Dead Whitefish

[fisher26]

I was fishing the crow this weekend and saw several dead whitefish along the banks. I saw only one dead trout, which was old as it was just bones and a bit of head. I have no clue whether this was a fish kill or just some stupid fishermen killing whitefish because they are a “lesser” fish. All the whitefish where a couple hours to a day (not sure but no decay) dead and had no smell (I didn’t try to smell them...) indicating a recent death. Despite this the river fished pretty good.

 

 

Does any one have an idea what could have killed all of these whitefish (saw maybe 10 in total) spread out throughout the river?

I have fished the crow for a while now and have never seen a dead fish before so I am curious to hear what you guys (and gals) think was the cause.

 

 

I know that natural deaths occur but nothing like this....

[Weedy1]

When you say "saw several dead whitefish along the banks" were the fish in locations that the river would have taken them or were they higher or farther away from the water ?

[fisher26]

Locations in which they were washed up. They were usually floating in the water, one was on a gravel bar.

[Weedy1]

I looked into the temperature aspect and it seems that whitefish tolerate about the same temperatures as rainbows so I doubt the recent heat would have anything to do with it.

[dryfly]

Any body marks?

 

A few years back we came upon a pool with several mergansers that flushed off. There were five of six dead trout in < one foot of water at the tail of the pool. Their bodies had "cut" marks which we presumed were the result of being caught by the mergansers. They have serrated bills ... sharp "lamellae" ... basically teeth .. for catching fish.

 

We thought it odd that there were several dead fish all very dead, yet fresh and with the same minor but fatal wounds. I am guessing what we saw was mum and her kids and they'd been getting a lesson. I am wondering the same thing here. Just a S.W.A.G.!

[fisher26]

No body marks... They looked ok except for the fact they where dead.

[clarki]

puzzling. the only thing i can think is perhaps these fish were caught and handled roughly by another angler?? whitefish seem to be pretty wimpy as far as catch and release goes. seem slike if you have any trouble getting a hook out and have to handle the fish for even 20-30 seconds they seem to have a really hard time recovering.

 

I have seen dead fish in the crow and they were mostly small rainbows that got trapped under ice that collapsed on them in early spring.

 

M

[toolman]

I agree. Whitefish do not handle the high temps as well as the trout do, especailly if taken out of the water for 15-20 secs. We see dead Whities on the Bow every July when the heat wave hits. Also, the whities are under a lot of stress and get pressured by the trout for feeding postitions, holding postitions in the deep slots and in the main river Thalwag etc.

[fisher26]

Ok thanks Toolman that makes sense. It was the first real heat wave (30+) so I guess they where just poorly released. It always amazes me that such a small river like the crow (which is tiny in August) can handle so much pressure and it still seems like there's plenty of big fat rainbows just after run-off each year. In late summer you can pretty much see to the bottom of every pool and I pretty much seem to catch little guys... I guess the big fussy eaters wait until night to feed and are really spooky during the day.

[Grizz]

Suicide?

[ham]

Hahahah do you honestly think fish can commit suicide?

[Nick0Danger]

ever wonder why you catch more whities in the winter months. Whites will still eat alot in the winter, but they will slow down when its hotter. almost reverse of trout but not to that extreme.

[thefisherking]

lightning strike?

[Harps]

Whitefish seem to be very fragile fish... they are the ones that seem to suffer the most stress during sampling and don't handle any exposure to air very well.

 

Like Toolman mentioned they are affected by the heat and like Clarki said, they are often handled rough by anglers because they are an undesirable catch.

 

My bet would be that some nympher was mis-handling them... bad catching, rough hook retreival, and no care on the release.

The white fish feed the trout... Treat them good.

[flyfishersteven]

Hahahah do you honestly think fish can commit suicide?

 

I've actually seen the fish trying to committ suicide. Up at the Carsland Weir when they are trying to get up the fish ladder they constantly slam their heads into the concrete wall!!

[lonefisher]

maybe they are just sick of the crowsnest wind

[Lawrence]

i think it might have been a cult following and performed their last ceremony to join the big whittie in the sky!