If you have been fishing for a very long time then more than likely you know what a fish kill is. For those who don’t, you are about to find out.
Fish kills are not super common, and they typically happen every few years in the spring. This year just so happened to be the year for two lakes in Hartman Reserve this spring. The last time these lakes saw a fish kill was about five years ago.
Fish kills typically occur when the water in the lake is too low for the fish to get to the deeper water when it freezes. In this case, the water was way too low for the fish and they did not get to the middle where it is the deepest.
Fish kills are never a pleasant sight for the eye because it could make a population of fish dwindle or just not exist in that specific lake. The good news for these two lakes is that they are right next to the river, so whenever the river does flood again, more fish can get caught and make a home of these lakes.
As for the fish kills, they may be a sore sight and a sour smell at that, but if you look at the benefits, it is kind of like nature is doing its own population control. When the fish kills happen, so many fish freeze but nowhere near enough of each species die, so now there is more space for them to spawn.
This year’s spawn should hopefully double the amount lost in the fish kill, and the lakes will fill up with fish by next spring, and if all goes well, by next spring there will be a lot more rain and more snow in the winter to either fill the lakes or make the river flood them so this does not happen again for a long time.
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