing whenever possible as time on the water will give you more success than anything.

[rusty50576]

I mostly fish rivers and Loudon/tellico which never turns over so I have no good advice other than what @Tubejig said, keep the lure wet as long as possible