![]() If winterkill is suspected, Power says, it's important that anglers notify Game and Fish as soon as the ice goes off. ![]() "You can never afford to lose any lakes, but if you're going to lose them, it's better when you have as many as we have now as compared with 20 years ago," he said. If there's a bright side to the potential winterkill scenario, it's that North Dakota went into the winter with an all-time high number of fishing lakes, Power said. "Anglers will want to know before fishing gets going in earnest." "That way, we can give out information, too," Hiltner said. Game and Fish will continue to monitor the lakes for dissolved oxygen levels throughout the winter, Hiltner said, and try to conduct netting surveys as soon after ice-out as possible to determine the extent, if any, of winterkill. "It's been a great local fishery now, it's probably going to go away again for a few years." "That, too, has had a history of winterkills and only being a so-so fishery, but the last two to three years, walleyes - and particularly big perch - have done really well," said Power, the fisheries chief. To date, he says, no one has called to report seeing dead fish on underwater cameras, although anglers fishing Harvey Dam have reported that most of the fish are high up in the water column, where what little dissolved oxygen is left remains. Some of the lakes, including Niagara Dam, have a history of winterkill, Hiltner said. Other Northeast District lakes at risk are Sykeston Dam, the Heaton Slough Complex, Harvey Dam, Goose Lake, Buffalo Lake, Finley Dam, Niagara Dam, Battle Lake, Juanita Lake and Island Lake. "And I don't have anything on record for North Golden Lake winterkilling, so that would be kind of a surprise if it does." "I'm really hoping that's the case again because it's got a real nice walleye population - some big fish," he said. But in the end, I'm sure we're going to have dozens." "For sure we've lost a few already - significant or total winterkill - and that's ongoing. "Maybe with the exception of extreme southwestern North Dakota, for the most part, our lakes are still 100% snow-covered, and it's been that way since December," Power said. Between reports from anglers and routine dissolved oxygen testing by department staff, Power says there are at least 30 lakes of concern already, a number he expects will rise to 50 or more. Such events tend to happen gradually, and the full impact won't be known until the ice goes out, Power says. As plants die and decay, they can deplete dissolved oxygen levels to the point where fish can't survive. Winterkill occurs when heavy snow blocks sunlight from reaching the water, hindering the ability of aquatic vegetation to produce oxygen through photosynthesis. 17-BISMARCK - December's wet, heavy snow couldn't have come at a worse time from a fishing standpoint and is now affecting dissolved oxygen levels in several lakes across North Dakota, increasing the potential for fish die-offs, according to Greg Power, fisheries chief for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck.
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