Dead Fish-Seneca

[Matty B]

Was walking along the north shore last night and came to a section of shore that was littered with dead fish.  There were Northern pike, bluegills, small mouth bass, perch, and carp.  I couldn't believe it.  In roughly a 30 yard stretch there was 47 dead fish.  So many were pike.  Ive never seen so many dead pike like that.  I know there is a host of reasons people have for this but it about brought tears to my eyes seeing it.  The fish are literally floating in dead.  That was just a little patch of shore, I hate to know how many fish are dead from the pier to the state park marina.  It needs to be talked about and there needs to be action.  Lake has some major issues whatever it may be.

 

Really sad to see.

 

 

-Matt

[Never Ends]

I basically only fish Seneca..... I dont know wtf is going on. The lake is definitely in a transition period of some sorts. I know that most of the pike i have caught have had this redish slime on them for the last 3 years.

 

I will say this though, i saw the exact same thing you are describing on Cayuga in 2015.

 

Not that this helps now, but if you see that again and the fish are not too far gone (red gills) you can call the DEC and they will come get them and take them to Cornell to figure out what they have.

[tmag]

Actually, if you catch a fish that is sick, Cornell & the DEC need them. Keep the fish alive, if possible, until they are taken away.

[Sk8man]

Just a hunch but there has been a lot of south wind lately and those fish may have come from the Dresden area and that huge sewage spill coming down the Keuka Outlet last summer probably covered the bottom of that entire area out there where many pike, bullheads etc. live and if so may have severely contaminated the bottom structure for miles. I know a few days afterward I was staying across from there and the water was covered with foul smelling sewage all along the shoreline and suspended in the water. Could be that bullheads especially the bottom feeders they are and maybe any baitfish around there got contaminated and it is being passed along to the other fish as well.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Sk8man

[Lucky13]

3 hours ago, Sk8man said:

Just a hunch but there has been a lot of south wind lately and those fish may have come from the Dresden area and that huge sewage spill coming down the Keuka Outlet last summer probably covered the bottom of that entire area out there where many pike, bullheads etc. live and if so may have severely contaminated the bottom structure for miles. I know a few days afterward I was staying across from there and the water was covered with foul smelling sewage all along the shoreline and suspended in the water. Could be that bullheads especially the bottom feeders they are and maybe any baitfish around there got contaminated and it is being passed along to the other fish as well.

Sewage contamination is short lived, bacteria in the water break down the organic wastes rapidly, generally using a lot of dissolved oxygen while doing it, which is what often causes a fish kill.  But in lakes, mechanical mixing action often mitigates a lot of the oxygen loss, and bullheads are able to survive very low oxygen levels anyway.  They are actually more often killed by elevated oxygen levels, such as occasionally occur in the canal.  With the major temperature swings we have been seeing lately, it is likely, based on the species mix, that this was a thermal shock incident, especially if it is on the north end and there have been south winds. 

[Sk8man]

I sure can't refute your points Lucky as they are good ones (as usual) but I will say we fished the Dresden during the derby and there were a lot of those fish on the surface out from there, and many of them may have ended up at the north end of the lake with the southerly winds blowing for days on end. It would be interesting to know some results from a toxicology examination from some of them. I certainly hope it isn't something more insidious than temp related phenomena.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Sk8man

[tmag]

And 'Never Ends' description of the red splotches on pike sounds exactly like what we saw 8-10 years ago just prior to the pike die off which sounds like VHS. 

[Lucky13]

Well, VHS is in most of these interconnected bodies of water in western NY at this point.  Has anyone notified Region 8?    

[tmag]

VHS was detected / confirmed in the Canal back around the time we reference but never "confirmed" in the lake proper, so to speak. The unfortunate thing was that there were so many sick pike caught but none gotten to the DEC. Historically, as a community of fishermen, I think we tend(ed) to assume the DEC was aware or knows about whatever may be happening on the water. The reality is that they are spread thin and they do need & want our feedback & participation.

Presently, it would appear that, at minimum, Seneca Lake suffers from the following:

-- Lamprey infestation which has significantly affected the trout fishery and could include the largest of pike which become coldwater dwellers after reaching a certain size

-- Most likely, VHS has knocked out a significant portion of the esocid fishery (i.e. pike & pickerel)

-- There has been an explosion of bait especially alewife. This, too, is a problem because alewife predate heavily upon perch fry and also contain the thiaminase enzyme which negatively affects trout growth.

However, that is not to say that there isn't something else going on. From just about every angler I speak to, the story seems to be the same: "the fishing is not good on Seneca"

And this is across the board from bass fishermen, to trout fishermen, to perch fishermen, to the pike / pickerel fishermen.