#20 || Dr. Heidi Swanson: Turnover – What It Means and How It Affects Fish

Doc Talks Fishing Podcast

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Twice a year—spring and fall—lake turnover disrupts the waters and drives anglers crazy. To help us make sense of this phenomenon, we’re joined by Dr. Heidi Swanson, a distinguished fisheries scientist and former inaugural Jarislowsky Chair at Wilfrid Laurier University. Now an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo, Dr. Swanson’s work with cold-water fish is legendary.
In this episode, she’ll explain how, in lakes that stratify, the thermocline acts as a ‘glass floor’ for warm-water species like bass and walleye, while it’s a ‘glass ceiling’ for cold-water fish like trout, whitefish, burbot, and ciscoes. So if you’re tired of scratching your head over turnover—what it is, how it forms, and why it matters—this episode is your chance to get the answers you need to become a more informed angler.