Dead Stripers

[tlapinski]

Did anyone else see any fish die-offs like this after the recent storm or in past winters? To be clear, there is no evidence of direct dumping of snow into this river after the snowfall last week. Reference to that taking place was posed as a question to the DEEP because it was a running theory by several people I spoke to about the event.

http://www.thefisherman.com/index.cf...9&ParentCat=19

[cow tamer]

Wow. Surprising report.

[yj1990]

parts of florida has had that happen to snook,and redfish

[eelskimmer]

Toby,
Many thanks for this report. Did Rod McLeod of Conn, Wildlife
suggest an autopsy. Certainly this must be standard for fish
kills like this. Didn't read the article on Cold and Fish but have
serious doubts about a die off due to cold water. If you hear
more please let us know. For what it is worth I did not know
that the Connecticut had such a large population of hold over
bass.
JohnP

[tlapinski]

Originally Posted by eelskimmer

Toby,
Many thanks for this report. Did Rod McLeod of Conn, Wildlife
suggest an autopsy. Certainly this must be standard for fish
kills like this. Didn't read the article on Cold and Fish but have
serious doubts about a die off due to cold water. If you hear
more please let us know. For what it is worth I did not know
that the Connecticut had such a large population of hold over
bass.
JohnP

No word of any sort of autopsy being conducted as they (the DEEP) is pretty confident that it was due to cold shock. Perhaps if enough people inquire and ask that question then one will be conducted.

This was nothing more than just a little feeder creek, but I was surprised to see just how many fish (used to) live in their. I know there are thousands upon thousands of fish in some of the larger rivers across New England, but I was unaware how many went up these smaller ones.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by yj1990

parts of florida has had that happen to snook,and redfish

I happened to be in Ft Myers when this happened 3 or 4 years ago. There were dead snook everywhere

[Sea Flat]

Wonder if a trawler had recently been through there before the storm? Wow!!!

[chris L]

I wonder if it was due to the water being devoid of oxygen ? cold water ? I doubt it . But then again my elevator doesnt go to the top .

im going to inquire with the DEP .

[Clammer]

sorry . don,t believe the COLD water answer ..............................

I have seen way too much / in all kinds of weather & water depths to believe that ><><

[JLH]

It's not just the cold it's the ridiculous swings in temperature we have seen combined with a ton of fresh water runoff from rain and snow melt that is probably messing with the normal pockets of deeper salt water where the fish winter over. I am sure the chemicals in the runoff didn't help but if that was the issue I would think more than just SB would have been effected.

[BigFish]

Dumping of snow loaded with road salt??? All the pics I saw were fish inshore washed up???

[eelskimmer]

Toby,
Got an email for Rod Macleod. I think there are emough
skeptics here to pressure for an autopsy.
JohnP

[Clammer]

I havn,t heard of any of the other holdover places having a fish kill ............& the weather would be at least close to what it is there >><><>

[afterhours]

Originally Posted by Clammer

I havn,t heard of any of the other holdover places having a fish kill ............& the weather would be at least close to what it is there >><><>

x2

[Raven]

that's supposed to be why freshwater catfish get so big
they eat the fish kills that get all piled up
deep under logs where current has washed up
hundreds of fish into a crevice and they feed all winter

[stripermaineiac]

Several years back they shut down the head of the bay power plant during a cold spell.The number of fish that died due to the sudden drop in temp amazing.It wasn't the temp but how fast it changed that caused the stripers to die off.

[Nebe]

if it was due to temp change, there would be fish kills in more places than just this creek. Something else was to blame here.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[jimmy z]

Originally Posted by Nebe

if it was due to temp change, there would be fish kills in more places than just this creek. Something else was to blame here.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Yea, me too. I find it interesting though on how many Bass winter over in and about local rivers and tributaries.

[Soundbounder]

Story in today's New Haven Register:

“We had the same thing happen last year,” said David Simpson, director of marine fisheries in the agency’s Bureau of Natural Resources. “It was pretty coincidental with the new moon, real low water, very cold weather.”

He attributed the deaths, as best as DEEP staffers could determine, to “cold shock,” possibly as a result of fish getting trapped in icy cold water by ice and shallow depth.

The DEEP also received reports in Old Lyme of fish drifting out of the Connecticut River and washing up on Long Island Sound beach, but Simpson said he believes those fish were part of the same die-off, which was first reported Sunday by an Old Lyme police officer.

http://www.nhregister.com/general-ne...iver-tributary

.

[Linesider82]

The CT DEEP is citing cold-shock that in terms of research not much is known about. http://www.fecpl.ca/wp-content/uploa...-etal-2008.pdf The CT DOT will pretreat roads up to 5 days in advance of a storm, of which we had two before all of the rain fell. Most pretreatment happens on bridges and other dangerous areas. The Calcium-chloride used does not activate until water hits it. It is also said that it has little effect on fish but that statement is by the manufacturers of the product.
What I know from the few times I've fished for holdovers is that these fish ball up like chordwood so much so that a jig hits multiple fish on a drop. So it is likely that this fish kill occurred in one or a few specific areas, then the tides moved the fish to their final resting places. I don't like the cold-shock answer either due to water's ability to hold the same temperature, the fact that SB tend to favor areas of warm water discharge especially in cold months. However, the study also noted that certain very cold temperatures reduces a fishes "fight or flight" response and could actually send them swimming in the wrong direction. The only thing I disagree with the DEEP on here is that a simple speculation answer of "it's cold-shock" without any proof of analysis from the dead fish.

[bart]

there was a fish kill but on a much smaller scale at Scorton's recently