Laurel River Crazy Phenomenon

[ZLinton]

My dad and I fished the Laurel River today (3/6/16) and witnessed something neither of us had ever seen or heard of before. Throughout the day we had noticed an abnormally high amount of bubbles coming up from the main channel, which we figured was probably just settling debris, leaves, etc. Suddenly there was a massive rush of bubbles about 50 yards from our boat. At first it looked like a giant school of baitfish being chased to the surface, then the whole thing (for lack of a better term) exploded, shooting what appeared to be wood and compacted leaves nearly 5 feet into the air. It honestly looked like a humpback whale jumped up out of the river or something, absolutely the wildest thing I've seen on the water. It happened so fast that it left us both completely dumbfounded to what we had just witnessed. We are speculating maybe it was a clogged natural stream that had built up enough pressure to launch the sediment to the surface. My dad thinks it could possibly even be volcanic activity.
Has anyone ever seen or heard of anything like this? Any info, thoughts, speculations?

[jcb]

Would a collapsing submerged sinkhole do something like this?

[BKGOOCH]

nessey fart???

[timmbur22]

I think this is a distinct possibility:

http://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/Lake-Sturgeon.aspx

[peter]

That is bizzar . Dumbfounded is the only word I can think too to describe such an event.

[MagikSmallie]

How deep was the area?

[jcb]

I think this is a distinct possibility:

http://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/Lake-Sturgeon.aspx

?
A sturgeon caused compacted wood and leaves to bust through the surface like a humpback whale?

[timmbur22]

I dunno.........I wasn't there. Just speculation.

" It honestly looked like a humpback whale jumped up out of the river or something "

[Basshunter82]

Sink hole would be my best guess

[striperdoc]

I wonder if this was actually just an unusually large depost of sediment, leaves, branches, sticks, muck that had been on the bottom of the lake for a long time. That material will decay and create gas/pressure than can eventually dislodge everything above it and send it shooting up like a balloon out of the water.

After the huge flood/rainstorm several years ago, Herrington lake came up 36 feet in 24 hours. Yes that is correct. The middle of the lake was like a torrentous flowing river that tore up everything in its' path. Afterwards, a great deal of debris was deposited in various places throughout the lake. For months following this, we would see large clumps of material as big as a vehicle or larger rise to the surface with bubbles arising before, during, and after.

This would occur in areas of varying depths but usually not more than 30 feet. What was the depth from which that come out of? If it was quite deep, I wouldn't doubt that the material couldn't do what you described.

Just my uneducated guess. Sure would have been cool to see.

[Basshunter82]

I wonder if this was actually just an unusually large depost of sediment, leaves, branches, sticks, muck that had been on the bottom of the lake for a long time. That material will decay and create gas/pressure than can eventually dislodge everything above it and send it shooting up like a balloon out of the water.

After the huge flood/rainstorm several years ago, Herrington lake came up 36 feet in 24 hours. Yes that is correct. The middle of the lake was like a torrentous flowing river that tore up everything in its' path. Afterwards, a great deal of debris was deposited in various places throughout the lake. For months following this, we would see large clumps of material as big as a vehicle or larger rise to the surface with bubbles arising before, during, and after.

This would occur in areas of varying depths but usually not more than 30 feet. What was the depth from which that come out of? If it was quite deep, I wouldn't doubt that the material couldn't do what you described.

Just my uneducated guess. Sure would have been cool to see.

Seems legit

[Deer Slayer]

So if the lake wasn't up or anything like that and ever thing was "normal" about the lake then this is what I think happened. Sediment over time while decaying will build up large amounts of gas which will eventually release sometimes in large amounts. This gas realese probably brought up some of the sediment with it.