Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Drove by Clearlake on the Nice/Lucerne side today and saw what seemed to be over a 100 dead carp scattered belly-up on the weedbeds. Also saw 2 swampboats (I'm assuming these belonged to the DFG) that were surveying the shoreline.

Has anyone heard anything or know what happened in the last day or two that would kill so many carp at once?

There are 1000's of dead carp on the lake. No idea why, but it might have something to do with all the spraying they are doing.

There are GIANT dead carp every 25 yards on the lake.... Every shore line and all over the middle of the lake too!

Correct me if I am wrong, which I probably am, but isn't there a decent sized carp die off just about every year this time of year up there? I have been up there before around this time and there were lots of dead carp. Sence I haven't been up there sense the Stren in April so I don't know if this is more then a normal thing or not.

This is just hear say, but I heard that there is a carp disease going around the lake. I noticed the same thing while fishing this last weekend and boy did it stink.

Jason I just got back from there last night and I have never seen a carp die off like this one before. Its not like you see a dead 1 or 2 every now and then. They are everywhere! I don't know why they are dieing but there are 1,000s of them everywhere. I have to say it don't smell that great either.

The only good carp is a dead carp.

Fished the WON toc and notcied that all the carp were the same size. Maby an age thing?? Didn't see any other species floating(i.e. Catfish,bass,ect).

Johnny C wrote:The only good carp is a dead carp.

it aint a problem til we start findin dead bass

i was up there 2 weeks ago, saw them all around konokti vista area when is this carp disease going reach pedro

My guess would be the disease mentioned in this article:

http://www.record-bee.com/ci_10572458

"They're one of the first to die when dissolved oxygen levels are lowered - you notice them swimming to the surface to gulp for oxygen," Neillands said."

He's got his head up his arse, they are the last to die and that why they are so hard to get rid of in lakes.

There might be 10,000 by the time they are through dying.

Crawdads are going to benefit...

Greg_Cornish wrote:"They're one of the first to die when dissolved oxygen levels are lowered - you notice them swimming to the surface to gulp for oxygen," Neillands said."

He's got his head up his arse, they are the last to die and that why they are so hard to get rid of in lakes.

There might be 10,000 by the time they are through dying.

Well Greg according to the biologist and DFG member in our club - the DO levels aare low and carp are typically the first affected.

Why would carp have problems with low levels of Dissolved Oxygen; they have a physostomous gas bladder, which in part allows them to breath atmospheric oxygen, similar to that of the lungfish.

I use to fish a farm pond when i was a kid and every year about this time there was dead carp floating on the top and a bunch of them , happened every year , I know for a fact that there was no weed spraying going on in it . Maybe because of water temperatures or just some cycle in nature they just dye this time of the year , the other year when i was at clearlake that same thing was going on dead carp along the banks , and it happens every year , i wouldnt worry about it . My uncle who lives at Clear Lake says every year they pick them up and haul them away by the truck load when they start stinking too bad .

ash wrote:

Greg_Cornish wrote:"They're one of the first to die when dissolved oxygen levels are lowered - you notice them swimming to the surface to gulp for oxygen," Neillands said."

He's got his head up his arse, they are the last to die and that why they are so hard to get rid of in lakes.

There might be 10,000 by the time they are through dying.

Well Greg according to the biologist and DFG member in our club - the DO levels are low and carp are typically the first affected.

They are wrong Ash.

He's got his head up his arse, they are the last to die and that why they are so hard to get rid of in lakes.

Well Greg according to the biologist and DFG member in our club - the DO levels are low and carp are typically the first affected.

They are wrong Ash.

I never ever thought I would ever be forced to do what I am about to do.. and I gotta tell ya... I feel dirty..... And I am blaming you Ash....

Here goes....

Greg is right....


ewww... yuck... blah... spit....


There.. I did it...

I will pray that I never have to do that ever again and that Greg gets rid of that extremely obnoxious/ ugly animated gif on his sig line....

So here you go guys...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 073942.htm

That references the common carp (which is in CL)....

They say that after a nuclear war, the roaches would inherit the earth because they are so tough.. Well the first one to test the water would find himself carp food... There are a couple catfish that survive without O2 as well.

One species of carp (Crucian carp) can survive several months without O2.

Don't take my word for it tho... Google is your friend...

Carp are extremely resilient... but in CL, I believe thier food supply just got poisoned.. so hence the flotilla of rotting meat.

Good fishing,

-Paul-

nipples wrote:Greg is right....
So here you go guys...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 073942.htm

-Paul-

1 out of 10 aint bad

Posted on a Carp f and Catfish forum in a carp thread

OK greg... That animated gif is a little better... Can you photoshop a carp head on the girl?

LOL

Where do you find these damn sig pics Greg? lol


I think I found a video of you on Youtube. Check it out. This is what Greg's been up to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUSvXzYnQZM

sean alarid wrote:Jason , I have never seen a carp die off like this one before.

You two young guns just ain't been goin up there fer very long. This carp dying thing is as ancient up there as the shad die off. Does it happen every single year, no, but it does happen often. You think it stinks now? Shoulda seen it back in the 80's when the dead carp stench competed with that nasty algae boom! And you probably have yet to see it the past ten years, as bad as the boom used to be. It looked like skiers where in purple and green mud baths, rooster tails of slimmy green and puple shooting off the sides of bass boats, who would slip and skid an extra 10-40 feet when they hit a slick of that stuff or turned too sharply.

