Dead Fish

[Scudman]

I fished both Saturday and today. I noticed a disturbing trend.... As you can see from the picture there were a large number of dead fish. There were 5 in this group alone, I walked from the big hole to outlet 2 this evening and counted 37 dead. Not sure what is causing it, there are always dead fish especially after a busy weekend however today seemed really bad. I have noticed that I have had to really revive the fish i have caught in order to make sure they live to see another day.

[Phil Lilley]

Could you tell if they were rainbows or browns?

[Scudman]

The best I could tell they were all rainbows. All average size. I even saw a dead flathead catfish ...... probably around 4 or 5 lbs.

[Jeremy Hunt]

I told you Taney is in bad shape. Did anyone who fished during the cold weather we've had the last few days release warm trout ( to the touch)? I think the water is warmer on all three tailwaters for this time of year. The last few trips I had on the Norfork over the weekend the guy's couldn't believe how fast these fish would give up the fight. These fish are swimming to the boat. It's seems like they want a change, that's for sure.

One thing that would help Taney would be to have more shoals. Even though we are facing some low d.o. levels at the Fork the fish are still feeding, but you can tell it's because of all the shoals we have downstream. There's a big difference fishing the upper section verses the lower section. It's really noticeable if your fishing it. Up at the dam all the way to long hole is a tough bite, but once you get to the first set of shoals when you enter the catch-n-release zones the bite picks up alot. Catching alot of fish, but all small and mostly bows.

Once these lakes turn over, things will get back to shape. I'm like you...I wonder how many fish will suffer before that time.

From what I can notice from the picture, the fish are in a dead spot ( no current ). When the water comes on the trout will pile up right there. I've seen it every year (if that picture is taken at big hole). Also along the bank on the hatchery side where you can walk out and take the trail from the big hole will also have alot of dead fish when they turn the water on. When I was there I saw two big browns bead in the 5-7 pound range. Keep in mind, when playing these fish try to get them in quick and release them fast. Right now because the water is dingy we are fishing Rio 4x (which should be 7 pound fluorocarbon tippet) and getting them in quick. If you don’t know how to get a fish in fast turn your rod the opposite direction the fish is trying to run. They will come in alot faster that way.

[Phil Lilley]

I see a very strange thing happening at least on Taney. Yes the water is warm (around 60) and I'm know the DO levels are low, which is normal for this time of year. But most of the rainbows we've caught the last 2 days have fought very well. Actually I was surprised how much some of the 15 inchers fought- making 2 or 3 runs, taking up to 2 minutes to land. Didn't have any problems releasing fish either- all swam away fine.

We are fishing 1.5-2.5 miles below the dam. Maybe that makes a big difference... not sure. Saw Duane guiding yesterday in that area and he said they'd had a great day. Maybe he can speak to how his fish fought.

But all in all, I thought our fishing was good Saturday and Sunday. I am disappointed not to see more 15-inch-plus rainbows after a summer with running water all the time. But after such an odd year, I'm not complaining.

[Jeremy Hunt]

How many fish are you seeing up top verses previous years?

Let's take a poll...

I would really like to know people's opinion on this.

[Scudman]

I would say numbers are down overall. I wanted to add that I caught around 40 over a two day period this weekend. Most of these fish fought hard similar to what Phil said, it was after the fight when I had to work at reviving the fish to make sure the made it. In some cases this meant working the fish in current for a minute or two. These fish are a great resource to locals and tourist alike. Please take the time to make sure they are good shape. It is so sad to watch someone catch a fish fight it to exhaustion then just sling it back into the river, in most cases to it's death. The lake is having problems this year, I think we would all agree this has put an enormous amount of stress on the trout population.

[jrbhc8]

I was able to save a few trout last time I was down. Water had been off for an hour and I found some pockets where some fish got trapped. I am talking 20+ fish here, browns and rainbows mixed trapped with less than 1 in of water. I quickly scooped them up in my net a rushed them down to the water. Amazingly after 30 minutes I had revived them all. Sad part is later that night I seen a 5lb rainbow dead becuase of the same situation. Also sad becuase I know this is going on everytime the water is turned off and on.

Does anyone think it would be a good idea to fill in the holes or try to level them out with lose gravel to prevent this from happening? Or should we just let nature take its course? Anyways that my opinion on where all the dead fish are coming from up in the trophy area.

jrbhc8

[ozarkriverrat]

Do you think it could be whirling disease??? Ive seen it out here on the yellowstone and the signs kind of seem the same....who knows?

[Greg]

I've been fishing Taney a long time and I've never seen that many dead fish before. I know once the lake turns over things will improve but still this is disturbing to me.......

Greg