got po'd today on the lake

[grt1]

Well today i went to the far end of our lake to try for the elusive walleye. After 4 minutes there i had my first one and as i was about to hoist it into the boat the little bugger got off. From the looks of it dangling on my line i thought it had swallowed the hook and when it got off i figured it would probably float up in a bit after being mortally wounded, so i started looking for a floater .

 

A few minutes later i spotted a floater and i went over to get it and it was only about 7 inches long, so i figured it was something that had been tossed back and just hadn't made it. A few minutes later, there's another floater, so i checked it out and it was the same size as the first one. to make a long story short i trolled for about an hour in that area and counted close to 20 floaters, so now i was getting pissed at whoever would throw back these little guys, i thought were sauger. so just prior to moving to a new spot i went to see just what type of fish they were, they weren't the saugers that i had originally thought but looked like small whitefish. I started tofeel a little better about the numbers since they weren't sportfish that count toward your limit.

 

In the afternoon i ran into our local game warden in the grocery store and told him what i found. He was quite concerned since he told me that a camp owner had reported finding 4 of these fish floating in his bay , he assumed that maybe they were incidental victims of a big fish attack. After hearing what i found he says this is very disturbing as it is evidence of a kill off of unknown origin and he will be taking this information to the resident biologist. He said they were probably ciscos and are a major food for our lakers and walleye.

 

tonight my neighbour came over and said they saw some floating today when they were out and this was in an area away from where i saw them.....somethings going on so tomorrow i might go and grab a few for the mnr biologist to study.

[danc]

Mining activity is a problem up there to the environment. The Lake Trout population and reproductive activity are under stress in the Red Lake system due to mining. In fact Lake Trout are a dying breed up there. 5 million bucks a day coming up from the ground each and every day is a good thing, but what are the costs? I can't say that what you saw are mine related for sure. Just some thoughts from what I gathered during the year that I spent up there a while back.

[Raf]

Could very well be related to contamination of the water. Cisco are near the bottom of the chain, primarily feeding on plankton, insects and crustaceans. They'd be among the 1st readily visible citizens of the lake affected. It's still too early to ring the warning bell as it really could be anything.. water temps, oxygen levels etc.

[danc]

Could very well be related to contamination of the water. Cisco are near the bottom of the chain, primarily feeding on plankton, insects and crustaceans. They'd be among the 1st readily visible citizens of the lake affected. It's still too early to ring the warning bell as it really could be anything.. water temps, oxygen levels etc.

 

Agreed Raf. But there's no denying the Lake Trout issue. I pretty much lived in downtown Red Lake and fished off our dock every night. I'd throw dead ciscoes off the dock and catch mostly Pike and Walleyes. Some big ones too. While talking fishing with a local one day at the job site, he asked me if I'd caught any Lake Trout using my methods. The answer was no. But that evening I did catch one. 36" and a very skinny and unhealthy looking 15 lb fish. I told him about my catch the next day and he said that I'd never catch one under 10 lbs, or so. Apparently they just don't exist. They aren't reproducing and the remaining fish are not healthy. I have no idea if this is related to the ciscoe issue or not. Just some food for thought.

[chris.brock]

interesting stuff, I've seen whitefish floating for no apparent reason (I would guess it's related to warm water temps), but never ciscoes

 

not to rattle your cage DanC, but awhile ago we debated the impact of mining on the environment, I was tree hugging and you were for the northern Ontario jobs/ economy, it seems you realize there are some mining related, ecological problems in your own backyard

[bare foot wader]

hmmm, jumping straight to mining activity is a pretty big speculation....approx 24 dead ciscoes on a large body of water during the middle of summer?

 

sounds more like summer kill to me, although this typically impacts warm water fish in shallow water with large amounts of vegetation, summer kill also impacts cold water fish, like lake trout and ciscoes, as they require both oxygenated and cold water...when they seek the depths of the lake for cold water there is less dissolved oxygen content

 

when there are hundreds and thousands of fish kills, not just a few isolated cold water fish, then it's a bit more reasonable to look at other factors

 

any storms up there lately? I've witnessed what a lightning strike can do, less common though

[Billy Bob]

hmmm, jumping straight to mining activity is a pretty big speculation....approx 24 dead ciscoes on a large body of water during the middle of summer?

 

sounds more like summer kill to me, although this typically impacts warm water fish in shallow water with large amounts of vegetation, summer kill also impacts cold water fish, like lake trout and ciscoes, as they require both oxygenated and cold water...when they seek the depths of the lake for cold water there is less dissolved oxygen content

 

when there are hundreds and thousands of fish kills, not just a few isolated cold water fish, then it's a bit more reasonable to look at other factors

 

any storms up there lately? I've witnessed what a lightning strike can do, less common though

 

BINGO.........almost every year there is a fish kill off on Lake Erie because of water temps, etc.......and there is NO MINING being done here.....

[chris.brock]

DanC suggested the affect of mining on lake trout up in his area, I have no idea of the cause of the fish kill, I was just noting DanC's acknowledgement of the negative environmental implications of mining

[cjgraham]

Cisco die-offs are usually linked to low dissolved oxygen levels near the bottom. The fish can't breathe on the bottom and they also can't handle the warm surface temperatures. I am assuming parts of the lake (maybe that bay has formed a dead zone). very common in late summer months. Could be the mines but I'm guessing low d/o

[Rich]

This is undoubtably a sign of alien attack.

[danc]

interesting stuff, I've seen whitefish floating for no apparent reason (I would guess it's related to warm water temps), but never ciscoes

 

not to rattle your cage DanC, but awhile ago we debated the impact of mining on the environment, I was tree hugging and you were for the northern Ontario jobs/ economy, it seems you realize there are some mining related, ecological problems in your own backyard

 

I still am. I was just stating some observations from the year that I spent in Red Lake. I have no evidence that the Lake Trout problems in Red Lake are mining related. It's just an educated guess. There's a ton of Lake Trout lakes up here. If one has to suffer to keep thousands of people employed with high wage jobs, so be it. Apparently you can't have it both ways. You'd rather see the most productive gold mine on the planet shut down to save the Lake Trout? Personally, I'd rather have a good paying job than to be able to catch a Lake Trout in my back yard. But that's just me. Don't you have a few tree hugger issues in Southern Ontario to keep an eye on? By the way, I'm off to Red Lake on Monday.

[cjgraham]

I still am. I was just stating some observations from the year that I spent in Red Lake. I have no evidence that the Lake Trout problems in Red Lake are mining related. It's just an educated guess. There's a ton of Lake Trout lakes up here. If one has to suffer to keep thousands of people employed with high wage jobs, so be it. Apparently you can't have it both ways. You'd rather see the most productive gold mine on the planet shut down to save the Lake Trout? Personally, I'd rather have a good paying job than to be able to catch a Lake Trout in my back yard. But that's just me. Don't you have a few tree hugger issues in Southern Ontario to keep an eye on? By the way, I'm off to Red Lake on Monday.

 

Wait till it hits your drinking water. Type 2 tailing ponds are not fool proof

Edited August 17, 2012 by cjgraham

[pacman]

Most likely botulism, last year I witnessed the exact same thing and after speaking with a friend at the MNR he told me it was normal (botulism in fish) especially in the whitefish family.

Testing confirmed it and apparently if cooked properly no health risk to humans. Heard of more this week in the same area