Fish kill on Big Spirit

was out of town. can any shed some light on the recent fish kill and how many walleyes and size it may have impacted?

500-600 in the 4″-6″ size range. DNR says it will not impact the walleye numbers. Low oxygen levels in one area of the lake

Here is the DNRs official report.

For immediate release: august 14, 2009

MEDIA CONTACT: Mike Hawkins, fisheries biologist, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Spirit Lake, 712-336-1840.

drop in Oxygen Level Kills Fish in Spirit Lake

SPIRIT LAKE – An estimated 500 to 600 walleyes were found dead along the southeast shoreline of Spirit Lake on Thursday.
Mike Hawkins, fisheries biologist for the Spirit Lake district, said the investigation points to a sag in the level of dissolved oxygen. This can be caused by decomposing vegetation or algae, lack of wind, and elevated water temperatures. Dissolved oxygen typically reaches its lowest levels early in the morning before plants begin to produce oxygen.
“Oxygen sags can happen very rapidly and small fish are vulnerable because they can’t escape quickly enough,” said Hawkins. The fish hatchery draws water in the area where the fish kill occurred and has noted lower oxygen levels over the past few days coming in to the hatchery.
The dead walleyes were mostly 4 to 5-inch fish produced this year, but there were a few small adults mixed in. There were a few thousand of 1 to 2-inch yellow perch, Johnny darters and northern logperch that were also killed.
A local resident notified the DNR that they saw dead fish along the shore Thursday. Hawkins said this is in no way related to the wastewater release last week on the southwest shoreline of Spirit Lake. “That leak turned out to be very small and was stopped immediately,” he said.
Hawkins says that even though hundreds of walleyes were killed during this event, it will not negatively impact the population.

Found the article–sounds scary, but not tragic??
http://www.iowadnr.gov/news/09aug/spiritlake.html

well it could have been a lot worse i guess!?

Sadly more fish than that a year are killed by anglers.

can’t remember the last time I have fished Spirit and not seen floaters.

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Sadly more fish than that a year are killed by anglers.
can’t remember the last time I have fished Spirit and not seen floaters.

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yep it is sad.. i havent fished Spirit for a while.. i usually fish Okoboji

Always a few floaters there to, mostly gills and perch though.

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Always a few floaters there to, mostly gills and perch though.

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ohh.. i dont think i have seen any out there

Some bays are worse than others on West. Been seeing a few big smallies follow us recently. PM me if you want more info.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE A BIG ROCK PILE IS ON SPIRIT. I WAS TALKING WITH A 30 YEAR RETIRED EMPLOYEE OF THE IOWA DNR LAST WEEKEND AND HE TOLD ME THAT ABOUT 6-8 YEARS AGO THE DNR AND HE DUMPED 200 TONS OF ROCK IN THE SOUTHERN MIDDLE OF SPIRIT. HE SAID AT ONE TIME IT WAS 6 FT HIGH IN 20 FOW.ANYONE KNOW THE GPS COORDINATES? SEEN IT ON SIDESCAN? AS FAR AS THE FISH KILL I’D BE SUPRISED IT WAS VERY SEVERE. I’VE SEEN REAL HEALTHY WEEDS DOWN TO 12+FEET. JUST THE VEGETATION THERE SHOULD KEEP MOST OF THE LAKE PRETTY OXYGENATED! ON MY UNDERWATER CAMERA I’VE SEEN ALOT OF ALLMOST EVERY KIND OF FISH AND BAIT. LAST SAT SOME OF THE BIGGER SMALLIES I CAUGHT PUKED UP 2 INCH PEARCH. I’M SURE MORE FISH WERE KILLED BY THE HUNDREDS OF PERCHERS KEEPING LIMITS DAY AFTER DAY OF 6-8 INCH PERCH.

Norseman- I have never heard that before, I would be interested in finding where abouts it is also.

HE SAID THE ROCK PILE WAS DUMPED IN THE MIDDLE BETWEEN TEMPLER AND REDNOSE. I’M GOING DOWN TO THE LAKE EARLY THIS WEEKEND AND SEE IF I CAN FIND IT. I’M SURE IT SETTLED IN THE MUD BUT 200 TONS IS ALOT OF ROCK! I KNOW IT WOULD DRAW FISH. IF I FIND IT I’LL WAYPOINT IT AND SEND DOWN A CAMERA. I’LL LET YA KNOW. IF YA FIND IT LET ME KNOW.

Maybe you can find the plane and the sunken sailboat to. Theres a few rock piles on Spirit that are not marked. I have heard of this one to but never seen it yet and I have trolled 1000’s of miles all over that lake.

just started trollong the last couple times out, and moving slowly across/around the lake, I have found a couple humps one towards Miniwaukan, that came up about 4 ft, and a small one north of marble, a little further north than the one I usually see guys sitting over, problem was I was messing with a few things and didn’t get them marked on gps. will be paying more attention, and ready to waypoint them as I go. Got a lot to learn with the whole trolling thing, heard they are catching them trolling the basin, tried last weekend, but struggled with the new toys on the boat and fighting the wind, but we will get the hang of it.

Leadcore will help you catch those basin fish, start with 3 colors and adjust from there. #5 Raps will get fish. I pull lead about 2.5 and do what we call random trolling, just troll till you connect and hit an icon. Pretty soon a pattern is reveiled.