Crappie question

[Choupic]

Every May in the rivers I fish there's a period of about two weeks that I have problems with the fish not biting . Some of the old timers say its the summer turn over ? Never could get them to explain that to me in depth . They say it's when the bottom water rises and the upper water levels fall ? Have any of y'all heard of this and can explain a little better ?
When the fish get fully into their summer time pattern I normally don't have any trouble putting fish in the boat . The summer is my most productive months but for some reason may is my worst . Are they in a transition period or what's the deal ?

[BreamChaser60]

Man that brings back some old memories of when I was twenty something.There is a lake in north Louisiana called Ivan lake.They used to say the same thing about that place,I always figured it was just guys pulling my leg.Now that you've mentioned the same thing happening somewhere else,there maybe more to it than I thought.Every year when they said the lake was turning over,I'd think "yeah-right,good one,ha,ha".

That's the same way it was explained to me,so yeah,I've heard of it-just didn't believe it until now.

[Locator79]

There is a fall turnover, never heard of a summer turnover. May is sometimes tough for crappie because of the post spawn period, depending on the weather during the spring we've had. I have a creek a fish that feeds off the Ohio river, where the crappie can be caught 6' or less all summer, just depends on the flow of the water.

[Bronson]

I think it occurs at least twice a year when there is a turnover. The water you fished in a couple of days before that was fairly clear, now is chalky or chocolate colored. When it happens in shallow ponds or lakes, it can sometimes cause a fish kill because of the lack of oxygen in the water. Bass & crappie can't handle too much stress and die. Some catfish and rough fish can make it through because they are more hardy.

After the spawn a lot of crappie will suspend out in the open and peope think it's because of the lake turning over. I'm fishing the same brushpiles that produced a few weeks before and getting nothing but have noticed guys trolling or pulling a couple of poles with jigs under floats are still doing good.

[Choupic]

You know your exactly right Bronson about the color of the water . The water is usually a dark color but this past weekend it was a real strange bronze , cloudy looking color and we haven't had any rain to speak of in two weeks . I even mentioned the strange color to my son a few times .
We fished a few hours a day for 4 days in a row and I bet we had maybe 20 keepers the whole weekend . Talk about frustrating ! We fished some prime areas that normally produce and we fished different colored jigs that normally produce . We fished tree tops and bridge pylons and even long lined jigs .
On the depth finder you could see the crappie on the drop offs . They were stacked and almost looked like carpet stuck to the bottom . We drug and bounced jigs all over em with not much luck at all . The ones that did bite were bigger than average if that means anything ....

[skunked again]

Lake turnover is a real thing. Usually happens in the fall, can happen late spring/ summer also. Hot, cold, hot weather wont help! For the fall turnover, surface temp gets cooler than bottom. Since cooler water is denser,( heavier) it inverts. sometimes has a bad smell with it also. If i remember thats the hydrogen sulfide from the bottom. Causes problems in water towers also. We put in mixers in two of our storage tanks, has helped a lot. We also put some mixers in our lake by our raw water intake, was just out there today pulling samples. The temp was within two degrees of the surface to two feet below the bottom of the mixer intake. After that it dropped off. Hope this helps. Gary

[Choupic]

That's awesome Gary ... I knew something was wrong . Pretty sure that was the problem , it makes sense . So it shouldn't last too much longer huh ? Maybe a week or two ? Until the water settles ?
Thanks for all the information .

[wallrat]

I'll attempt to explain it. Here goes:

Water is most dense at 39 degrees. When the water warms substantially in the summer, a thermocline develops in some lakes. In and below the thermocline, the water is colder and therefore more dense (it also has less dissolved oxygen, but I won't get in to that). When waters start to cool in fall, the temperature difference between the water above and below the thermocline starts to equalize. Once the temperature of the water above and below the thermocline become close enough, they begin to mix as currents and wind mix them. This causes the water that has been trapped below the thermocline to mix quickly (relatively speaking) and it brings up decaying plants, silt, algae, etc with it. Hence the name "turn over".

I hope this helps,

-Engineer Bill

[Spawn]

Crappiepappy could explain turnovers the best,
pretty much means that its muddy on top and
clear on bottom

[CrappiePappy]

I don't think rivers do much "turning over" .... since they don't usually have a thermocline. Well, those with any kind of flowage, anyway.

All of the explanations of "turn over" are pretty much in regards to lakes/reservoirs with low flowage. I do know that rivers that don't get enough water input to keep them flowing over the dams & locks ... can get stagnant, and/or oxygen depleted ... which could cause stress on the fish.

I just don't fish "rivers" enough to know whether or not it's actually a "turn over" event, or just a post spawn transition situation. Needless to say that we've had a rather unusual weather pattern over the last several months, that has caused several spawns to start & stop & restart, again. Maybe that has them stressed & confused, & waiting for more stable/normal conditions ??

... cp