Strmanglr on Jul 10, 2012July 10th, 2012, 8:29 am EDT
I know it's not a fly fishing report so much but those in Michigan might be interested to know there was a huge Pike die off this last week on the Maple R. due to the high temps. I walked the shoreline for about 60yds and counted 21 dead pike that I could see on my side of the river. Where I was at it's really wide so I couldn't see the other shoreline.
Jmd123 on Jul 10, 2012July 10th, 2012, 9:44 am EDT
How big were these fish? Are you sure it was temperature? Not necessarily doubting it but could it possibly have been VHS? It happened to muskies in Lake St. Clair a few years ago.
Jonathon
P.S. It's been a while since I've thrown any flies at pike, and there are supposed to be some big ones in the Au Sable River system...
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Roguerat on Jul 10, 2012July 10th, 2012, 3:07 pm EDT
Same thing in SW Michigan, inland lakes have dead pike floating all over the place. Grand Rapids TV news ran a story on it, from appearances the fish were 20-25" long. They said cause was high water temps, MI DNR has not commented though.
We've got near-drought conditions in SW MI, local rivers are near- or at- record-low flow levels. Really weird weather, since 30 miles north has had rainfall of inch-an-hour or more.
I spent last week on the Big Manistee and feeder creeks, had to get off the water by 9 am due to heat...in the 90's by noon.
PaulRoberts on Jul 13, 2012July 13th, 2012, 9:10 am EDT
Canadian biologists have for some time now been documenting the expansion of warmwater fisheries (particularly smallmouth bass) and the loss of certain coldwater fisheries (Cisco and mooneye in particular).