Lake fish

A lake offers no visible landmarks. What structures life below the surface is the contour: the drop-offs where the bed falls away, isolated humps, drowned timber, the weed beds along the margins. A sounder replaces reading the current, though a map and a little observation usually suffice — a rocky point running into the water almost always continues below it.

Temperature governs the rest. In summer the water stratifies: a warm layer on top, a cold one below, and between them a transition zone where oxygen and food concentrate. That is where most fish sit through the warm hours. In spring and autumn, when those layers mix, fish spread through the whole water column and move willingly onto the margins.

The wind, finally, is worth following rather than avoiding. It pushes plankton onto one shore, the baitfish follow, the predators behind them. The uncomfortable bank is usually the right one.