Fall Transition: Phase 3 · Turnover

	What happens	Evidence
Mechanics	the surface cools until it is as dense as the deep water; wind mixes the whole column; the water goes off-colour, sometimes smells of sulphur, and reads the same temperature top to bottom	[ecology]
Oxygen	the deep, oxygen-poor water is spread through the column; the fish's choice of water collapses	[ecology]
Where it does not happen	flowing lakes and shallow lakes never stratified, so they do not turn; the main lake and current areas mix last and clear first; dead back bays mix first and worst	[ecology] [field]
Length	about a week of mixing, then the water clears from the main lake inward	[field]

Position during turnover	What the fish are doing	Evidence	Rig
deep bottom, 20–30 ft (6–9 m), the base of the steepest break	hugging the most stable water	[field]	drop shot 3/8 oz with a 3" minnow, dead-sticked 30 s; Ned rig
suspended 1–3 ft (0.3–1 m) under the surface over deep water	when no clear water exists, fish hang high and break the surface now and then to gulp air	[field]	weightless wacky worm or a light swimbait on a slow, straight retrieve; a suspending jerkbait only in low light
the slower water near an inflow or current	high dissolved oxygen concentrates fish, but the water is colder, so "near" means a distance back from the main flow	[field] [ecology]	jig or tube 1/4 oz drifted with the current, dead-sticked in eddies
the submerged weedline, outside the dead inside beds	minnows are pushed here: the fish that hid in the weed cannot stay as it dies, and the off-colour water and the weed hide the minnows	[field]	blade bait or bladed jig along the line; wacky worm on the edge
wind-swept rock on the main lake	the water that mixes last and clears first	[field]	jerkbait with the wind, Ned rig on the rock

Fish the water that turns over last and clears first: the main lake, current, wind-swept rock. Leave the dead back bays. Keep moving until a spot shows live fish; do not camp.

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Fall Transition

From the first hard cool-down to the clear water of October: four phases, where the fish sit in each, what the baitfish do, how the weather changes the call, and why a dead-sticked worm beats a minnow bait while the fish are off-colour. Calendar anchored at 44–46°N (eastern Ontario).

Fall Transition