Lake Champlain United - Forums

Took a ride along the shore today at lunch. Saw a massive die off that went on for miles.

from the change in water temp?

Yep. Man they're so senstive!! I wonder what kind of feeding frenzy ensued.....

Do you guys think the fish that like to feed on other dead fish like catfish, lakers(I've heard) or burbot gorge themselves on those dead alewives after they sink?

Matt wrote:Yep. Man they're so senstive!! I wonder what kind of feeding frenzy ensued.....

Do you guys think the fish that like to feed on other dead fish like catfish, lakers(I've heard) or burbot gorge themselves on those dead alewives after they sink?

I think so? Especially the cats!

Nasty lookin dieoff... Looks like all very large alwives... Must be the adults are more suceptable to temp change, or maybe they all just died of age??

That's gonna stink for a while........

Can you imagine what the die offs of alewives looked like on Lake Michigan looked like years back..Had to clean them off the beaches with back hoes a dump trucks..All didn't turn out that bad with the introduction of King,& Coho salmon, brown trout and steelhead,stocked millions to keep the baitfish population down,which it did and we all know how the fishing progressed in all the great lakes after that..Be nice to see huge trout and salmon in Lake champlain..Actually u never know future still bright here if they keep lampers down

Wow!! Any idea how big you think they were getting? A couple there look like a couple pounds.

dreamcatcher wrote:Wow!! Any idea how big you think they were getting? A couple there look like a couple pounds.

I've seen them dead under the ice well over 14"

slider wrote:Can you imagine what the die offs of alewives looked like on Lake Michigan looked like years back..Had to clean them off the beaches with back hoes a dump trucks..All didn't turn out that bad with the introduction of King,& Coho salmon, brown trout and steelhead,stocked millions to keep the baitfish population down,which it did and we all know how the fishing progressed in all the great lakes after that..Be nice to see huge trout and salmon in Lake champlain..Actually u never know future still bright here if they keep lampers down

Seems like our Champlain fish might have easier meals, but the alewives mess up their reproductive system...not like they have access to any good spawning grounds anyway, but that's besides the point. King's and Coho's in Champlain....that'd be crazy if they ever introduced them. Obviously they won't though for many reasons...but a man can dream can't he?

Dreamcatcher, many of them seemed to be 4-8 inches! I sent the pictures and location to the State Fish Biologists and this is what they said:

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VT State Response #1
We got word of it yesterday. The ice just went out, and the alewives were probably dead under the ice for some time.

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Separate VT State Response #2 (Interestingly, not sure how they determine they were "in" the ice)

Hello All,
After tending the trapnet in Keeler Bay today I checked out the alewife die off. Below is a map showing where most of the concentrations were found. Based on conditions of the fish I suspect that have been dead and frozen in the ice. For the most part it seems like the alewives were on the eastern shores except for around “Camp Maquam”. The area around Camp Maquam still had chucks of ice along the shore so the dead alewife could still be hidden.
The alewives ran between 6-8 inches. Some were still floating in the water, the majority seems to be already washed up onto the shore. I suspect we will get more calls this week and into the weekend as the weather improves and people go out to clean up at their camps.
Thanks,

there is currently not that many on my beach in milton,although a lot in the water floating.These large one's 8" as well as alot of 3" alwives were dead on the beach in Jan.

There was a large die-off reported just about ice-in in a northern bay - I forget which. The dead showed up a few times since with open water occurrences over the winter. So it makes sense this was the ice-in die off.

As far as size- the explanation a biologist gave me re: alewives is that they often will school in age-class schools. So when a die-off occurs there is a concentration of "x" size fish if other age classes don't get shocked by the same too-quick temp drop. I was told the upside is that when larger alewives die off it isn't as big a deal as wholesale die-offs over a large area because there are often enough mature alewives around to spawn and replenish the bait load- and that alewives can spawn more than once a season. At least that was what I was told and have no reason to doubt it.

That sure will smell good in a couple of weeks...

Matt or anyone; Have you seen any going up the winooski or any where else?

dreamcatcher wrote:Matt or anyone; Have you seen any going up the winooski or any where else?

Didn't see (or smell) any along the lower Winooski on Monday, 4/8.