Between the carp die offs and that algae boom, we used ta always marvel at it being called "Clear"Lake. Seems one of two things always take place and trigger the carp dye off, drastic temperature rises in the late fall, and the spraying of the weeds. Don't take this to be exact science, just my own experience, we'll have ta wait for Don Davis ta weigh-in on this one though, he'll give us the real scoop! HAR! HAR! HAR!

Cooch wrote:

sean alarid wrote:Jason , I have never seen a carp die off like this one before.

You two young guns just ain't been goin up there fer very long. This carp dying thing is as ancient up there as the shad die off. Does it happen every single year, no, but it does happen often. You think it stinks now? Shoulda seen it back in the 80's when the dead carp stench competed with that nasty algae boom! And you probably have yet to see it the past ten years, as bad as the boom used to be. It looked like skiers where in purple and green mud baths, rooster tails of slimmy green and puple shooting off the sides of bass boats, who would slip and skid an extra 10-40 feet when they hit a slick of that stuff or turned too sharply.

Between the carp die offs and that algae boom, we used ta always marvel at it being called "Clear"Lake. Seems one of two things always take place and trigger the carp dye off, drastic temperature rises in the late fall, and the spraying of the weeds. Don't take this to be exact science, just my own experience, we'll have ta wait for Don Davis ta weigh-in on this one though, he'll give us the real scoop! HAR! HAR! HAR!

Cooch is right on da money. I remember the 80's on the way to CL...when you got to the top of the hill above the hwy 20 / hwy 53 intersection you'd smell that distinct Algae stench and rotting carp wafting up from the lake. But the fishing was still awesome! And the waterskiers were few.

The way I saw it...the foodchain was super strong from the bottom to the top. So don't be alarmed by a bunch of dead carp. It's nature's way to replenish itself form the most microscopic level on up.

I'll be collecting some fish tomorrow for our pathologists to take a look at and I'll take some basic water quality measurements as well. This does happen to some extent most every year, but according to the people I've talked with up there this is the worst since the late 80's.

My hunch is it's most likely a virus of some sort. I'm thinking it's probably not a DO issue because it's all over the lake, where as the DO sag's in the past have been localized in the shallower areas of the lake and normally came with the big algal blooms as was mentioned. There was an algal bloom going when we were there a few weeks ago. Visibility was just a few feet, but it was not like what has been seen in the past and shouldn't have caused the DO to crash to that extent. Same thought with the spraying. That stuff is pretty non-toxic to fish when applied correctly and the spraying is localized not all over the lake, plus it's just one species, but we'll let the science tell us what it is.

Not much that can be done about it though other than to let it run it's course.
I'll post results when I get them.

On the bright side we were at the lake 3 weeks ago for a early fall/late summer electrofishing excursion. I've never seen such biomass in my life. It was truly incredible. It sounded like it was raining with all the silversides jumping all over the place. The bass, bluegill, and crappie all got great spawns off this year. Young of the year everywhere, and they are feeding well on all the silversides. Some of the little bass, probably last years fish, were almost as round as they were long. Lot's of big fat 2.5-5lbrs all over the lake. Most were 2.5-3.5 pound footballs. Their length hasn't caught up with their belly's yet. Very deep bodied, solid, good looking fish. Didn't see too many of the big 6-10 pounder's (biggest was a little over , or the 2-3 year old 10-13 inch fish like we have in the last couple of years. They may have just been deeper and not accessible with the electrofishing boats when we were there since we all know there are quite a few 8-10 lb fish still being caught, but we saw similar results this spring as well so there may be something to it.

There should continue to be a lot of fish in the 4-6 pound range next couple of years. There might not be huge numbers in the 1.5-2.5 class until this year's crop of fish can reach that size in 3 or so years and the crappie fishing should be great in 3 years if all those big bass don't eat them up.

They found out they had Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.

When we lived there back in the 70's and 80's, we were told it was due to the fall cool down and lake turn-over for the lack of oxygen and die off ?? Is this not true ??

Jigs

Funny I was up there this week end visiting family only got 3 hrs off the bank the whole week end but got to see the carp situation down south by Red Bud, its the biggest die off I have seen in 17 years of going up there but not by to much, funny thing was the smallest was 3 or 4 lbs all the way up to 40 lbs!!! Are the small carp (0-3 lbs to healthy or are the bass eating them while they are dying?

FYI got 4 3 lb bass on LV 500

I caught a bit on the evening news tonight. It said that the die-off was indeed linked to a virus. You might want to record the late news tonight and see it for yourselves.

David Rogers wrote:Are the small carp (0-3 lbs to healthy or are the bass eating them while they are dying?

FYI got 4 3 lb bass on LV 500

I'm guessing but maybe Ospreys are taking some small ones before they die and are just moving sickly on the surface. Congrats on the bass.

Took some carp samples last Wed. They are with the pathologist.
His last e-mail said:
"The virology results will take 7-14 days, if positive. We can't declare them negative for 28 days."

I was up this weekend and it looks like whatever it is has run it's course. I didn't see anymore carp dying, just fish that were already dead and looked to have been dead for several days.