When a lake reaches equal water temp at all depths such as Patoka Lake did on Nov 7th the lake can turn over. This replenishes the dissolved oxygen at the bottom of the lake and thoughout the lake's vertical profile.

Lake turnover is casues by colder average air temps with the coming of fall and winter causing the surface waters to cool down until they equal the same temp are the bottom layers of the lake. Now this occurs on lakes that stratify during the summer months and that don't have lots of current. Rivers won't stratify so this does not really apply to moving bodies of water.

Normally it gets colder and colder and the water continues to drop in temp. As the surface water's get colder this cold water gets denser and falls down to the bottom of the lake. Now at 4 deg C or 39.2 deg F the water is at it's densest. At 3 Deg C the water gets ligher and at zero deg C or 32 deg F the water will start forming ice and the ice will float up. If not for this strange fact the lake would start freezing on the bottom first and the fish would be in trouble.

But this year we have a funny thing happening. We had turn over and then we had a warming spell. Water in the lake had reached about 50 deg F as turnover occured. But a week or so later the air temps increased and the surface waters Warmed back up to 55 deg F. So where did the fish go?

Think about this and pretent that it's now March and the water is warming up from winter's long cold spell. Now where do you fish?

Northern Shorelines that are protected from the cold north winds and that get the most sunlight will be the ticket during this short warm spell. Most likely the winds will be out of the South for a few days bring the warm southern air into your area.

So do the fish come back into the surface water? I think so. I caught over 40 crappie once when this weather pattern occured. I found all the fish right at the surface. Even the bigger crappie were up near the surface. They were all caught within the first 10ft of the surface. This was an overcast type day also so the sun was not that bright. It was in late October so the sun was lower in the sky at this time of the year. Winds were light at 5 to 10 mph creating a light ripple on the water's surface. Normally I catch fish in the deeper water of this spot along the bottom of the drop off. But this day with the warm surface water and low light condition the fish were all near the surface. Maybe they were soaking up the warmer water temps knowing that in a few months they will be forced to find the warmest water at the very bottom of the lake. Remember when there is ice on the lake and it's very cold the warmer water (4 deg c)is the heaviest water and it's at the bottom of the lake. But you get a warm spell and the ice melts the fish may be found shallow again as the surface waters warm up over 5 deg C. Even on a bright sunny day the water right under the ice may be warming due to the sunlight. Remember warm water rises once it gets warmer than 4 deg C.




Regards,

Moose1am