Fish Need Our Help To Survive

[Flattieman]

Fish need our help to survive

Lebanon Daily News

The heat wave is dangerous we are told, and human lives have been lost because of it. The record heat index and near-record heat wave is leaving experts and common anglers alike wondering where we are headed.

Just outside the perimeters of Yellowstone National Park, officials have recently closed streams to fishing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., concerned that the added stress of catching and releasing fish while water temperatures are at their warmest would lead to high mortality rates. As with most state agencies, most realize that water temperatures and dissolved oxygen are two key ingredients in most fish surviving during the summer months.

Although the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission hasn’t proposed any such “slot limits” on fishing times, a growing number of anglers are. Anglers on at least two streams — the Yellow Breeches and Penns Creek — have opted to leave the fish alone until water temperatures, reported to be in the low to mid-70s, slip back down into the 60s.

While trout often slip into and up the cooler tributaries when their home-stream temperatures begin to approach lethal stages, some simply linger at the mouths of those tributaries in a lethargic manner. This made them vulnerable to anglers who find fish in crowded conditions, as they feed only during the early-morning hours and again late in the evening and often become completely nocturnal.

While some take the fish with the thought that they will most likely perish anyway, trout that have survived through July are most likely to survive if water temperatures don’t remain in the mid-70s for an extended period of time. Despite a slight dip in temperature and humidity — all calculated to form a “heat-index” — relief to humans doesn’t equate to water temperatures reversing themselves all that quickly.

The domino effect of trout water rising above the trout’s tolerance level is the fact that more anglers are crowding onto smaller stretches of cold water, something that can also lead to above-normal stress to trout. Carrying a thermometer to measure water temperatures can be an important tool to deciding where and when to fish for trout.

But the extended heat wave should be an advisory to all anglers, as water temperatures on many lakes and rivers haven risen rapidly during the last week. Many lake anglers have reported surface temperatures in the mid 80s and above, claiming the readings are “about 10 degrees warmer than they had been prior to the heat wave.”

Although warmwater species often enjoy warmer waters, they too will react adversely if temperatures rise too high or too swiftly. Fortunately the salvation of many of our rivers has been sufficient water flow, although evaporating waters are stealing from the flow at a rapid rate.

The fish and the fishing can resume to a good degree of normalcy if temperatures and the humidity continue to drop and sufficient rains become part of the forecast. Sufficient rainfall is less than the flooding that occurred during late spring and a little more than those passing thunder showers under a sultry sun. A few days of steady rain, allowing the earth to absorb the moisture, would be the best-case scenario.

It has already been a tough year for all species of fish, which have gone through floods and seemed misplaced and disoriented afterward. And as they seemed to regain some of the bearings, the heat wave arrived and stalled.

Unlike the floods, where all one could do was keep their fingers crossed and sit it out, anglers may play an important role in how well fish fair during the remainder of summer.

Here are few tips on how you might help:

• Carry a stream thermometer with you, and if fishing for trout, move to cooler waters when stream temperature creep into the 70s. Waters with temperatures exceeding 70 degrees should be avoided.

• Fish for trout early in the day, and again late in the evening or well into the night. At these times water temperatures often drop back into the upper 60s or below, and trout are not only more willing to bite but will also be able to handle the stress more easily.

• On warmwater streams, rivers and lakes, watch for fish kills, even those of the minor variety. Fish kills are often a sure sign of undo stress.

• If fish seem lethargic, it’s most likely from warm waters. Leave them alone and explore the lake for underground springs and coldwater feeder streams.

• When landing a fish you plan to release, handle the fish quickly and carefully and hold him in the water until he fully revives and swims away under his own power. A pair of forceps or a good pair of fishing pliers should be carried to aid in hook removal. If at all possible leave the fish in the water when undoing the hook.

• If you catch a few fish that die while fighting them, or are bleeding from the gills, use the fish and begin to look at the surrounding waters for any signs of distressed fish. If the experience continues, fish early or late or not at all on that particular water.

While anglers have spent many days and weeks waiting for conditions to improve, some of these self-imposed restrictions may not be easy to abide by, so you might consider fishing for carp, catfish or bluegills, species that often are more rigorous and adapt more readily to warm water.

The sacrifices you make today will hopefully pay great dividends later this year and perhaps next.

[gio]

Why is the lebanon daily news reporting on fishing in the US? Youd think with all the trouble in that region fish would be the least of there worries, let alone those in another country...... weird

[Guest What you mean?]

Why is the lebanon daily news reporting on fishing in the US? Youd think with all the trouble in that region fish would be the least of there worries, let alone those in another country...... weird

Not wierd at all. Lebanon is the name of a town in the USA as well as a country in the Middle East.

[gio]

Well that explains it then, excuse my ignorance

Edited August 12, 2006 by gio