Dam deaths....no, not human.

[Stradic]

Well, it was inevitable. With the lack of rain, the water has stopped flowing over the dam. I got a call from a buddy of mine early Saturday morning to come down and check out all the dead walleye. Sure, there were a few but last night, there were at least a hundred dead walleye's along with crappies, sunnies, northerns and a few channel cats and carp. It looks like the only fish still surviving the lack of oxygen are the bully's and some carp and I'm sure those will be dead by this weekend as the expected temps of 90+ and lack of water flowage will turn the area below the dam into a boiling pot of rough fish stew. Nearly all of the walleye's are around 2 pounds or so with a few smaller ones and a few larger ones. Saw one nice 30" pike. The crappies and sunnies are just little tikes.

Who knows, if the new dam can keep the water flowing even a little bit, we won't have this loss of fish.

My question is, will the city take the dead fish out when it really starts to stink from the decaying flesh? I've only lived in Hutch a few years, how often does this happen?

If you go at night and look over the side towards the dam, you can really see all the bullheads and carp gasping for oxygen.

Later, Strad

[LMITOUT]

Not a pretty picture

<from the Hutch Leader>

I don't recall anyone talking about this happening before, but it has been dry other years so it's probably not the first time.

[friendlyfisher]

My first year in town about 7 yrs back it did the same thing. You could smell it several blocks away. It was horrific. And no the city did not do anything about it. It was very stinky for a long time. Not good at all.

[bassNspear]

that is horible. Are the fish dead on the top before the dam, or are they on the bottom where the water is supose to come over.

[LMITOUT]

In between the dam and the rock riprap just to the east. They are trapped and cannot go downstream.

[bassNspear]

that is horrible. I dont like that situation!!

[Stradic]

I drove over today about 4:30 and it looked like the bullheads are dying. There are hundreds of fish up against the exposed riprap just down from the bridge...and it STINKS!!!

[LMITOUT]

KSTP-5 was out today doing a live broadcast at the dam showing all the dam fish dying. It was part of a story showing how dam dry it is.

[bassNspear]

was it on tv tonight?

[LMITOUT]

Yes, it was LIVE.

[bassNspear]

trying to find it online, and having no luck

[vern]

I stopped at the dam today to check it out. The majority of the dead fish I saw were buffalo with a few pushing the 15+ lb range. I never knew they were in there until I accidently snagged a couple last fall. It's crazy how many buffalo & carp were in that little stretch. I also saw many small crappies, green sunfish, 4 pike & some channel cats. Most of the cats were 9-12" with a few around 4-5 lbs. What happened to the walleyes? I didn't see any which was surprising. What a bummer.

[bassNspear]

well i talked to a source this weekend about the water level there, and it sounds like the waste water treatment plant has been pumping alot of water into the river down on there end south of 3m.

They have flushed alot of the fish down river, but the fish themselves by the dam are still there. Water still is not coming over, adn there is not much that the city can do to help out the situation.

Pray for rain.

[LMITOUT]

Not sure what they are attempting to do now, but they've got a trackhoe positioned down from the dam and using water from a hydrant in the ShopKo parking lot to pump water into the river. I'm not sure if they are pulling out some of the riprap that crosses the river or if they are actually scooping out the dead fish and using a water hose to push them off shore so that the scoop can get at them. I didn't stick around very long to find out...it smells awful down there!

[bassNspear]

i drove through there tonight after league, and it is horrible over there, as far as the smell. They need to do something.

[Stradic]

The walleye's died off a day or so before my first post on this matter. At first, I saw about 15 that were around 2 pounds. (see pic) On the subsequent days, more smaller walleye's were showing up dead.

Yesterday, they were attempting to remove as many dead fish as possible. Two buddies of mine from work watched them scoop them out. Yeah, it stinks. Shouldn't have this problem with the "new dam".

[bassNspear]

Hopefully we can get some rain and take care of all of that stuff that is laying around.

[bigcrappies]

my personal opinion on the new dam is that the water will keep flowing and then otter and campbell will drain even lower compared to now the dam holds the water back

[bassNspear]

Well what i was told, is that its going to be created that they can still control the water that goes over the new dam, yet is going to be a better construction then what is there now.

The dam they have now is about to explode. Something needs to be done.