Went to Lake Mohave Report

[nighthawk]

[unsure][unsure]Today I witnessed several planted rainbow trout dying at Placer Cove, Lake Mohave. I arrived just after a truck dumped 2600 10.0 inch rainbows into the cove. About 300-400 didn’t make it. Between being traumatized and what looked like lack of oxygen they went belly up and died. Many lay dead on the bottom of the cove while others floated to the shore or were going in circles. Several of us local anglers worked with the trout to get them back out in the water but found that they didn’t want to live. One of the anglers watched the fish being dumped into the lake. He talked with the person doing it and he said they received this shipment of rainbows from an Oregon hatchery. Several minutes later fish started to die. Does this happen often or is this an isolated case. I have some photos I took of just a few that were dead. [unimpressed][unimpressed]



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[Nu2Fishagain]

When you asked about this being isolated, what was their answer? I would hate to think that all the plantings, this time around, went the same way.
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[nighthawk]

I sent an email to NDOW and hope I can get an answer sometime next week. They are pretty good about returning the emails. This just made me sick to see all these trout die. Normally they would have hit anything you casted out. These fish wouldn't eat the power Bait I dropped in the water. We say hundreds of trout swimming in circles. While others were just staying in one spot. I say two guys come down that I wouldn't call a fishermen. They say what we were doing but instead of helping us they grabbed their [size 1]limits[/size] with a net and went home. I wanted to shove a couple down their throat. No respect. I was so mad that I didn't even fish so I just took pictures and drove over to Astec Cove to check things out there. I found several places I can go fishing I have never been to. I will try them out next year.
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[nighthawk]

I almost forgot, the guy that dropped off the trout from the hatchery didn't care. He just took off and left them to die. I wish I could have gotten his name. The fisherman that was there forgot to get his name. But he came from Lake Mead fish hatchery.
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[nighthawk]

[size 4]This stocking was done at Placer Cove, Lake Mohave near Nelson's Landing, Nevada. [/size]
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[southernman]

i guess theres no shortage of trout in nevada - they really stock all of the lakes alot, with great numbers . . these trout the ndow "stock" in mohave and mead are pretty much expendable, from what ive seen and been told . . . i mean its a striper feast, i guess some people like to get a few trout for dinner, and others want to catch a big striper that the trout plants bring in . . cause those trout can't really be expected to live . . maybe this is one of the reasons for the rough handling and stocking method.

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[BaySport]

Nighthawk,

Thanks for the report. What you described does not seem normal. Please keep us posted.

BaySport
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[nighthawk]

[size 2][font "Times New Roman"]Well I got an email today about the trout planting at Placer Cove. I called Clyde today and had a real nice talk. He said the reason the driver didn't stay was he had to make another delivery. Nornally the drivers will stay around to see if the trout are going to make it. The drivers are to stay a while and collect any dead trout that don't make it. The email explains what was happing to the fish due to lack of oxyegen. I can understand where he was coming from. A busy weekend it was. I tried to cross Hoover Dam but it was going to be a 3 hour wait. I want to thank NDOW and [/font][font "Arial"][font "Times New Roman"]Lake Mead Trout Hatchery for an outstanding job they do. Keep the trout coming guys![/font] [/font][/size]

[font "Arial"][size 2]I have a website Page devoted to the area in question[/size][/font]

[font "Arial"][size 2][url "http://www.nighthawkcd.com/placercove.htm"]http://www.nighthawkcd.com/placercove.htm[/url][/size][/font]

[font "Arial"][size 2]Hi Dan,[/size][/font] [font "Arial"][size 2][/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2]I am the hatchery manager at the Lake Mead Trout Hatchery. I will give you a call this evening to discuss the trout loss at Placer Cove on December 27,2003. If I don't reach you I can be reached at the Hatchery 07:00 to 04:00 M-F at the Lake Mead Fish Hatchery. The hatchery phone number is 702-486-6889 or the hatchery cell at 290-5861 after hours or during the day when you can't reach me on my ground line. My email address is [url "mailto:cparke@ndow.org"][#0000ff]cparke@ndow.org[/#0000ff][/url] [/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2][/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2]As you are probably presently aware the Lake Mead Hatchery is presently shut down for renovation. We are planning on being back into production in the Fall of 2004 and start planting fish from the Lake Mead Hatchery in 2005.[/size][/font] [font "Arial"][size 2][/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2]To accommodate fish stocking demand in Southern Nevada during this shutdown we needed to utilize the other NDOW fish production facilities and use a contract vender. The other NDOW hatcheries are picking up the stocking in Lincoln, Nye and Esmeralda Counties and we have a private vender under contract to supply fish to Clark County waters.[/size][/font] [font "Arial"][size 2][/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2]The contract we have is with a vender out of South Eastern Oregon. Once a week they deliver a semi truck with five tanks of fish to Southern Nevada. Typically the fish are loaded the day before and spend approximately 16-24 hours on the truck before being planted. Once these fish arrive in Southern Nevada many of them are transferred to NDOW trucks as many of our planting sites are inaccessible to the semi truck. This is a long trip and the fish can be stressed and tired from many factors including; handling, low oxygen, thermal temperature changes, changes in elevation changes in water quality etc. We are working with the contractor to eliminate problems and to stock healthy fish. In resent loads they have had oxygen problems with faulty air stones and oxygen monitoring systems. Hopefully we have addressed the concerns and will be able to deliver healthier fish in the future. You are correct in assuming the fish were oxygen starved.[/size][/font] [font "Arial"][size 2][/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2]Normally my drivers stay around at the planting sites to pick up any losses that occur. This day my driver had to return to the hatchery for another load of fish to Powerline Cove on Lake Mohave and didn't stick around at the Placer Cove site after the fish plant.[/size][/font] [font "Arial"][size 2][/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2]I appreciate your concern and the time you put into trying to resuscitate and save fish. I also appreciate the observation of the numbers of dead fish as my driver knew the fish were stressed but didn't realize the problem was so severe. We will be reimbursed from the vender for all losses.[/size][/font] [font "Arial"][size 2][/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2]Thanks for the pictures for my file. I was only able to open two of the pictures. Mohave 4 and Mohave 7. I would appreciate the other two pictures for my files.[/size][/font] [font "Arial"][size 2][/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2]Thank you for your concern and I will be in touch.[/size][/font] [font "Arial"][size 2][/size][/font][font "Arial"][size 2]Clyde Parke[/size][/font] [font "Arial"][size 2]Lake Mead hatchery Manager[/size][/font]
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[Xman]

hey nighthawk.

i would say generally there is a higher kill rate on fish dumps than most people think. i have seen quite a few even with catfish and alot of them end up dying. some are barely alive when they arive some are dead when they are dumped and some can acclimate when they get into the new water. its to see but unless there is a easier better way to dump fish into a lake from a holding truck thats just the way it is.
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