This reasoning sure sounds a lot better than blaming the dead fish on Tournaments. Plus with as many Striped Bass being reported as dead, that to me would be the 2nd indication that it isn't Bass Tournaments. Believe me, back 20 plus years ago, I would have said it was probably the tournament guys as well. But with all the new chemicals and ice being added to live wells to help keep the fish alive, hardly enough evidence to blame the Bass Fishermen. The Tournament guys & Gals want to protect the fish as much as any one else, heck it's their goal to save the fish. Saving the fish means more fish to catch next time they fish a certain body of water.

Tight Lines my Friends....Clyde




Quote Originally Posted by jigman73 View Post
Guys, please don't hammer me over this because it is mostly hypothetical. I was talking to my ecology professor at eastern the other day. He stated that after an exteme drought that the sulfuric acid in the atmosphere can become fairly highly concentrated (sometimes to the point that it can eat the paint off of your car), and that when rain does finally fall, all of that acid can have an adverse affect on a body of water. My thought is this, this may have happened when the area around the lake received lots of rain a couple of weeks ago and along with the fall turnover, could have potentially lowered the lake ph enough to cause damage to the fish.
I do know that if the ph is to low then it will eat away the gills and fins of the fish in the system. I was down there the last 2 weekends and saw several fish that were missing fins (still alive) and some with most of the gills gone (they were dying).
The lake having a ph level that is to low makes sense to me as to what I have seen on my own, and if I'm right then the rain that the lake should get this week should help alot.
Lee Bishop