Winter Kill

[jalberg]

Hi,

Both of my favorite spring panfish lakes seem to have had major events this year. I went out expecting to get into them as I usually do, but nothing. I later noticed in some shallow reeds that there were dead panfish and bass all over the place. The lakes have airators, so I'm not sure what went wrong. Was this winter just too much? Anyone else seen or heard similar things?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I live by a lake that has an aerator and spring their is usually a fair amount of dead fish still, havnt looked this year though. I dont know if they get stuck in areas of the lake with low oxygen or what. Im guessing the aerators just keep it from a complete winter kill but does not save all the fish.

[OnAFly]

Happened to some lakes I know too.

[reinhard1]

i haven't been to peltier lately but i heard that peltier had winterkill this winter. i will check on it. something about not getting the go ahead to operate the aireation system in time. have you heard that also fly? good luck.

[OnAFly]

Haven't heard the reason the aireator went in late. I've just seen the fish on the shore. It was a lot of small sunnies and bass with a few large channel cats. I don't think it totally killed. I think it just partially killed. Might be a good thing to cut down the small sunfish population a bit.

There are some smaller lakes that I know of that got hit too. Those had no aireators and are <50acres. Those probably faired worse than Peltier.

[reinhard1]

sometimes lakes do well after a partial winter kill, such as is the case with peltier. like you said with the small sunnies you noticed. the lake is very fertile and has a ton of spawning habitat. my son-in law was watching local news one night and mentioned this to me. i dont know the reason the aireator was turned on late, maby the funding of it was the issue, who knows. good luck.

[jalberg]

I have also heard that lakes will do well after a partial winter kill, but how long does it usually take for it to get good again? One, two, three years?