N/S Center Fish Kill??

[MN BassFisher]

Has anybody heard or seen this? With all the snow & cold this year I would imagine there will be a lot of MN lakes that Winter kill. I was sad to see this one named as I know a lot of people here enjoy Bass fishing out there. I'm not sure how Bass respond to low oxygen conditions but if the rough fish are showing up dead, that might be a bad sign.

Fish Showing Up Dead in North Center

[JP Z]

They are talking about it in the Forest Lake Regional Forum....and yeah Largemouth Bass have a very POOR tolerance for low O2, namely they would be offed before the Carp.

[RK]

Sounds like it may be an especially bad winter for fish kills. DNR did dissolved oxygen tests in places on N Center and there was none... Also heard Snail in Shoreview might have had a bad kill.

Bullheads and carp are usually the last ones standing (swimming?) when the DO gets low, so if they're dying off as well, could be a very bad kill indeed.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Yes- there is a thread going on in E.Central forum. N.Center looks to be very bad, no way to know for sure how bad till the ice goes away, but first glances look pretty bad. Could be a stinky spring.

[Lals]

I would imagine that the lake level being down several feet didn't help... I am not sure how much but I would estimate 4-6'

[Deitz Dittrich]

No doubt that had a role in it.

[Basschaser]

Any reports of winter kill on the other Lindstrom/Chisago area Lakes?

[MN BassFisher]

Any reports of winter kill on the other Lindstrom/Chisago area Lakes?

I'm fishing a Wednesday night bass league and on their HSOforum they stated they might be changing the N/S Center and Goose Lake tourney's due to possible winter kill. I haven't heard anything more about Goose though.

[bonebaby0]

Chisago Area update .... I was able to go to nearly every launch in the Chisago Area and see where the water levels were at as well as the effects of the reported winter kill. Water levels are up nearly 2 feet (20-26"s or so) ... nice to see. What was not nice to see is the dumpster full of dead fish at the North Center Launch. After talking to another gentleman that stopped by I learned this was the 4th or 5th dumpster full of dead fish from North Center. Stopped into Frankie's to verify this info and they basically agreed that 4-5 dumpsters was likely the case over the last 2 weeks.

Stopped in at South Center and found a few dead fish around the launch area. It was a mix of carp/bass/pike. Don't know what to make of this - here are couple of pics.

The most depressing of all the lakes was Little Lake - nearly the whole lake is dead. Talked to fisherman just getting off the lake and they indicated there are 1000's of dead fish floating in the reeds. Figured as much do to the number of birds present. They didn't get a bite today or see anything on there Lowrance HDS 8 graphs. Frankie's confirmed that Little was hit extremely hard.

One other side note - docks are in on the following lakes .... N/S Center, Green (not Little Green however), Chisago, Kroon, and Little.

[Basschaser]

Water levels are up nearly 2 feet (20-26"s or so) ... nice to see.

Can anyone verify that this is true? I wouldn't expect the lakes to rise that much with 4 inches of rain but hopefully I am wrong.

[Deitz Dittrich]

my guess is that is from last fall lake levels?

[bonebaby0]

Yes, up 2 feet from last fall. Actually got the numbers from Frankies.

[Basschaser]

I don't believe it. I believe that Frankies said the lake levels have gone up 2 feet since last Fall but I doubt that they in fact have (at least on Chisago Lake). I will do a little digging for some real water elevations and get back.

[Hester]

Its really to bad about this lake.

As it turns out, I just saw an episode of The Lake Commandos earlier today. It was of Steve Pennaz fishing on North center.

[bonebaby0]

Quote from Homeowner in the Chisago Lakes area .... posted today on the Fishing Reports forum

Quote:

Done ... Put the dock in 2 Saturdays ago and by the following Thursday the lake had come up 16+ inches. Needless to say all the docks were either underwater, or close to it. Spent this last weekend raising them.

So you can thank me for getting the lake levels up, because I'm sure if I did not put my docks in early, we would not have seen a drop of rain.

I'm guessing the lake came up around 30 inches total this spring. SWEET I can use the channel between North/South Center again!!!

[MN BassFisher]

That's great news! Now let's hope the fish are okay.

[Lals]

Hester, I saw that episode. I was pretty sure it was N. CENTER. What kind of threw me off was they described it as highly pressured city lake.... I used to go there to get away from the pressure! Anyway, it is a really good show - Lake Commandos