Winterkill?

[boonedocks]

After spending the afternoon on my favourite pothole lake I'm worried that it may have winter killed! I fish this lake almost every weekend and very seldomly do I get skunked , but today I did not see a single trout! What I did see was thousands of minnows swimming just inches under the ice! Does anyone know if this is a sign of Winterkill?

[maclennanchris]

yep

[Red Neck]

Ya we were talking about that today, With the snow building up and blocking out any sunlight to allow vegation to grow the likly hood of a repeat of last years high numbers of lakes that get killed off. When you see the fish just under the ice and moving slow it is not a good sign? Could your lake be west of Edmonton?? not that it matters but they got hit hard last year too:(

Red Neck Out:scared0018:

[Drewski Canuck]

Salters Lake has suffered a winterkill, despite having an airator! Apparently the pump was not working due to fishing line jammed in it, and on resetting the pump it somehow did not push water upwards as expected. Net effect was that the "black ice" that set in early caused the seaweed to rot, consuming oxygen, and no circulation over the balance of the lake did the rest.

Was it Salters you were talking about, or is there somewhere else to avoid?

Drewski

[Geezle]

Ya we were talking about that today, With the snow building up and blocking out any sunlight to allow vegation to grow the likly hood of a repeat of last years high numbers of lakes that get killed off. When you see the fish just under the ice and moving slow it is not a good sign? Could your lake be west of Edmonton?? not that it matters but they got hit hard last year too:(

Red Neck Out:scared0018:

The ones...well, one in particular West of Edmonton gets hit very hard by anglers early in the ice season...typically by mid-January the population is pretty thinned out, even if the lake doesn't kill and fishing can get pretty tough.

[Flieguy]

http://mywildalberta.com/Fishing/SummerWinterKill.aspx

Winterkill reports (bottom of page)

[Geezle]

http://mywildalberta.com/Fishing/SummerWinterKill.aspx

Winterkill reports (bottom of page)

Listed July 2011 according to the page :o

[HunterDave]

Two years ago I was convinced that several lakes in the Edmonton area had been winter killed. No one was catching anything and I even saw trout on the bottom of one of the lakes on a fish tv. That spring and summer I was catching fish in the same lakes that, based on the size of them, had been in there for a year or more. Now, as a general rule, when the fishing slows down a bit at this time of year, like it always does, I don't immediately think that the lake has winter killed. Some might die but the rest may not be not very active, but they are still there. Of course there will be exceptions where the entire lake will winter kill but I don't think that it happens as regularly as some people may suspect.

[EZM]

Two years ago I was convinced that several lakes in the Edmonton area had been winter killed. No one was catching anything and I even saw trout on the bottom of one of the lakes on a fish tv. That spring and summer I was catching fish in the same lakes that, based on the size of them, had been in there for a year or more. Now, as a general rule, when the fishing slows down a bit at this time of year, like it always does, I don't immediately think that the lake has winter killed. Some might die but the rest may not be not very active, but they are still there. Of course there will be exceptions where the entire lake will winter kill but I don't think that it happens as regularly as some people may suspect.

Good point ........ BUT ........... I would not say it applies here.

The concentrations of oxygen move up the water column as levels dissipate - so the fish follow - or die.

With the minnows just under the ice - This is textbook winter kill the OP is talking about here.

At this point all the bigger fish are usually dead.

[huntsfurfish]

partial kills are not uncommon

[Red Neck]

We have talked to the CO,s and a biologst working at a certan coal pit now trout pond west of Edmonton:thinking-006:We were told that even a sever witer kill will only kill approxamitly 70% and alows the remaining fish stock to recover? This is just what we were told.

Red Neck Out:scared0018:

[fishman]

I have fished certain lakes at ice out and same thing catch nothing but as further in the season 2 weeks after ice out start catching fish and seems to pick up from there,,,,,,,,,,i have came to the conclusion that the lake is border line winter kill and until the o2 levels come back up after ice is when the fish start to move and feed again

[boonedocks]

Well, I hope that you guys are right with the partial winterkill theory and that some of the larger fish manage to survive! I kind of feel like I have lost a friend without being able to fish this lake, which my wife refers to as "My Mistress" since Im always running off there! Its time to expand my options, I guess, good luck to all!