Fish kill

Oldman · January 20, 2010, 08:22:43 AM

Yesterday I went out and what I saw in the water was total divestation. Nothing alive. ZIP! I saw massive amounts of snook, redfish, trout--specks and silver, pinfish, flounder and even a couple of skates all dead.

This past cold spell really put hurting on the fish. The snook took it so hard that the season is now closed until September and some are talking about extending it another year after that.

Our winter trout (the big ones with the yellow mouths) come in from the gulf to spawn... there is going to be a big hole in that cycle.

Pachanga · January 20, 2010, 01:14:57 PM

Olds,

That is a bad deal. You may have read that I have a house on a spoil island on the intracoastal waterway 28 miles by boat South of Corpus Christi. It got down to 27 degrees in that area and some reports of dead bait fish have been reported but no confirmed sport fish kill. This area is the upper Laguna Madre and an area known as Baffin Bay. This fishery is just now coming back from years of overfishing and some natural conditions. We see a snook every now and then and tarpon are being reported. Both were thought to be gone for good. We catch mainly redfish, trout and flounder. It takes a long time with good management to bring a fishery back.

I like fresh fish as well as the next guy but I enjoy the sport more and am willing to go with low limits.

Good luck,

Pachanga

Caneyscud · January 20, 2010, 02:37:49 PM

Yeh, I remember the red tide kills, the cold water kills, etc... in Texas a few years back. Really changed how and where we fished for a long while. But the new regs generally pretty good. Bigger fish - and don't have to worry about running through a trout line!

Sorry to hear about that Olds. The Gulf has really taken a bunch of hits the last few years. I was really hoping to get down to Sanibel or around Tampa/St. Pete for some snook fishing. Have not caught a linesides in quite a while. Have read about site fishing beach snook at Sanibel/Captiva, and a friend got back from fishing Tampa/ St Pete area back late in the summer and catching some monster snook under lights.

iceman · January 20, 2010, 05:14:01 PM

That's going to hurt Old's. Dang shame the weather is acting this way again. Crops, fish, wildlife are all in a bad situation all over the lower 48 states right now. Geez, if you're not burning up you have floods. If you don't have floods you're freezing! Even the Prudhoe bay field has had record lows this winter. We were shut down 5 days last hitch do to -45 temps and white out conditions. Mother nature is mad this winter. :o ;) I think I need to go visit LaQuinta for a spell!!! :D :)

Oldman · January 21, 2010, 07:50:53 AM

QuoteHave not caught a linesides in quite a while

Many of us here refer to them as torpedos.... ;D Got one a number of years back that went over 45 pounds. I turned him loose. It was a good hour fight as I was using either 10 or 12 pound test line-- I was trout fishin'. He dang near empltied my spool a couple of three times... :D

begolf25 · January 21, 2010, 08:37:30 AM

My brother works on a golf course down in the Fort Lauderdale area. Here is a picture he took after they got done cleaning up all the peacock bass that they collected off the shores of the course.

Oldman · January 21, 2010, 04:16:36 PM

Ya this is not pretty at all...

Kummok · January 22, 2010, 03:12:52 PM

Terrible waste of good food... :'(

Oldman · January 23, 2010, 05:46:49 PM

Quote from: Kummok on January 22, 2010, 03:12:52 PM
Terrible waste of good food... :'(

Well you are from up-North... keep you dang cold weather up there... ;D ;D ;D

Kummok · January 23, 2010, 06:37:11 PM

Will do Olds! I actually prefer the freezing fishing season up here...waaaaay better for keeping the fish fresh until they're in the freezer! Don't think our salmon would look much different than Begolf's pic if they "vacationed" down in FL!

Piker · January 24, 2010, 03:59:35 PM

I dont understand why these fish are dying. I am from way north and the only sights we see like that are from heat and sometime when the o2 is depleted from water under ice thereis winterkill. I never realized that fish would be affected that much. Thks Piker

Oldman · January 24, 2010, 04:49:58 PM

Quote from: Piker on January 24, 2010, 03:59:35 PM
I dont understand why these fish are dying. I am from way north and the only sights we see like that are from heat and sometime when the o2 is depleted from water under ice thereis winterkill. I never realized that fish would be affected that much. Thks Piker

Tropical fish fresh/ salt cannot handle cold water. They just shut down and die. It will be a few years before fishing here gets back to normal. Hopefully the Lord will forbid we get another freeze like this one anytime soon again.