Minnows dying on the bottom? Are you seeing dead fish on the bottom or having them float up into your holes? Maybe the tough winter has depleted the Oxygen levels. Will we see a bigger than normal die-off after the thaw? .... Are you seeing fish kill?
..Your comments are needed and very welcome..
Freeze out and oxygen depletion could be a huge issue on smaller lakes as it was last year in these northern counties. O2 levels on smaller Vilas and Oneida county lakes are most likely dropping quickly with the heavy snow cover. I would expect another die off this year for many of the smaller lakes.
This comes from years of experience running an aerator in a pond. You do not need to run it in deep water and it will work just fine on the side of the pond in shallower water. I USE to run mine in the deepest part. After 3 dogs and 2 deer went into the water where it was open I learned to put it where they would be able to get out on their own in shallower water. Thankfully I was able to pull all of them to safety before I got smart and moved it. I am lucky to be here myself. I have no idea how the thin ice next to it held me.
Our pump is in and running for the last week in our Vilas County pond. This entire 17 acre pond is froze over except for a 100ft.(approx) hole at the diffuser. The water is boiling there like a kettle on the stove and we should have no fish die off this year. Well worth the money and time invested.
After months of research and discussions with fish biologists and pond aeration specialists across the country, we have decided on the best solution for our 17 acre pond (15' deep) that was an almost total die off last year.
We have purchased the best unit possible from pondliner.com by getting the RA1-PM unit. The cost was $1,312.00 and it has a 1/4hp pump +100' of weighted hose and a quality diffuser. We will mount this on the end of our 75' dock and the diffuser will be out in 15' of water. We will run electricity to the dock and plug in the unit about 11/1ish and run it thru the winter. It has a vented calf pen type cover to protect it from the elements and came with a great guarantee. We chose an aeration system over a water flow system as it takes only 1/4 the cost to run and these units hold up better and are much more efficient. We are expecting to have this take about 3 hours to set up and strongly believe this will solve our problem.
Evidence of 2017 winter kill die off is now gone and lakes are in a recovery period. Smaller, shallow lakes took the biggest hits. We have been researching areators and oxygen/air pumps for our Vilas County lake and started a lake association. We will install an aeration system to prevent winter kill and put in some WDNR approved cribs this winter. We lost about 90% of our fish but will depend on the remaining 10% to repopulate the lake. The aerator costs about 20 cents per day to run as air weighs less and takes less energy to pump than moving water (about $1.05/day)... We will install our portable system in late fall and remove it after ice out each year.
Butts D I sent you a PM.
I'm really starting to wonder about it. I noted on another thread that I saw ice on a local lake on November 6 this year. Once May 6 hits, that's 6 straight months of ice. Plus we've had snow on the ice almost that whole time. I guess I think there will be sizable die off. However, I also think this is a natural thing that occurs and it can be good long term, but bad short term. It will be very interesting to see the results come ice off.
On a bunch of lakes I like to see a bit of a winter kill because just enough knuckleheads will be led to believe that half a dozen dead fish means that the entire lake was killed off. To borrow a line from a great philosopher by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi: "Who's the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?" People buy into the gloom and doom spread forth by the knuckleheads and they'll avoid that lake for a few years. I do absolutely nothing, zilch, nada, zero to convince them of anything different.
A good winter kill isn't a bad thing...especially on spring fed lakes. If you know where those springs are you can do pretty darn well during harsh winters when minnows are dying away from the springs. Fish close to them and your minnows will be fine and the stuff you are targeting will be stacked up big time. You just have to be aware of ice conditions. The same sort of approach applies during hot summers when water temps shoot way up. Get over the springs and you'll find cooler water. Find cooler water and you'll eliminate a bunch of dead water by focusing on good water.
Our Lakeland Times newspaper (Minocqua area) just had an article on oxygen levels and winter kill possibly alerting us to what we have expected, the huge die off we will notice once our ice is gone up here. It has been a big topic in the bait shops and among the locals especially this year. One positive thing noted in the article was that in many cases, not all the fish die and the remaining ones have less competition for any available food. While there will be less fish, the growth rate will improve, meaning larger fish. If you notice a large die off, contact your local WDNR office.
Bait store operators say that low 02 levels is a topic that is mentioned by fishermen in their stores. It is also a topic that is brought up on the ice by other fishermen. I don't believe that the 02 level gets so bad that the fish die off but one fish biologist stated that increased levels trigger a bite as noted when water runs into your hole on late ice. Fish will do what they have to do to survive whether that is moving to a different area on the body of water they are in, maybe near current or springs or raising in the water table to where the 02 levels are higher.( oxygenated water weighing less will rise)...A simple test without an 02 meter would be to put minnows at different levels to see where they survive. If they are dying on the bottom that should tell you something. 02 water level studies have always been a concern amongst fishermen and biologists in late winter. Just be smart and make the adjustments.
I had this happen a few years back on a shallow-ish U.P. lake I love to fish. Great fishing in December and January, then around the beginning of February my minnows were dying. I had no idea what was going on. I thought I got a bunch of bad minnows or that I had them too close to the heat in my truck. But, in reality, the lake had very little oxygen. Talked with a guy that said the pike were swimming near the top trying to get oxygen. Noticed when I put the minnow down just a few feet they did ok. But, even with pike swimming higher, they weren't in the biting mood.
This winter seems like one where I would expect oxygen levels to be "ok". Ice is about normal and the snow on top isn't overly great....but, this does seem to be the time of year it happens. Need a few warmer days to get that melted snow going into the ice cracks. Just been so cold.
