Turnover
Lakes’ Lessons for Life
When autumn’s first chill arrives, the first word that comes to my mind is “Turnover.” It’s a word used by fishermen and lake scientists. A word that represents opportunity and confusion. A phenomenon that makes both trophy hunting and deep study possible. A condition when things that seemed in equilibrium all at once become chaotic.
Turnover occurs when the surface of a lake cools to a temperature lower than the water resting beneath it. The no-longer-warm summer layers start to sink. It’s at this point that the lake quite literally “turns over.” The once-colder, deep water, filled with nutrients stored up over the course of a summer of sinking detritus, rises to the top and takes the summer water’s place. Poof, the lake becomes an inverse of itself.
For us fishermen, this is a temporary moment of paradise. In summer, cold, deep water acts as a refuge for heat-intolerant species like lake trout and landlocked salmon. Those beautiful fish spend their Julys and Augusts hiding in a near-freezing bubble at lake’s bottom, patiently waiting to escape their thermal jail. In fall they are suddenly sprung. Fish find themselves with a whole lake to explore, not just a thin, compressed slice. When turnover occurs the fish that anglers most want suddenly come within range of a shoreside cast.
