Pringle fishkill

[Rockfish2]

This picture, by itself, is not especially informative. A tarpon, a snook and a cooler full of what look to be fish (maybe some trout, what looks like a snook, hard to tell much else), and no information on where/when/what type of fish, etc. Of course that information could possibly be incriminating in some way.

[Demtx]

Originally Posted by Rockfish2

This picture, by itself, is not especially informative. A tarpon, a snook and a cooler full of what look to be fish (maybe some trout, what looks like a snook, hard to tell much else), and no information on where/when/what type of fish, etc. Of course that information could possibly be incriminating in some way.

Oh, not trying to show anything incriminating, just some fish that the cold got in Corpus area. Don't have details, but I think it may be some college students doing survey. Thinking we fared okay here except maybe a few isolated and more susceptible species. Haven't heard of any major numbers locally.

[Rockfish2]

Originally Posted by Demtx

Oh, not trying to show anything incriminating, just some fish that the cold got in Corpus area. Don't have details, but I think it may be some college students doing survey. Thinking we fared okay here except maybe a few isolated and more susceptible species. Haven't heard of any major numbers locally.

Thanks for the info, I bet the snook will be hit pretty hard. It seems like the relatively milder winters we’ve had for the last 10 years of so may have helped expand the habitat they like and increase their population, but that may be slowing up after this.

[Sgrem]

Massive coast wide fish kill. The few fish that remain are impossible to catch.... you gotta get a guide if you want a prayer of catching anything at all.....sorry no pics.

...um....er....um....i have a few openings in the coming weeks....we doing great with consistent catches....coast wide....book now while the fishing is hot....lol

[bonkers]

Limited out on crappie this morning...hehe...they don't care about the cold!

[Snookered]

That's Alex with the HRI Fisheries Lab....they have a scientific permit to do that...they are in the flour bluff canals (again today)...he texted me that he has over 100 snook and 25 tarpon...no trout or redfish...

they will be used for future genetic studies, fin clips, and the otoliths will be cut out and the fish will be aged....

we were both surprised at the amount of snook and tarpon up in those canals...

while there are a lot of cold stunned turtles being picked up, no other fish kills have been reported....thanks again to the barge operators that suspended operations in the ICWW during the cold snap...
snookered

[pocjetty]

Originally Posted by Demtx

Pic of tarpon and snook

Thanks for the picture. It actually makes me feel pretty optimistic. I expected some dead fish from this freeze. If that picture is representative of it, we did pretty darn good.

[pocjetty]

Originally Posted by sgrem

Massive coast wide fish kill. The few fish that remain are impossible to catch.... you gotta get a guide if you want a prayer of catching anything at all.....sorry no pics.

...um....er....um....i have a few openings in the coming weeks....we doing great with consistent catches....coast wide....book now while the fishing is hot....lol

Well I was just getting ready to go take a few casts, until I read that. Rockport doesn't have any more guides, after Harvey, so I guess I'm just going to wait for spring, when I can do some yard work.

[pocjetty]

Captain Kris Kelly just posted a first hand report about dead fish in Pringle. He describes it as "devastation". But the good news was that Contee and other lakes didn't seem to have a lot of dead fish, and neither did the outside shoreline. I still wish he had gotten some pictures, though. For comparison to past freezes, if nothing else.

For those that don't know Pringle, there is a long skinny strip of deeper water that runs right down the middle of the lake. My guess is that it was just deep enough to encourage fish to lay up there, but not deep enough to keep them alive in the kind of cold temperatures we had. Fish didn't try to hole up in Contee, so there aren't a bunch of dead ones there. No way of knowing if some of the dead fish in Pringle came there from Contee, but it seems likely.

I don't know how deep the middle of Pringle is these days, but I've heard that things have silted in a bit. Deep, but not deep enough is a bad combination. If all that is correct, it's a good illustration of the value of that thermocline, and the reason why barge traffic can kill a lot of fish.

[c hook]

Originally Posted by bonkers

Limited out on crappie this morning...hehe...they don't care about the cold!

The trout just go deep, I caught 2 fish yesterday that weighs more then your month of January's limits of crappie. just saying. we have mud minnow size fish here to if we so chose.