Sanford lake die off?!?

[gmetime24]

Last night we were on Sanford lake doing a weekly Tuesday night that a group of guys fish. When we got back to the launch one of the workers at the county park said in the middle of the summer they cleaned up over 50 bass that washed up dead on the beach. He claimed it was because Sanford had so many tournaments this year and that they noticed the die off after a handful of events. He also said the water got above 80 degrees and he thought that was too hot for them( the lake gets at least that hot most years so I dont think that mattered). He said there were other dead fish too like pike, channel cats and a few walleye but mostly bass.

It seems to me like they have treated much heavier for weeds on Sanford this year and I wondered if that was hard on the fish. What do you guys think?

[djkimmel]

Anything that puts stress on fish - like heavy weed treatment - can increase the odds of fish die offs. There are reports from all over the country of fish die offs of all kinds and types being attributed to the abnormally hot weather we've had this year. Lots of it has been related to low and/or stagnant water.

Bass tournaments are always and easy target for people. We stick out. The main reason I have always asked that everyone be on their best behavior.

Regardless, people are always looking for easy answers whether the situation has an easy answer or not. I have seen some states ask tournaments to reduce or discontinue their activities during any summer, or just this summer because it is record-setting, or seen what Wisconsin did during the Mississippi River event - ordered them to abide by a 3-bass limit instead of 5.

Does or will this accomplish anything for the bass, or does it just reduce fishing opportunity? That is being debated in more than a few places. I'm always willing to discuss things that might be necessary with open-minded  persons. I'm going to need some kind of data that reducing fishing opportunity will actually make a positive difference for the bass (rather than make people who don't like bass tournaments more happy) before I am willing to give any up.

Did you ask that guy if the bass tournaments released the pike, channel cats and walleye too? Did you ask him how many bass he thinks are in the lake (75?)? Did you ask him if he knew how many total bass were weighed in during all those tournaments and if he had marked the tournament bass and then checked the dead bass to see if they were from the tournaments or not?

Large numbers of fish, including bass, die every year from fishing, from stress, from weather, from old age, from being eaten, from illness. 50 bass from a lake that size is a pretty small number. They could be some delayed tournament mortality. They could be from a combination of heat, being caught, being kept in a livewell, stress from weed treatments and/or oxygen issues, not enough food, all of the above and other.

If we stopped tournaments during the summer, would all those anglers just not fish? No. They would still fish. Would they release most of their bass? Yes. Would some of those bass die? Maybe. Would many or most of them survive? Probably.

Should all anglers only fish from shore, or only 1 day a week, or only with left-handed reels, or only with 1-hook lures, or only with 1 eye shut, or only with 1 hand tied behind their back, or only from a rowboat, or only catch 5 bass a month and then quit until next month, or... well, you get the picture.

We need all anglers fishing as much as they can and want to with whatever legal equipment they prefer to use, fishing whatever legal way they prefer and enjoy to fish. Period. Anyone who hasn't figured that out yet has issues that probably have less to do with fish welfare and more to do with bias, and is part of the problem not part of the solution.

If the MDNR really thinks a fish is in trouble somewhere, they have authority to do something about it in some cases. Considering that maybe 90% of all anglers are releasing the majority of the bass they catch voluntarily, there's not much left they can do for bass that will actually accomplish anything other than take away fishing opportunity. Kind of like our present closed bass season. Really good at taking away fishing opportunity. Not any correlation to the improvement in our bass fishing.

[Genie]

As it was ... as it is ... as it shall be ...

[gmetime24]

I thought it was probably a combination of things that caused the die off. I knew that it wasn't all that uncommon but I didn't like the way this guy was trying to mostly blame the bass tournaments

[FishermanJohn]

Most likely a combination of things contributed to the fish kill but like Dan said, bass fishermen/tournaments stand out and are easy targets. 

Slightly off topic, but in today's Bassmaster e-newsletter there was a link to a really good blog by Aaron Martens that hopefully provides a good refresher and some new tips on fish care.

http://www.bassmaster.com/blog/fish-care-0

[djkimmel]

We can all use new information and reminders on fish care. I care. I know you care. All of you.

Some people just don't like metal flake. That's my thoughts anyway...