Dead walleye at Pine Coullee Reservoir

[steverino]

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon my wife and I were at PCR doing some canoeing. As we were heading north on the lake, nearing the township road 150 causeway we saw three or four bald eagles, some hawks and numerous seagulls on the west shoreline. I was curious as to what was attracting them so we went in for a closer look. We saw an alarming ammount of walleye scattered along the shoreline in various stages of decomp. They are not easy to see at first as they are on the muddy shoreline between the waterline and the yellow grass (which I assume is the normal lake level). I didn't check the east shoreline. Not sure how many fish we saw but I am positive there are more than 100. All appear to be walleye. Any ideas as to what would have caused this to happen? I got home late last night and spent the day commuting to work out of province so I have not notified Resources yet.

[DiabeticKripple]

probably winterkilled

[jts1]

That lake could use with half the Walters to die. Maybe they won't starve and grow then.

[ogre]

Starvation? There were a few times during the winter when the ice were open, and the reservoir has a couple of deep spots.

Did you happen to see any pike or burbot carcasses?

[Mariko's Rod]

Email SRD and ask them to get the biologist to follow up with you and let you know what he/she thinks then let us know. If its ALL walleye and no other species thats bad news.

[steverino]

I'll contact SRD tomorrow. All the fish appeared to walleye but I can't be certain of that.

[jacenbeers]

I doubt that it winter killed. As somebody else stated, there were large parts of the lake open for a lot of the winter and it is quite deep. In fact, it rarely ever freezes over completely under the bridge.

[azn_rice_man]

Complete newb question, but what would it mean if it was all walleyes?

[Jimboy]

Originally Posted by steverino

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon my wife and I were at PCR doing some canoeing. As we were heading north on the lake, nearing the township road 150 causeway we saw three or four bald eagles, some hawks and numerous seagulls on the west shoreline. I was curious as to what was attracting them so we went in for a closer look. We saw an alarming ammount of walleye scattered along the shoreline in various stages of decomp. They are not easy to see at first as they are on the muddy shoreline between the waterline and the yellow grass (which I assume is the normal lake level). I didn't check the east shoreline. Not sure how many fish we saw but I am positive there are more than 100. All appear to be walleye. Any ideas as to what would have caused this to happen? I got home late last night and spent the day commuting to work out of province so I have not notified Resources yet.

Catch and release is alive and well at pcr.

Originally Posted by Jimboy

Catch and release is alive and well at pcr.

yup!

[Daceminnow]

Originally Posted by steverino

I'll contact SRD tomorrow. All the fish appeared to walleye but I can't be certain of that.

steve. did you in fact contact terry regarding this? anyone make a call or shoot an email? thanks.

Dace

[2big]

Originally Posted by azn_rice_man

Complete newb question, but what would it mean if it was all walleyes?

That the problem was specific to Walleye and not the body of water in general ie: winterkill.

[azn_rice_man]

Gotcha. Anyone follow up with this? Anyone aware if this has happened in the past?

[steverino]

I contacted the SRD office in High River. The lady I spoke to informed me that I had called the wrong office but she took the details and said she would forward it. She said if there were any questions they would get back to me. I am at a job site in southern Sask. and haven't heard anything. I likely won't be able to follow up again until Monday.

[chubbdarter]

Originally Posted by steverino

I contacted the SRD office in High River. The lady I spoke to informed me that I had called the wrong office but she took the details and said she would forward it. She said if there were any questions they would get back to me. I am at a job site in southern Sask. and haven't heard anything. I likely won't be able to follow up again until Monday.

sorry read this too late

the office to contact is Blairmore SRD, PCR falls under the control of Bio Matt Coombs.

Terry Clayton looks after the territory east of Highway 2

Thanks for reporting what you discovered.

[Daceminnow]

i've been in contact with Matthew Coombs regarding this matter. rather than risking putting words in his mouth, i thought best to quote his reply.


with his permission, his reply to my inquiry on the report of dead fish observed on the far nw corner of the reservoir shoreline was as follows.


"Yes, we are aware. A F&W Officer out of Claresholm and a biologist with Alberta Environment have been out there and taken pictures of the dead fish and walked south from the causeway to count more fish. Based on these surveys, it appears the dead fish are concentrated close to the causeway and no fish were counted more than a few hundred meters from it. We may take a boat out to survey more of the shoreline. However, at this point the fish are decomposed enough it would be difficult to determine the cause of death. There are surveys planned for this summer, and we will be able to reassess the fishery at that time."

Thank you for your concern.
Matt



Dace

[WayneChristie]

awesome, thanks for the info Dace

[ogre]

Thanks Dace for the work. Please keep us posted on any further development regarding the op topic.