White bass continue to die off and feed the gulls and pelicans on Utah Lake…and probably the walleyes and catfish too. One recent report I got included the information that some of the deceased whities were covered in a brownish fuzz. Sounds like the fungus that Provo River Browns get after the stress of spawning in warm fall waters. I emailed Chris Crockett of DWR with an inquiry as to what they might have found up to this point. As always, he was quick to respond and here is his reply:
Pat, I don't have any clear answers yet. We have been out on the lake three times in the last week. Basic water quality metrics look normal, our partner agencies have tested for cyanobacteria (nothing to speak of there), and our fish health pathologist has examined several white bass. We were able to collect several recently deceased and/or dying white bass and thus far everything has looked normal. I think the "fuzz" anglers are reporting essentially comes after they have been dead/dying for any length of time and it's not the cause of their death (they are already stressed, beat up, dying, and then they get some fungus/bacteria growth). We have not seen any signs of a spill, contaminants, or pathogen. My best guesstimate right now is that it's due to accumulated stressors (quick temp increase, a few wind/turbidity events, thin/underfed fish, etc,) but right now that is only a guess and not a very satisfying answer.
Any thoughts or hypotheses?
Chris Crockett
Central Region Aquatics Manager
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Thanks Pat, hopefully they can give us an answer good or bad before too long, WB is the only fish I have seen belly up. If the predators are not dying, they should be pretty hungry later this year as the WB thin out. I can only give account for Lincoln, but I do know the walleye spawn was very poor this year,
Mike I’m guessing you have launched out of Lincoln. I went to launch there yesterday but when I got there I realized I didn’t have a drain plug. I had them in the door of my truck which is in SLC in diesel repair shop, I was using my dad’s…so long story short I didn’t get out. So I was wondering what is the depth of the channel and are there continuing die off of WB or has it stopped? Don’t know if you’ve been out. I didn’t see any belly up like the week before when I was with piscophilic.
Are we talking 10s, 100s, or 1,000s of whites dying and is just around Lincoln or general lake-wide? It would be a sad day (for me) if the whites took a big hit and didn’t show up in numbers for the spawn.
It will be interesting to see what Chris says about lake wide. I figured it had to be, considering what I saw and heard, but the wind does move the floaters around. I’m getting a bit worried though. Mike said he hasn’t caught an incidental WB in his eye hunting trips since before the floaters showed up. If there was a really large die off, would most of the fish float or would most of them just sit on the bottom? The day I saw all the dead ones on the top, MM75 actually snagged a dead one on a circle hook that was dragging right on the bottom.
Time will tell I guess.
I saw several dozen white bass floating and/or stuck in the detritus along the banks near Lincoln Beach last Saturday. I didn’t observe any in the act of dying. The birds seemed to be eating well.
I got absolutely zero bites in a couple of hours of fishing. I even dropped my flasher transducer over the edge of the dock, but at 2 feet of water did not observe or expect to observe any swimmers. I talked to several other bank fishers and boat fishers and seems they had similar luck to mine.
I may have to find a different water body to get started in the contest until the die-off/gorging runs its course, or fish somewhere else for something else. Already put my ice gear away. I did get the canoe out, so I might try Yuba to see if the wipers and walleyes (or heck, even some carp) are willing to play. Or ice off somewhere? Options, options…
This may or may not have any significance, but on my last ice fishing trip to UL, in early February, I noticed some odd behavior in the white bass and the body condition had deteriorated notably from fish I had caught earlier in the ice season. The fish fillets were markedly less substantial than usual. Normally, white bass tend to orient close to the bottom third of the water column when ice fishing at UL. On the last trip, they came through closer to the surface and sluggishly moved a little up or down when jigged. (They came through in the zone crappie usually appear, but I caught enough of each that it was apparent that a lot of these marks were WB.) Finally, WB usually are fairly scrappy when hooked. These fish were notably not. The crappie, perch, and bluegills seemed to be normal.
I haven’t corresponded with Chris for a couple years, but still have his email. I will forward this to him tonight and report back what he says.
I got a bit more input from Chris…regarding my question on potential parasites or pathogens. Here 'tis.
**Pat, our fish pathologist team in Logan (Fisheries Experiment Station) has examined several white bass. They did note the parasite load was relatively high, but not very dissimilar from inspections in previous years (we often disease certify white bass in Utah Lake to use in our wiper production program). They are not aware of any pathogen specific to white bass and the cultures they have run for the “usual suspects” have not revealed any issues. **
Thanks again Chris
Thanks for another update Pat. I’m curious, are the Loys still netting carp? If so, I would expect they might have some observations that would be useful.
[align=center]That looks like a eel its so skinny[/align]
Wow, Pat…that is one skinny eye!
I last fished UL probably mid-Dec to early January when the harbors had frozen up. We did well on whites a few times, and contrary to what is being said here, they looked to be in good condition at that time. Average size seemed to be larger too, so I was looking forward to some bigger fish late spring during their run. It will be interesting to see what the bios come up with. Thanks for posting the updates from Chris!
Been following this thread. I am wondering if these fish got into a hypoxic situation just as the ice was melting and were blown up on shore after the ice out. With the lake as low as it is, there had to be areas that just did not have enough oxygen, especially towards the end of the ice cap !! The fact that they have been unable to identify any disease or parasite lends even more credence such an episode. Just my 2cents worth !!
