Does fall turnover shut pike down like it does bass?
It disrupts them less, but it does scatter them. Turnover — the fall wind-mixing that erases the thermocline once the surface cools to match the depths — suddenly opens the entire water column, so pike that were pinned to structure by summer stratification can be anywhere for a week or two, and the murky, debris-flecked water of an actively turning lake fishes poorly for a sight hunter. The practical answers: fish lakes on different schedules (shallow lakes turn first, deep lakes later), hit water that never stratified at all — big shallow bays and rivers — or wait it out; the far side of turnover is the fall trophy bite.
The full story
This answer is one piece of a longer lesson — setups, diagrams and the reasoning behind it.
Same topic, other species
- Why does crappie fishing fall apart during fall turnover? — Crappie
- How does fall turnover affect muskie fishing? — Muskellunge (Muskie)
- Does fall turnover mess up perch fishing the way it does bass? — Yellow Perch
- What does fall turnover mean on a trout lake? — Trout (Rainbow · Brook · Lake)
- What does fall turnover do to walleye fishing? — Walleye