Fish Kills?
 

Anybody see or hear of any fish kills due to the cold? I saw in the article below that there was a fish kill spotted in Coco. I wonder what it's like behind the Weirs in Cameron Prarie Refuge... have any of you guys been out duck hunting in the Miami Corp marsh since Wednesday?

http://www.houmatoday.com/news/20180...ed-in-cocodrie

24,000 Pounds of Mullet, over here in Pensacola and Orange Beach area


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I have been concerned about this as well. There was a devastating fish kill in Texas in the 1980's. I remember seeing pictures of huge trout floating in the bays. I think it takes few days for the fish to float so I don't think we are out of the woods yet.

Rarely do waters get so cold in this region of the country that a massive amount of fish dies all at one time, but that's just what happened last week in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Water was barely visible when Jeffrey Trout, a salesman at Harbor View Marine in Pensacola, snapped photos of a canal near his home on Jan. 11. Trout estimated he saw at least 4,000 to 5,000 mullet belly up, but that there were "probably more out there." He believes those fish died from a lack of oxygen and said they ranged from 6 to 12 inches in length.

"It was truly unbelievable," said Trout, who said he fishes frequently. "I've seen (the canal) freeze over twice in 12 years, and this occurred both times. Mullet need air, that's why they jump out of water."


The cleanup was both costly and time consuming ? Gulf Shores paid a sub contractor $9,600 to clean the 24,000 pounds of dead mullet, according to public information officer Grant Brown. The cleanup took four days.

The smell wasn't pretty, either.


"Oh, it was horrible. I mean horrible," Trout said. "You didn't want to go outside last week when the temps got back up to 70 degrees. They started to bloat up with the heat and it was very bad."

Trout said the "very rare occurrence" was a result of strong winds from the north pushing water out of the canal on Creekview Drive, making for a shallow body of water. Once the water is shallow and temperatures drop enough to freeze the water, the mullet run out of oxygen.

The lows in Gulf Shores on Jan. 11 were around 40 degrees, just as they were in Pensacola at that time.

The mass death of the mullet is bad news for both fishermen and the wildlife in that area.

"It will affect the pelicans and larger fish that eat mullet," Trout said. "And the baby mullet. It will affect the fishing for sure."

After seeing the photo, a representative with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed Trout's analysis, saying "we suspect these are related to sudden and prolonged drops in temperature."

Easy crab trap bait :D

We eat mullet over here, mmmm good

I noticed about a dozen dead redfish Saturday in Sabine refuge, looked like they had been dead for a few days so maybe that last cold snap got em.

Yes, Redfish kill in Vermilion bay after freezes along shallow ponds and lakes. Not good. I hope and trust that the strong survived.


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had some mullet kills here around Galveston. all i saw were in harbors where the wind blew them into the bulkhead corners.

Saw a few dead redfish around big lake but nothing to be concerned about. A couple dead trout on the beach as well. No big deal.

Our MidCoast in Texas was hit the hardest with Port OConnor getting hit along the south shoreline coves... but not as bad as past years and most Texas Bays dodged the bullet with a few scattered dead here or there.

I have a crabber buddy who would have drove over their and scooped every one of them things up for free.

We got lucky in Louisiana
The water had already gotten cold and very low before the artic air hit. The vast majority of the fish were already in deeper water.

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@redchaserron

won’t be long until we can see for ourselves!!