Clutter

[hambone]

Hey Mike, we have been fishing smaller lakes, but still have 30 to 90 feet of water. We have been noticing on our electronics that when we see this mass of clutter on the screen, we don't mark fish and we don't catch fish. Yet, the last few weeks, when we find water that is 30 feet deep, with no clutter, we mark fish (15 to 25 feet down) and catch a few out of the deep. What is the clutter? Is it leaves and junk from the bottom floating up, and do the fish not like that. Also, if we drop a temp gage to the bottom in 50 feet of water, and the temp is the same top to bottom, does that mean the lake has turned over? Thanks a ton. Hambone

[Ifishtolive]

Hi Hambone! I notice throughout the year that I will get some good size pictures on the screen and I might think they are baitfish and when I look closer at the screen and then down in the water I see some pretty large balls of algae that are dense. With another look at the screen I do not see any arcs in the ball and I know it is not bait fish. The lakes that have the straight eel grass will also put out some decent size wads down in the water column and I have to check my screen well, especially in the fall when it is dying off. You are right on the turnover, we are looking for equal temperatures all the way down the water column! Hopefully it will get here soon! Maybe it will get the big girls in a better mood to eat!

Buddy Ellenburg

Take a kid fishing they'll have a lifetime of memories!

[Mike Hulbert]

Yo Hambone!!! Long time!!!

The clutter that you see could be a lot of things....depending on time of day, lake, and water temp. During this time of year, it most certainly could be clutter from turnover. There is alot of goofy stuff going on in the water column during turnover, some of which causes "clutter" 10 ft down, 20 ft down, 30 ft. down, etc... Most likely fish will NOT be found around this.

If you drop your guage down and the temps are the same 1 ft. to 50 ft down, then turnover is almost over...not completely but almost...

Good luck out there!!! Hope all is well with you!

[hambone]

Thanks Mike, it sure helps a lot! We are learning, slowly but surely. Got shut out at Bruce today, but we are going to KILL them at Tippy/James tomorrow! Bone