Walleye And Weather

Every report I read or hear about is how great the fishing is this spring.The fishing has been great for several weeks now and there has to be a reason. I believe the number one reason is that the Turnover of the lake occurred early this year.

Lake Erie Turnover occurs in the spring and again in the fall. It occurs when weather minimizes the difference between the shallow water temperatures and the deeper water temperatures. When the two become nearly the same the two layers start to mix.

This mixing allows the oxygen and nutrient poor deeper waters to mix with the oxygen and nutrient rich shallow waters. I believe this turnover occured nearly a month early this year. Once that turnover starts the walleye become more active due to the rich water and once they become active in the spring they start their annual migration and spawn.

Bear in mind, this is only my opinion, however I believe the data backs me up. This year the lake never froze over and the surface temperatures stayed in the mid 30’s. Once the unseasonably warm weather hit, the shallow water temperatures started rising quickly. Once they neared the temperature of the deeper water the Turnover occurred.

The best walleye fishing in our area (the island area) has been the reef complex just offshore from Camp Perry to the Locust Point area. The water is shallow here (10’ to 15’) with a lot of reefs. I think the key is that this whole area is adjacent to deeper water. Once the Turnover starts the walleye come out of the deep water and become active in this shallow reef area.

There is one other factor that I believe is driving the water temperatures in that area. That factor is the Davis Besse Nuclear Reactor. The cooling water discharge is required to be no more that 20 degrees different than the lake temperature at the point of discharge. Supposedly the water temperature rise will be no more than 5 degrees for a radius of approximately one half mile. Thats huge for a fish.

I believe the combination of unseasonably warm weather and the Davis Besse cooling water discharge caused the Turnover to be early. This has provided some of the best spring walleye fishing in recent history. The fishermen have flocked to the area to enjoy this event which has provided a needed boost to a very weak local economy.

In spite of the obvious pluses in this situation, one has to wonder what is really going on. Is it just a fluke of nature, are we in a cycle of warmer weather or could global weather change really be occurring. I am not an advocate of the global warming hysteria but I do believe if changes like this become an annual event we need to do some serious investigating.