Getting close but.....

[keithdog]

Stopped out at one of the lakes I often fish at and found it's finally starting to open up. It's still about 85% ice covered but it's getting there. But, I am worried about one thing. This has been one of our worst and longest winters. The ice was thick and covered with a heavy blanket of snow for the entire winter. That spells trouble in the possability of a bad fish die off. In just the small area I was standing, I saw a couple dozen dead bluegill, some crappie, and a couple small bass. The one thing that really scared me is this. A couple years back goldfish were introduced into the lake by some dumba**. Well, they have multipied and the goldfish are known to survive even the most intense of winters, better than most fish. But tonight I found 6 dead goldfish. Glad they are dead, but what does that mean for the other species? I know of one large body of water that is a very shallow lake of about 600 acres about 45 minutes from my house. The DNR recently announced they believe a total fish die off has occured there this year. Thats a shame too because that lake was recently refurbashed and restocked by the DNR several years ago and the last 3 years, it has been a VERY good fishing lake with better than average growth rates in fish. The lake I wasd at tonight which is close to my home is where I caught my largest bass ever last year, an 8 pounder. When I was 17, we had a winter like this one. I went to the lake shortly after open water and found hundreds of dead bass floating all over the surface of the lake. I sure hope this isn't a repeat of that year!!!