Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Man, that really sux!

Found it! Nathaniel Updike posted the following:

Well guys some bad news for the Shenandoah River. There is a fish kill going on in the South Fork in Shenandoah near the Grove Hill boat ramp. I was out there today and found a lot of dead smallmouth between 14-18 inches and about 2/3rds of what I caught had lesions, parasites on gills, and leech’s on them. In one single eddy I counted 9 dead smallmouth, two dead rock bass, and a few dead madtoms.

I’ve reported the fish kill to DWR who appears to already be aware of it. I also reached out to Thomas Arens who made some additional phone calls and was helpful as always. With the Shenandoah River Tournament coming up, I’d recommend avoiding this stretch as these fish are already stressed enough. I’d also strongly encourage you guys to be observant as you prefish and on tournament day. If you see dead fish, fish with lesions etc, please take photos and report it. Having the river finally come back from the 2004 fish kills this truly makes me sick. Hopefully it stays localized and runs it course.

From the Shenandoah Riverkeeper, Mark Frondorf:

"As some of you are aware, during the course of this week, we have experienced a fish kill on the South Fork of the Shenandoah in the Grove Hill area of the river with a number of reports coming in of dead and dying smallmouth bass.

Jason Hallacher, VA DWR fisheries biologist, along with USGS research scientists were out on that stretch earlier this week collecting tissue samples unrelated to the unfolding fish kill so hopefully their analysis may yield some insights.  And DEQ folks are being good public stewards as they immediately responded and are on that stretch of water today collecting data.
Way too many questions and few answers as to why this occurred or is still occurring. Fish kills can occur naturally and we do know that the spawn is underway and the sudden temperature jump (over 10 degrees this week) did happen but no clue if they are contributing factors. Environmental conditions change so quickly and there is often only a short window in which to collect quality samples.

Many fish kills can occur as a result of fluctuations in the natural environment such as harmful algal blooms and resulting water quality issues such as low oxygen or production of toxins. Environmental factors such as changes in pH, dissolved oxygen levels and significant algal growth and we can't ignore ag issues like herbicides being used to knock down cover crops along with parasites and pathogens that add significant stress to the spawn. No shortage of suspects at all.

Stay tuned."

I read an article over the weekend about spraying for invasive moths or something in the same area.  I wonder if it's related.

And more from Mark Frondorf:A quick update on the fish kill in the Grove Hill section of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River.  DEQ immediately put techs on the Grove Hill stretch this past Friday while DWR investigated other sections and their findings brought some unexpected good news.
DEQ found river conditions to be normal, flow slightly below normal, with few anglers/paddlers out and about.  Water chemistry at the Town of Shenandoah and Grove Hill boat launches were within normal ranges.  Water temperature hovered between 71.6F and 73.4F which is very significant since a week earlier they were sub 60 degreesF
.
So what did they observe?  DEQ didn’t see any dead fish until just before the Grove Hill boat launch, when they discovered four small mouth bass – all dead with two having lesions on their body.  They also saw plenty of healthy, live fish throughout the reach, including lots of smallmouth bass.

DWR found a small number of dead smallmouth bass. I was out on Saturday and this past Monday, and several guides floated different stretches of the South Fork Friday through the weekend.   Each of us saw less than a handful of dead smallmouth bass while seeing large numbers of healthy smallmouth bass sitting on spawning nests, swimming about or actively feeding.

In short, while there was obviously some kind of fish kill in the Grove Hill area earlier last week, it appears it was localized in nature and not indicative of a wide-spread fish kill throughout the river system.  As about as good a news as we could have hoped for.

Good news.  Been following this on FB and seems like they are chalking it up to a cycle of nature. 

Or maybe some tweeker dumped their chemicals in the water around there?