Reported 1st by the StarTribune: This year the sweet smell of spring will include the stench of rotting fish — thanks to a remarkably long, cold and snowy winter. Some two dozen lakes in central and southern Minnesota have suffered some winterkill because of low oxygen levels. And the longer that ice and snow lingers on lakes, the more fish are likely to die.
“We know there’s significant dead fish,’’ said Dave McCormick, assistant regional fisheries manager in St. Paul. “I don’t think we’ve had this bad of a winter in 18 years.’’
This year the sweet smell of spring will include the stench of rotting fish — thanks to a remarkably long, cold and snowy winter.
Some two dozen lakes in central and southern Minnesota have suffered some winterkill because of low oxygen levels. And the longer that ice and snow lingers on lakes, the more fish are likely to die.
“We know there’s significant dead fish,’’ said Dave McCormick, assistant regional fisheries manager in St. Paul. “I don’t think we’ve had this bad of a winter in 18 years.’’
And if ice and snow persist on lakes, “this could get worse,’’ he said.
Perhaps the most prominent — and surprising — lake to be affected so far is North Center near Lindstrom, where last week a patch of open water was choked with dead fish, including northerns, bass, walleyes and crappies, as well as carp and bullheads. Usually shallow lakes winterkill, but North Center is more than 40 feet deep in places and has no recent history of die-offs.
“It’s pretty shocking,’’ said Allan Nistler, 21, of Lindstrom, who fishes the lake and recently photographed the fish. Beneath the decaying rough fish on the surface were game fish, including big northerns, he said.
Other lakes where fish kills have occurred include Pelican and the north end of Maple Lake in Wright County; Little, Sunrise, Spider and north Goose lakes in Chisago County; Snail Lake in Ramsey County; Centerville Lake in Anoka County; and Long, North and South Stanchfield, Francis and Paul’s lakes in Isanti County.
Meanwhile, popular Knife Lake north of Mora in Kanabec County had low oxygen levels, so aerators have been installed.
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