literally the dead sea

[Trump]

A buddy fished an awesome crappie pond two weeks ago down here in southeast ia and did great went to fish it last weekend and in the first couple hours didn't mark a thing.  Dropped his camera down looking in all the holes they just fished and there were dead crappies and gills everywhere.  Called a DNR biologist buddy and he said no oxygen any one found this problem I wonder how many ponds will suffer.  I've heard snow cover doesn't let in light which kills the plants which in return no oxygen am I wrong

[Bates]

I think the shallow lakes and ponds are going to take a beating. Some natural lakes up north are less than 6' deep and have been frozen since thanksgiving. The drought and bad winter are not going to be a good combination. Still a few weeks away before we will know.

[jumbo chaser]

X2 bates

[DMPcope]

How often does it get fished?  Normally, if you are fishing a pond somewhat regularly and punching holes in the ice it will help oxygen levels when the ice is on a long time which will help reduce fish kill.  Thats a bummer though, I've had the same thing happen to me on a killer pond. Noticed at ice out

[CPace]

I had a good crappie pond quite a few years ago, when we used to have harder winters than we've experienced lately. (this year almost seems normal )  It was a little bit too shallow, maybe 10 ft at the deepest.  Had a great population of 14 - 16 inch crappie and a good batch of 10-14 inchers also.  Pond had a decent population of 6-9 inch bluegills and some catfish around 6-10 pounds.  One winter, I was ice fishing it, and was pretty much going back home from the pond with a half dozen good crappie and maybe 4-6 gills every time I did.  It had been long and hard with about a foot of snow on the ice, the ice got about 18-20 inches thick and it didn't get spring as early as usual.  The last couple of times out, I had not gotten a bite, either time (prior to having electronics so couldn't check it that way).  When spring came and the ice melted, I had banks littered with crappie, bluegill and catfish!  Never caught another fish out of the pond!  Guy that owns the property now, bulldozed in full of dirt and farms on it now!!

[Oldbear]

Now you've got me all depressed.  I think we're going to have a lot of that.

[MelroseHawkins]

Wow, yes some are going to take a hit. Perhaps that pond owner should have had an aerator. What a slow and agonizing death!

[MidnightRambler]

One public pond I fish turned off completely a couple weeks back. This happened after the warmup and rain actually opened a section of that pond up for a few days, along with raising it almost two feet.

I am hoping the sudden rise in water level just moved the fish around, and maybe they are feeding shallow now that the oxygen levels are up. But deep brushpiles that always hold fish have been empty the last couple times I was out--I didn't even mark a fish.

I suspect a lot of ponds are going to have a bumper crop of dead fish once the ice is out this winter, but who knows?

[Kevin23]

Lately I have not found any fish in the brush. All been suspended over deep water (20' water, fish 5-6' down). Last few days the fish have been 2-4' down over 12'of water. Haven't marked a fish further down than 5' in 3 days.

[Trump]

Hopefully I explain this good enough....   fished a farm pond on Thurs night 3-4 weeks ago had a huge snow Fri and sat.  Fished it Sunday right around where we were Thurs night .
 Hole froze over on the fresh snow but left a gap between the pond ice and the new froze over spot.  About 3".  The new heavy snow must have pushed the ice down a bit and the water ate the snow under the old crust. 
Still make sense?
There was a 12' circle around the original hole under the crust of new snow that had 3-4" of water.
We started breaking the crust revealing the water and found 50-60 1 1/2 to 3" gills in it.  So they were above the ice but under the crust
Weirdest thing I have seen in a while

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

That's messed up.

[Mr.Seaguar]

when you have warm water running in the fish will follow it. I have caught fish inches below the ice in 20 feet of water. Fish aren't smart. They respond to stimuli as best they can.

[MelroseHawkins]

Wow. Strange!!

[MidnightRambler]

when you have warm water running in the fish will follow it. I have caught fish inches below the ice in 20 feet of water. Fish aren't smart. They respond to stimuli as best they can.

The fish are smarter than me some days.

[MidnightRambler]

The ice is completely out on the pond by IC that I feared might have suffered winter kill, so I stopped and checked it out today. I'm happy to say I did not see a single dead bluegill or bass anywhere on it.

I did find one flathead alongshore that was probably between 15 and 20 lbs when it was alive, and a 5 or 6 lb. channel cat as well, but that was all for dead fish.

I'd had different people tell me there were catfish in this pond, but I'd never seen one there myself before today. Now I know there are--or were--at least two catfish that got put in there at some point in time.

[ASATMillerbluegill]

I'm happy to say I did not see a single dead bluegill or bass anywhere on it.

prob all laying on the bottom dead, out of your eye sight. Try catching one.

[MidnightRambler]

prob all laying on the bottom dead, out of your eye sight. Try catching one.

I went back earlier this afternoon with some waxies and caught quite a few bluegill, plus one crappie and bass. They seem to have made it through the winter just fine.

[ASATMillerbluegill]

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

[MidnightRambler]

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

Yup.

I'm guessing the dead channel cat and flathead I found either died of issues having nothing to do with winter-kill, or being larger than an 8" bluegill were more sensitive to low oxygen levels.

I would expect smaller dead fish like bluegills to rot and float quicker than larger fish, but I could be wrong.

I heard there was a bad winter-kill at the Sand Lake on the south side of Iowa City, with a lot of dead bluegill, crappie, and bass washing up on the downwind shorelines, so I figured if this pond winter-killed I would see the evidence by today.