THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2011 Northern shrike: Halfpint terror PAGE 2C
O UTD O ORS
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Cruel winter
It can be a jungle out there There is little doubt that pursuing outdoor interests like hunting and fishing comes with some challenges.
BRIAN GEHRING
And, there can be some inherent danger involved as well. There have been a few close calls in my life while I have been out bumping around. They have been, thankfully, minor occurrences that resulted in me getting wet for the most part by slipping and falling into the water. Well, OK, there was the time I ended up in the emergency room to get stitches but I had a good excuse; when I fell in the water I had a cast on my foot so it was a little cumbersome. But one never knows what dangers lurk in the great outdoors. Take two ice fishermen from Michigan, for instance. On the ice one day, they were approached by woman from the ice house next to them, according to the Muskegon Chronicle. The two men said the woman told them she had to “relieve” herself on the ice and asked the men to turn their backs to her while she did so. The men obliged, and told police that when they did so, the woman hit them in head with a fish. She then returned to her ice house. Police investigated and the woman said she was upset because the two men placed their ice house too close to hers. She denied hitting the men with the fish, but admitted throwing a fish at them and missing them. The two men declined to press charges. Sounds fishy. In Vacaville, Calif., near Oakland, a woman escaped injury while gassing up her car after an awning over the pumps collapsed, according to the Oakland Tribune. Turns out the awning collapsed because of the weight of years of accumulating pigeon droppings. Fortunately, the woman had finished filling gas and was in her car when the collapse occurred, dumping the pigeon droppings where she had been standing. Timing is everything, I guess. In Tarpon Springs, Fla., a man was walking his puppy and checking out some potential fishing spots when he happened upon a whopper of different kind, the St. Petersburg Times reported. Continued on 2C
BRIAN GEHRING/Tribune
Access has been a major hindrance for ice anglers because of heavy snow cover that could result in winterkill on some lakes.
Winterkill on lakes a strong possibility By BRIAN GEHRING Bismarck Tribune
T
he winter of 2010-11 more and more is beginning to resemble the winter of 2007-08. While we don’t have the 100-plus inches of snow — although some areas are about threequarters of the way there — wildlife are stressed and it could be the right set-up for winterkill on lakes. This winter also has eerie similarities to the winter of 1996-97, as well as the winter of two years ago. In all three winters, the snow came early and stayed later. Winterkill is an issue to some degree each winter but it has been some time since North Dakota lakes have endured the harsh conditions they have three consecutive winters. Greg Power, fisheries chief for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said that although most lakes in the state have benefited from abundant precipitation in recent years, shallow water is not the only deciding factors when it comes to winterkill. Power said water depth is an important component — a 12-foot depth is marginal — but ice clarity and snowpack also can contribute to winterkill. It’s too early now to tell if winterkill will be an issue and, if so, how widespread it could be. Power said biologists will take to selected lakes in the state in the near future, on snowmobiles, to punch holes in the ice and test the water column for dissolved oxygen content. In bad years, anglers are often the first to notify the department of problems when they drill holes and find dead minnows floating to the top, he said. “It (the harsh winter) has affected fishing
“It (the harsh winter) has affected fishing already.” Greg Power, fisheries chief for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department already,” Power said, because access to many lakes has been a major problem. Power noted that between 20 to 25 percent of all fishing done in North Dakota annually is done on the ice. The key to the survival of fish during winter months is the ability for photosynthesis to continue. Aquatic plants release oxygen into the water and when sunlight is unable to penetrate the ice, it becomes a problem. That has been the scenario so far this winter. Snow covered many lakes early on, preventing the formation of clear ice that allows the sunlight to reach those plants. And when aquatic plants die and decay, they actually use oxygen and the cumulative effect can suffocate fish when dissolved oxygen content gets too low. “When both are working negatively ... you just watch the dissolved oxygen dwindle,” Power said. Following the winter of 1996-97, there were about 46 lakes across the state that experienced significant winterkill. After the winter of 2008-09, there were about 37 lakes that suffered winterkill, most in the western part of the state where lake levels were low. Different species of fish have different tolerances when it comes to the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water.
Pike and perch can survive when dissolved oxygen contents dip to around 2 parts per million (ppm), while trout are more sensitive with a threshold of 3 to 4 ppm. A walleye’s threshold is somewhere in between that of trout and pike. Other rough fish like carp and bullheads can survive when the dissolved oxygen content is almost nonexistent. When winterkill strikes a lake, there is little biologists or anyone can do except conduct test nettings the following spring to see what is left in lake. The Game and Fish Department uses three classifications to quantify winterkill: total, where all fish die; significant, where the game fish population is significantly reduced; or partial, where fish die but some game fish survive. In some instances, winterkill in a lake can be beneficial when populations of rough fish get too great and choke out desirable species. That was the case in Stark County in 2009, when Patterson Lake suffered significant losses and the Game and Fish Department killed the remaining fish and restocked. Power said in many of the lakes that sustained losses two years ago, the fish have rebounded nicely, but relatively speaking, the populations are still young. He is hopeful old man winter will release his stranglehold in time for anglers to get some fishing in this winter. But if this winter proves to be a rerun of winters past, the combination of early snow, and lots of it staying until the bitter end, could mean losses in some lakes. “That’s what happened two years ago,” Power said. “And at this point, it could have happened again this winter.” (Reach reporter Brian Gehring at 250-8254 or brian.gehring@bismarcktribune.com.)
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