Lake St Clair / Detroit River musky die off

We were on the Detroit River For the MWC last week and we saw huge numbers of dead Muskies floating into the river. We saw at least 20 over 48 inches.
Anybody know what is going on.

I actually saw one that had washed up on shore at detroit beach, Monroe... Lake Erie. Wierd!

[perchjerker]

been happening for the last few years. Heard some theories but never a concrete reason why. I saw a few the other day.

[Capt. Paul]

Sunday morning we must have seen over 50 in a couple hours, the smallest was around 25 inches, largest close to 45 or so. Some had been dead a long time, some still green.

[Terroreyes]

Sure blows out the DNR's previous theory of a cold, harder than normal winter. There's no shortage of food, for sure. Sad. Those are some beautiful fish!




Visit DOWNRIVER TACKLE in the Walleye Central Directory
https://www.walleyecentral.com/wcdire...rs&textToFind=

Check that... my previous note said I found one on the beach in my subdivision in monroe... Last night I went down there with my son, and walked the entire length, and we found three more. smallest about 28" largest I would guess at about 40"+. Yeah it was sad.

[iamwalleye1]

DNR responded to my question already


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The DNR responded to my question about all the dead muskie that I sent over the weekend. I am very suprised to get an aswer this quick

Discussion Thread
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Response (Lynne Thoma) - 04/24/2006 08:09 AM
We have seen these fish as well. I counted 9 dead musky on Saturday when I was
traveling the river (2 could have been repeats). Our research vessel traveled
the entire Detroit River yesterday and counted 41 dead muskies.
We are now trying to monitor the situation and get a handle on the extent of
the mortality. All of the fish we have seen so far were long dead - fuzzy with
fungus and very discolored. Our speculation is that they died last winter/early
spring - and sank. Then as water temperatures warmed and decomposition
increased - the carcasses have begun to fill with gas and the bodies are
starting to float (nice thought eh?). Anyway - this happened three years ago at
the same time of the year....but did NOT happen during the past two years.
We thought the first year was related to musky pox (Piscirickettsia sp.) -
a bacteria recently discovered (2002) in Lake St. Clair muskellunge. Like most
diseases - it appears to infect many in the population...but only is lethal to a
few. We noted the first concentrations of dead fish in the spring of 2003, but
almost no reports of dead muskies in 2004 or 2005. This year is seems to have
appeared again. Right now - we are just starting to look into this, but so far,
if the pattern is similar to 2003 - it will seriously affect only about 1
percent of the musky population.
We have contacted Canadian fisheries biologists and have asked that they
monitor their side of Lake St. Clair. We have also requested some help from the
River Keeper (with the Friends of the Detroit River) to get some counts for us.
Right now, it does not appear that we have muskies actively dieing....those
which have been sighted have been long dead. It is nearly impossible to
determine the cause of death in such cases. Best we can do for now is monitor
the situation and try to determine the extent of mortality to the entire
population.
Thank you for your concern and your willingness to share your observations.

[Trainwreck]

An article from The Detroit Free Press:

Anglers have found hundreds of dead muskellunge in the Detroit River in the past week and dead bass, bluegills, pike and other species in canals and bays. The reasons are unclear, but the deaths might have come from stress triggered by unusually high water temperatures this winter and spring.

"We're looking into it," said Gary Towns, a state Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist. "I was out walleye fishing on Friday and saw about 30 dead muskies myself.

"We don't think it's a pollution problem because we're not seeing dead walleyes or emerald shiners, and they are among the most sensitive to pollution."

Towns and Gerry Gostenik, a well-known Detroit area fishing guide, said they saw fish that had been dead a good while. Gostenik fished in Crystal Bay on the Ontario side of Lake Erie, and he said he saw "a lot of dead bluegills, bass, bowfins, pike and carp."

Towns saw muskies that looked "like they died last winter," suggesting that they might have died from stress after spawning. Muskellunge are among the earliest spawners.

"We had a (muskie) kill in 2003 that we estimated to be about 500 fish," Towns said. "I'd say a lot more died this time.

"It could also be density-dependent. We have a huge population of muskies in Lake St. Clair, and we had a weird, warm winter with no ice whatsoever. The lake stayed open, and we had winds that kept stirring sediments up."

Biologists also are looking at the possibility of muskie pox, found in Lake St. Clair a few years ago.

"The bass and bluegills and other fish may have died because of the high water temperatures," Towns said. "One fisherman told me that on April 20 he measured a temperature of 61 degrees in a canal where he found dead fish. That's really warm for this time of year, especially when fish are expending a lot of energy making eggs."

Anglers are working with biologists to find the cause of the deaths.

"I'm afraid that we live in a 'CSI' society, where people think we can be like the TV show and drop a dead fish in a machine that grinds it up and spits out an answer," Towns said. "I wish it was that easy."



"A bad day of fishing is far better than a great day at work!"

yea could be the big temp change in feb/march.Shock just like the shad,billion dead

Shad die off every year so thats not possible.