Sick Looking Fish

[creek wader]

On smaller fish and in a shallower enviroment, maybe herons. It sounds more like a parisite, to me. I'm no expert, but I've seen it in ponds this time of year. Just a guess.

[Whack'emGood]

I wonder if the MDC would have the answer. Does anyone know anybody there? I guess anybody could just call though.

[twosets]

I often wondered just how many trout the herons in upper Tany eat. I have personally watched one bird eat 3 fish in 10 minutes. If there are 200 birds above fall creek, and each bird eats 2 fish a day, that is 2800 fish per week, or over 145,000 trout per year.

Is this number high or low?

George

[jay bird]

We have been making the opposite comment on how healthly the fish look for this time of year. Have went out twice in the last week and the fish are fat and healthy with no sores that we could see. One of the nights was out of Baxter, but all we caught was smallmouth that night, which is never a problem in my book.

[Whack'emGood]

We have found the same thing Jaybird-- most of our fish have looked extra healthy... and I don't have a problem catching a bunch of Smallies either ... Unless I'm in a tournament. Smallies will almost never win a tourney (especially a night tourney) on TR. Gotta get some big LM in that case!!!

Those Herons are alot like Trav... they love that farm fresh trout!

Whack'em

[Gone Fishing]

Thanks for the replies guys. But some of the sores could have been from the birds but the ones that worried me the most were the ones that were nickel sized circles. These sores had more tissue on the surface than blood. And yes, none of the smallies had them. Only the LM and KY's.

[jdmidwest]

I was meaning that the herons was a factor in the lifecycle of a number of aquatic parasites. The Green Heron is usually the culprit. Heron poops the larva, it infects the fish. Blue Herons could do the same, they usually just stab the fish. I forgot about lampreys, they exist, but are rarely seen. Worms and some microbe infections cause the lesions.

I think it is a parasite that is unique to the largemouth bass.

[denjac]

Found this article. Have seen the sores before in hot summer on area lakes.

Starting in late summer and continuing into the fall, bass anglers have been reporting slower- than-normal fishing for black bass on Lake of the Ozarks. The uncharacteristically low tournament weights throughout the fall have supported these reports. Anglers have commonly mentioned listless behavior of those bass caught and numerous sores and lesions on the fishes skin.

MDC biologists attended the day 1 weigh-in at last week’s BASS tournament to collect fish for analysis. Of the approximately 250 bass examined at the weigh-in, only 14 fish (6%) appeared to either have difficulty remaining upright in the water, exhibited significant amounts of sores or lesions on their skin, or were excessively thin. All of these fish were examined. The remaining 94% of the fish appeared to be in good health.

Lately, rumors at the local boat ramps and tackle shops have attributed the poor fishing to Largemouth Bass Virus (LMBV) which has been blamed for fish kills in high-profile fisheries such as Lake Fork in Texas and has hit as close to home as Table Rock Lake here in Missouri. LMBV was detected in Lake of the Ozarks during routine spring sampling in 2001, but fish kills attributed to LMBV are typically summer events where significant numbers of dead bass fish are readily observed. Other than isolated fish, MDC officials have not received reports of dead bass at Lake of the Ozarks this year. Although several bass collected at the BASS tournament will be tested for and will likely contain the LMBV virus, completed analysis has already identified the most likely source of the problem.

The fish collected at the BASS tournament were suffering from an infestation of several parasites, which occur naturally in Lake of the Ozarks and most, if not all other lakes and rivers in Missouri. Among the most prevalent of these parasites were Epistyles, a protozoan that can trigger an allergic-type response in some fish resulting in sores on the skin. Another, the bacteria Acrimonies can often cause the loss of skin and scales in heavily infested fish. Fish infected with significant amounts of these parasites often act lethargic and feed poorly.

There are hundreds of different viruses, bacteria, protozoan and fungi that exist in all of our lakes and streams all of the time. Many of these can cause illness or death in fish. But only in certain situations do they cause problems with the fishery. So why this year?

In this part of Missouri, 1999 and 2000 were extremely dry in terms of rainfall. During dry years, nutrients from many sources build up on fields and in small feeder creeks in the watershed. Then comes along 2001 with a more normal rainfall, including a few extremely heavy rains, which impacted a large proportion of the Osage River basin. As a result, a large quantity (2+ years worth) of nutrients gets washed into Lake of the Ozarks. This shot of nutrients is partially responsible for the numerous shad we are seeing this year, an unusually successful crappie spawn, and unfortunately, a population explosion of parasites that can negatively affect fish and fishing. A situation nearly identical to what we are experiencing occurred several years ago on Clearwater Lake.

Unfortunately, when a virus or other parasite impacts a fishery in a body of water the size of Lake of the Ozarks, all that can be done is let it run its course. Presently, it is not possible to treat sick fish in large bodies of water. The good news is that these outbreaks are typically temporary in nature, only a small percentage of the population is affected, and the fisheries quickly rebound.

The spring 2001 electrofishing sample indicated that the number of legal bass in both the Glaize and Niangua arms of the lake was higher in 2001 than in 2000. Unless we experience a visible fish kill, we will not know if a kill has occurred until we can compare the 2001 sample results with the upcoming 2002 sample.

I hope this has answered your questions. Please feel free to call me if you have further questions.

Sincerely,

Greg Stoner

Fisheries Management Biologist

[Guest kevinkirk]

The flooding this year will cause a big increase in all fish in about two years. Crappie fishing will be phenomenal at first followed a year or two later by the bass fishing etc. Happens all the time here in Kansas. Lasts about 2 to 5 years depending on the pressure.

[Whack'emGood]

Interesting and informative article Denjac. Good job on finding it. It makes sense to me.

It seems there will be both negative and positive effects of all of this rain we have had-- but I agree with KevinKirk... the positives will greatly outweigh the negatives for the fishery. The spawn had to be excellent this year, for all species. The fishing has been good on TR, no doubt, but I think even better fishing is just a few years away.

Good times are ahead boys!!

Whack'em