High Winter Kill in Mitchell

[NorthernLite]

Went out to Mitchell lake in Eden Prairie and found thousands of dead fish. Its going to take years for it to come back, if only the DNR wouldve put the airrator in this year

[KTroller]

Sad. Curious as to the species and size you saw? I looked at the DNR report form 2005 and they were touting the future potential for nice pike, walleye and numbers of pannies. Thanks!

KT

[Powerstroke]

Makle sure you report the winterkill to the DNR. You never know what the exact reason unless someone investigates it.

DOn't be too terribly distraught over mitchell lake. I do live in EP, but seriously, not like its got any kind of trophy potential. It hangs on year to year only by human intervention.

[Carp-fisher]

Are you sure it was winterkill? A large septic spill will cause oxygen depletion. I'm just curious because I've been fishing bodies of water in the metro that are significantly more shallow than Mitchell--no winterkill this year...

Well, however they died, that lake needed a bunch of fish taken out.

[catflisher]

good point.....not even close to bad winter...i live on a lake(where i got a34 inch norton)thats no more than 6 feet deep and have not had a big kill in 5 years...could be toxic...check and report!!!!!

[NorthernLite]

Here are some pics i took last week from the shoreline of mitchell. The bass above was around 6 pounds and only one of many others. Im not positive if it was winterkill but i rememeber before ice out that many crappy and sunnys where comein up to the holes for air. Also the DNR didnt put in an airrator like ive seen them do in the past. It a sad sight to see...

[Carp-fisher]

Yikes! I hate seeing big dead bass One thing I know about Mitchell is that is has an extremely high vegetation density. A couple of years ago, a buddy and I went trolling for pike just after opener. There was milfoil from the boatramp all the way out beyond the point to where it drops to 15'. I've never quite seen milfoil like that around here. That dead vegetation rots in the winter and causes oxygen depletion. Perhaps that contributed to the unusual kill this year. The reason I say its unusual is because I fish another lake in the south metro that is the same surface acreage as Mitchell but has a max depth of 8 feet with most of the "lake" being 4 feet or less. This lake didn't kill this year and neither did any of the shallow pot holes that I fish regularly...

[Black_Bay]

I'm pretty sure the DNR doesn't put out aerators in Mitchell Lake. It's probably the city. Call the West Metro area fisheries manager. The phone number is in the back of the regulations. They'll certainly check it out.

[Schloogs]

I live just off of Mitchell and I noticed that to. I have never seen anything like that before. I am very curious to know what happened.

[cheektowaga]

I had good luck with Panfish on Mitchell early last year and saw the same thing when I tried it Thurs 4/19. Figured there had to be something left but I got skunked! It's sad, but this lake should definitely be deep enough not to freeze out. Wonder what happened.

[Cyberfish]

How deep a lake is is only one factor in oxygen depletion. another already mentioned is too much weeds dieing. but usually in mild winters, enough weeds stay alive to keep the oxygen high enough.

My guess would be an overabundance of panfish. I have seen it before in small lakes, the crappies spawn every year weather there is enough room for more or not. Seen otherwise healthy lakes die out that way, including one with areators.

[Duece X]

Oh... This is actually one of my favorite fishing holes. They have good size pan fish, and the population is very abundant. I take my youngest brother and my nephew there every summer with a small green canoe. We had a blast catching the pan fishes. And the bass... a lot of 12" to 15". Lots of fun! And every fish that seems like it's carrying eggs, we release them. We just like the fish population so much, that's why do release the pregnants. It's such a quiet lake. I'm actually depress to see all the dead fish.

[Cyberfish]

It is probably good for the remaining panfish to get alot bigger now, hate to see the big bass dead though!