Catching Monster SICK Bass...

[D.W. Verts]

Here's a couple from the other day. These should have both weighed over six pounds. The largest was 23" long, which maybe meant it should have gone over 7. Neither weighed even 5. Sad. Smaller bass were also the same way. My old lake is dyeing.





Dale

[apenland01]

Awesome!!

[BassmanRudy]

Only way to fix that D.W. is take some home each time and eat em! Big heads and small bodies on all the fish means too little food to go around. One random just something wrong it it- plastics stuck inside, sick, etc.

I once pulled a pond bass out that looked like that and pulled 2 other soft plastics and hooks from it!

[big g]

I would go with plastic stuck in the digestive system.  I have seen it several times in my local lakes.
Never keen on eating anything that looks sick to begin with.  I would rethink that solution!!!!

[coldfront]

Only way to fix that D.W. is take some home each time and eat em! Big heads and small bodies on all the fish means too little food to go around. One random just something wrong it it- plastics stuck inside, sick, etc.

I once pulled a pond bass out that looked like that and pulled 2 other soft plastics and hooks from it!

not sure that's correct.  if you saw those fish last year, years before... something has changed.  to think that it's a population issue?  could be.. .could also be other things.

[D.W. Verts]

No guys, this is caused by man in response to a blue green algae invasion again. This is the second year in a row that the lake was shut down due to this "deadly" occurrence. They treat the lake with copper sulfate to help kill the stuff off, and I'm not sure how many times they did it this summer, but I only caught a couple of bass that looked "normal" on this day, an done of those had red sores on it. I went one period of over five hours without a bite on this day.

The bottom line issue is that the lake is silting in badly- as much as 8' in the upper end the last couple of years. This huge and rapid influx of nutrients promote algae and bacterial growth, hence my premise that the lake is "dyeing". It's shame, but it is what it is.

Dale

[coldfront]

No guys, this is caused by man in response to a blue green algae invasion again. This is the second year in a row that the lake was shut down due to this "deadly" occurrence. They treat the lake with copper sulfate to help kill the stuff off, and I'm not sure how many times they did it this summer, but I only caught a couple of bass that looked "normal" on this day, an done of those had red sores on it. I went one period of over five hours without a bite on this day.

The bottom line issue is that the lake is silting in badly- as much as 8' in the upper end the last couple of years. This huge and rapid influx of nutrients promote algae and bacterial growth, hence my premise that the lake is "dyeing". It's shame, but it is what it is.

Dale

you getting housing development 'upstream'?
some additional info on CuSO4:  https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FA008

[Donald Garner]

Dale, tks for sharing those pictures with us.  I've caught bass just like those here on Belton, Stillhouse Lake and over on Ft. Hood's Nolan lake.  Big Heads and long skinny bodies.

The issue on Nolan Lake on Ft. Hood is Free Range Roaming Cattle.  There are cattle everywhere over there.  On Belton and Stillhouse lake I don't know what's causing that issue there.  The tournaments that are held on these other lakes the fish don't look like those.  Once in a while some one will weight in one though.

                                 

[D.W. Verts]

Not any real poison run-off, just too much silt. Like six feet in the upper creek channel in one year. All that silt is from nitrogen-rich farm ground, and yeah, there would be some fertilizer involved, both organic and chemical. But it's just too much. Where the water used to be 8' deep everywhere is now just 2'. The 12-15 foot level is maybe 4-8 feet. It's just what it is, and then you dump a bunch of copper sulfate in during drought conditions with 100+ degree days it just doesn't work. We had some rain early last week, and a few more inches today that may help flush things out.

Every pond and small lake should be built with at least one silt basin installed on the main feeder supply. This lake was built in 1929 as a water supply reservoir for my home town and they had no thought of something like that. When I first fished it in 1979 it was estimated that it has lost 29% of it's capacity. That was  along time ago.

I'll fish it again in the coming weeks and I hope to find fat and healthy fish. We'll see.

Dale