Vent/Rant

[PeachyHans]

I went out to Medicine lake yesterday and there were dead panfish discarded all over the place. I don't know who or why but it was such a waste, plus one little sunny was obviously cut up as bait... And then I found a huge PILE of about 20 fish behind a building. There are signs posted and reminders everywhere, only 5 panfish/crappies per person. This looked deliberate, like a middle finger to authority.

I was furious and now I'm just sad. I took pictures and I want to do something about it but I have no idea what. 

[Mike89]

tip line with the DNR....

[leech~~]

50 minutes ago, PeachyHans said:

I went out to Medicine lake yesterday and there were dead panfish discarded all over the place. I don't know who or why but it was such a waste, plus one little sunny was obviously cut up as bait... And then I found a huge PILE of about 20 fish behind a building. There are signs posted and reminders everywhere, only 5 panfish/crappies per person. This looked deliberate, like a middle finger to authority.

I was furious and now I'm just sad. I took pictures and I want to do something about it but I have no idea what. 

Where's the pictures?  You do know that in the spring a lot of fish that died during the winter wash up on shores of all lakes-Right? 

[Wanderer]

TIP and/or the French Park/Three Rivers “authorities”.  Sounds like you were probably at the beach or the park?

 

Would be interesting to know if it was intentional or washed up winter kill.

[PeachyHans]

I'm not convinced it was ONLY winter kill because I walk the area frequently and didn't see any until yesterday. There's a lot of wildlife as well and these fish were concentrated in piles.

Some of the fish had evidence of being hooked while others look older and a bit beat up. Some are fresh enough that the eyes were still glassy and intact. This picture was the worst pile. There was another on one of the bridges and that was where the sunny was cut into bait chunks.

[jigginjim]

Have you asked people the work for the park about the fish?  From the photos these look too old to be just dumped.  Growing up in a lake all my life have winter and spending the last twenty plus years as a fishing guide.  I have seem my share of old dead fish.  If you know the condition of all these fish in one area, looks like someone may have removed from one and left them there.  WHY?  talk to the park.

 

[Wanderer]

12 hours ago, PeachyHans said:

Some are fresh enough that the eyes were still glassy and intact. There was another on one of the bridges and that was where the sunny was cut into bait chunks.

Weird.  Sounds like it’s worth calling!

[PeachyHans]

I reported it to the park. If I can get in touch with someone directly I will ask if this is something that happens. Seems to me that if it were the park staff the fish would have been disposed of in the trash or composted. I'm also confused about the state these fish are in (some of them are pretty old and crispy).

[JBMasterAngler]

Looks like natural causes to me. My guess is someone collected all the dead fish from the shoreline, and piled them up to be cleaned up later.