Winter fish kill

[Rugburn]

While we were enjoying a great nice long ice season on our larger bodies of water, some of the smaller ponds may have suffered. As the ice started receding from the edges of my 1/2 acre pond, I've noticed a bunch of dead fish floating. The pond is still 95% covered with ice, so it may be weeks before I know the extent of the winter kill. My hope is it wasn't to extensive. I guess it's time to look into an aeration system for the future. We did do a fish harvest in January and the fish seemed in good shape at that point. Never had this happen before, guess we'll get to see the size of the inhabitants as the larger fish tend to be affected first. Bummer.....

[trapper2000]

hope  you didn't lose  many  rug

[DR.SPECKLER]

My pond had a winter kill 4 years ago.lots of fish gasping for air around the edges and dead fish,anyways the pond has bounced back and somehow has different species like bass and bullhead now.was full of large green sunfish before.i havent added anything to it because it goes low in summer.its my catfish bait pond but has decent fish in it now again after the kill.

[Lucky13]

IF your pond is staying locked up for a long time, a biologist I knew told me to drill some holes here and there to allow some exchange between the water and the air.  Most under ice fish kills are caused by oxygen depletion.