Fish Die off C-land??

[luvtohunt]

Hearing some rumors of some stripes and walleye starting to die off with the lowering occurring on LC. Anyone heard or seen to confirm??

[R19]

here is a link to a story that was posted on my local news link about a week or so ago...

http://www.columbiamagazine.com/index.php?sid=106159


The article never says anything about the lower level having an effect although in my opinion it very well may have something to do with it. I am no biologist nor do I claim to know much about how a thermocline works but I would think current in the lake would help but the current they are pulling is from the sluice gates and this means removing cool oxygenated water from the lower depths leaving the walleye and striper poor oxgen levels.

The article speaks mostly about the thermocline and how it has a negative impact. I do know this has happened many times in years past come late summer and early fall. This is not a one time event.

[Duayne]

I've heard of a few fish but nothing substantial at this point. Many of the smaller fish that are floating are from fishing mortality. The last two I caught had pink bellies which are a tail tale of stress. Essentially, you cannot catch and release any size right now. And most of the fish that will bite are the smaller fish. I am off the lake until the surface water cools and the fish have a chance to get in better shape. It's my opinion that avoiding a substantial die off would be a miracle but it hasn't happened yet. The last reported surface temps were going the wrong way. Surface temps around 77 would signal a good chance that the crisis is over.

[luvtohunt]

Was hoping the rain chance Monday would get better. Flushing some of these creeks would help some I think. Unfortunately the chance keeps getting less and less. With several days with 90’s as the high in the 15 day I don’t foresee anything good happening!!

[Duayne]

Warm rain won't help much. The oxygen levels in surface to 40 is fantastic. But stripers and walleye can't live in that warm of water. They can visit, but they have to go through dead water that is void of oxygen to get there and then it's like trying to breath on a 110 degree day while you are running laps. The latest report is due out soon and I fully expect to see a complete dead zone in 40-70. That means the zone will have 1 mg/l or less. The last report was 2-3 mg/l Stripers and Walleye can live in 2-3 mg/l but not very well and not for long. So the fish have to choose... Do I stay cool enough to survive or do I breath? That's a tough call...


We are asking people that do fish to count any shorts you catch toward your limit even if you have to let them go. The ones being caught are not even able to to try to swim off right now in most cases. Those may be the fish we rely on in the near future.

As to why this happened... The record levels last spring did not do the lake any favors. They caused more than usual waters to be pulled this summer. The corp is now gun shy and pulled far too much far too soon. They had all fall and early winter to pull it down instead of pulling it so hard this early. I understand the people in charge of the generation schedule have been replaced. Then you throw in this drought and the lake is even lower than normal. In reality, the lower than usual water isn't the real issue. It's the fact that the deep cool water at the dam release level was pulled out a month ago. We normally can pull up 55 degree water from 80 ft all the way through most of September but we've been pulling 64 degrees for a month now. I got a report of pulling 68 degrees from 70 foot this week. I'm really surprised we haven't seen more issues on the river.

The real major issue right now is this warmer than normal late summer. We need some cool days and 50 something degree nights to help get that upper level down to 77 degrees. Stripers and walleye can do very well in those temps. Cold water falls so as the absolute surface water cools it will be pulled down to around the 40 foot mark.

The sooner we get to 77 the better!

[Duayne]

I received the latest water quality report yesterday. Here's a snapshot at the dam. Note that the water can vary in different parts of the late but the data shows similar numbers for all the tested areas. Oxygen levels are fantastic down to 40ish feet then drop like a rock after that. The temps are mid eighties to lower 40s then start to fall off. I see a small possible ban of water at 45 or so that may be cool enough and have enough oxygen for survival. Otherwise, oxygen levels are in the 0-1.4 range below the 40s.

The data points are taken in key main lake areas. The creeks may be a little different and may be better. May, I don't know. The down side with creeks is they get the farm run off. That means the water contains crop pesticide or treatment run offs. Those things affect the water quality and were partly responsible for some bait die off a few weeks ago.

That's the picture as it is today.. Or at least on the 18th.

[Wormin]

I received the latest water quality report yesterday. Here's a snapshot at the dam. Note that the water can vary in different parts of the late but the data shows similar numbers for all the tested areas. Oxygen levels are fantastic down to 40ish feet then drop like a rock after that. The temps are mid eighties to lower 40s then start to fall off. I see a small possible ban of water at 45 or so that may be cool enough and have enough oxygen for survival. Otherwise, oxygen levels are in the 0-1.4 range below the 40s.

The data points are taken in key main lake areas. The creeks may be a little different and may be better. May, I don't know. The down side with creeks is they get the farm run off. That means the water contains crop pesticide or treatment run offs. Those things affect the water quality and were partly responsible for some bait die off a few weeks ago.

That's the picture as it is today.. Or at least on the 18th.

Interesting graft ,I can see how the fish could get caught with out oxygen real easy. Thanks. Do you have web site for this info?

[Duayne]

No. The corp has a distribution list and they send it out via email. You have to sift through other lakes and tail waters but it's worth it if you want to keep up on all things stripers and walleye on lake Cumberland.
I think people can email Mark to get on the list.

[email protected]

[fishin-fool]

Has there ever been a situation like this before where the dissolved oxygen was so low in the deeper portions of the lake?

[Duayne]

There are kills pretty much every year. There is usually some die off 7 of 10 years I would guess. The question is how bad does the water get and how many fish die off. Most years the number is negligible but Cumberland had several years in a row with significant kills when the lake was held down. The water quality right now is at a level as it was during the draw down years.

[rooster]

They are running the sluice gates not to bring the lake down, but to put O2 in the river for the trout. They don't care about the fish in the lake.

[headbanger]

They are running the sluice gates not to bring the lake down, but to put O2 in the river for the trout.

The root of the problem.