winter kill

[broken_line]

how can a guy tell if a lake has died off? my home lake the water has turned very brown and smells grose but the fish still bit but not as many.. i cant figure it out

[thedeadsea]

Not sure about the smell/brown water but that can't be good.

My go-to northern lake partially winterkills every few years. The first fish that start to die are sunfish and bass, then perch and crappies. We would see small fish trying to come up holes in the ice to the surface and they would be half dead. Northerns are more hearty so they wouldn't get hit as hard and bullheads are the last ones to go.

Surprisingly the LMB really got hit hard, considering the dirty waters they innhabit in the southern US.

The DNR will issue winterkill warnings and allow for liberalized(unlimited) fishing in some lakes that are expected to winterkill.

[NCLaker]

I realize winter kill is from lack of oxygen, but what conditions cause a lake to winter kil?

[eyehead]

The smell is from the weeds decaying I believe....

[Eric Wettschreck]

I don't know which lake you're talking about. Does it have an airator??? I've been fishing my local lakes quite a bit lately and they are brownish in color also. I'm chalking this up to the murky bottom getting kicked up from the action of the airator. Even fishing quite a good distance away it's still pretty murkey.

I'm guessing the smell is coming from decaying weeds, as mentioned.

Not always, but normally if a winter kill is happening the DNR will post the lake for liberalized fishing. If this has not happened you may want to contact the DNR and ask them to go take a peek at oxygen levels in the lake.

Now is time to figure out a way to catch fish in brown water. I'm always a big fan of the 1-2 punch of deadsticking and using a rattling type lure. Brown/dark/muddy water is a great area for this approach. Trust me, I've been doing quite well in these SW MN lakes lately using this approach. It's nothing new, but it's really been working well. If you haven't, give it a try.

[broken_line]

i am talking about school grove lake its in the sw portion of the sate by cottonwood. i dont think there is alot of weeds in there because of the carp. it does not have an airator in it.. it hasnt had one in there in the past 20 years my dad says.. would the fish come up the holes??

[KTapper]

This is from the DNR lake finder. It is aerated.

"School Grove is a small (318 acres), shallow (11 feet maximum), aerated, and productive lake located in Lyon County. A population assessment of School Grove was conducted during late June of 2007 for the fish population. Water quality and clarity conditions are often poor in School Grove due to agricultural runoff. Intense blue-green algal blooms are common during the mid summer. Water clarity was poor (1.8 feet) on June 29, 2007."

[justlivin']

A little off the subject but my grandpa use to farm the land under that lake a long time ago

[broken_line]

who was your grandpa?? do you know any fengers??

[justlivin']

My grandpa's name is Harold Timgren passed away in 1988. I spent many summers in Vesta. Do not know any Fengers. Kletchers and Welsch's are friends

[Tom7227]

The DNR HSOforum listing lakes that have winterkill doesn't seem to be getting updated. Most recent was early Feb. you'd think there would be more by now. I wonder if that is a sign of the cutbacks.

[FishinChad]

This is a long, thick hard water season, I imagine winterkill to be a big problem this year but I have not heard much, kinda of suprising. Would be nice if they could find a better way to communicate to the fishing public the state of the lakes prone to winterkill.

[south_metro_fish]

I was talking to one of the local parks about a month ago checking on some of the lakes within the park and they were already talking about O2 levels being to low and there more then likely was already a fish kill. The one lake I was interested in looked like a small one but had a 24 foot hole in it and it seemed to have an inlet and an outlet so I would assume there are going to be some this year. There are a lot of lakes this year that have there airators going too.

[FishinChad]

I realize winter kill is from lack of oxygen, but what conditions cause a lake to winter kil?

Shallow lakes that dont have enough deep water to sustain the oxygen throughout the winter. When the lakes freeze over there isnt much to add oxygen to the lake, most lakes manage fine because there is enough oxygenated water to last all winter, but on shallower lakes with lots of decaying weeds and not much deep water, towards the end of the season the fish start running out of oxygen.

[yaggie]

School Grove does have airiation. I do not know if it is being run at this time or not. A winter fish kill would not cause any oder untill ice is off. Decaying weed growth will consume a lot of oxyegen. This is why some smaller ponds or lakes can die off in the heat of summer. School Grove has very limited vegetation. If you hit odorous water I would guese you were in very shallow water.

[broken_line]

the small bays are starting to open up and the water is looking really green.. could it be algea?? some areas of the lake are clear and some are dirty...

[broken_line]

it opened up and there isnt any dead fish floating around that i know of yet....

[opsirc]

shallow lake like that, if the ice gets real thick, does not leave alot of room for the fish and they will use up what little o2 is left in a hurry.

[FishinChad]

I would check back in a couple days and make sure there isnt a bunch of dead fish along the shorelines, check the windy side of course where the fish would blow to. Sometimes you may not see many of the dead fish in the first couple days after ice out, if you dont see any in a couple days I would think your lake made it.

[Tom7227]

Would it take some warmer water to get them to bloat and come to the surface?

[FishinChad]

I am not sure maybe someone else can anwser, I just remember thinking one of my lakes was ok but then went back a week later to find a bunch of fish dead. Seems like the lakes faired pretty good considering the amount of ice we had and the early freeze date. I know a few lakes made it just fine that are prone to winterkill.

[1lkstage]

I spent many summers in Vesta. Do not know any Fengers. Kletchers and Welsch's are friends

That would be spelled "Kletschers". Family also. Small world. All family!

We may have hunted some of Fengers land in years past, but not sure which one. My buddy (Goblish)rents it?

Broken Line, I used to fish your back yard all the time, from shore off the docks and by boat. Also really good friends of your nieghbors, Cory and Amy.

The ariator has been in the lake off the North east point for many years.

[broken_line]

wow it is a really small world! the carp were jumping like crazy yesterday and didnt see a single dead game fish, i looked all the way around the lake where a wheeler could get to... alot of dead carp but they are from the nets that were in this winter... the dnr said that it doenst need to be in the lake because there is no weeds to take o2, just the fish.