more on fish kill

[hillbilly]

some additional press on the Lake Norman situation. Prepare yourself, the biologist in the video is an extremely charismatic speaker.

www.wfae.org/wfae/stat_search.cfm?id=8931&action=display

[BentRod]

I'm no biologist but I think thats a bunch of BS. Stripers can swim into that dead zone if they have to..they do it all the time on our sonars when feeding. There may be some truth in it, but that's not the sole reason they are having fish kills every year..something else going on they are missing or don't want to admit. I'm sure there's plenty of politics involved with the Duke Energy plant and stripers aren't going to win that battle.

[striperseeker]

I agree with BentRod. It sounds like a made up excuse to do what they want to do.

[mrgreenfish]

They are blaming it on the stocking of a fish that does not belong there. Are they forgetting that they are doing the same thing when they stock striper in a lake where they don't belong?

[2 oars & a trash can]

How could they even know there has been a fish kill?
Everyone knows that dead fish sink.

[hotdog]

My question is, how do we end up with an oxygen rich layer on the bottom as the lake stratifies? What keeps this oxygen trapped at the bottom? I understand that cool water contains more oxygen than warm water but doesn't the warm middle layer still have some oxygen?
Very interesting theory.

[hillbilly]

Personally, I don't think they know that's what is happening. Sounds like they're grasping onto theory to me. I think the only thing they know is that it has been happening during the dead heat of summer, and is oxygen related.

I've never heard anyone talk of that lake positively when it comes to fishing.

[wishforfish]

Yeah, I think they are angry because someone put ales in the lake without their consent and now they want to punish the supposed "anglers who like to fish for striped bass" who put them there. They probably did but again the fishing there has never been much to talk about from the people I know that fish it regularly so it isn't like what the game and fish dept is doing is working anyway.

[hillbilly]

Well, I have to eat my words today ...a little bit. I was just talking to a guy who said that Norman has actually become a good lake for spotted bass.

So that's one person I've talked to.

[Deleted]

Let me get the straight, the river hearing congragate in the deeper, colder region of the lake. The stripers think they are very tasty and follow them there and die after the middle layer thickens and there is no oxygen left in the bottom layer..........wouldn't you think that after four years in a row, that all the herring would be dead by now...... if they can they live without oxygen, it would sure cure a lot of bait tank issues....heck!!!!!, I'll just keep a dozen in my pocket.

The average depth of lake norman is 33.5 ft. In my opinion, the water temps get to hot during very hot summers to support a viable population of stripers...... power plants use huge volums of water for cooling purposes, and pump the hot water back into the river or lake.....I'm sure that prolly contributes to the hot water temps some.

[Brian]

I think some people forget that our lakes exist to provide power, not to provide a place to go fishing. If Duke Energy hadn't built Lake Norman, there would not even be any stripers to get the smelly end of the stick when there is a conflict between energy production and fishing...

I love striper fishing, but I love having cheap power even more! Good fishing is just a bonus.