Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations My 9 Acre Lake is Turning Over!! Please Help!!!

hi,

i own a 9 acre lake in the upstate of south carolina - the lake is over 50 years old - in it's deepest end it is 32 to 34 feet deep - the lake is fed well by a mountain stream and has a lot of plant growth in the more shallow corners - the lake water is always very clear and not muddy - it is heavily stocked with large mouth bass, brim, bluegill, crappie and catfish - in the past month we have received huge amounts of rain by way of daily afternoon thunderstorms - around 2 weeks ago i noticed that the water was becoming very muddy, at one point looking very creepy like chocolate milk - i have never seen the water look like this and it freaked me out - i don't know if this friend of mine totally knows what he's talking about, but he told me that it's possible the lake was turning over and that if it did turn over it would kill every fish in the lake because a lake turning over is caused from the lake not having proper oxygen - thus causing all the fish to die and float up to the top of the water - this completely freaked me out, because i know i have some huge (to me) large mouth bass in my lake that i do not want to have die from the lake turning over - 5 years ago i caught one that weighed over 10 pounds and i know that was not the only 10 pounder in the lake.

does someone have some expert knowledge on lakes turning over and if it actually does kill all the fish in the lake? is a lake turning over a bad thing to have happen? if yes, is there anything i could do to keep it from turning over? please help with any info anybody might have. i fear going out to my lake one evening and seeing tons of dead fish floating on the top of the water.

thanks for any info you can give.

Drue4Bama,
I'm no expert though I don't think you need one to refute you're friends prediction of all your fish dieing.
No, it is extreemly unlikely that you will have a major fish kill or even a minor one if you haven't in the past.
Click on this link to a post by Bill Cody to learn more: http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000010

bump

Drue4Bama,

My knowledge is not expert, however, I have a 6-7 acre lake in PA that is mostly fed by a stream.

The only time my lake gets muddy water (like chocolate milk) is when we have very heavy rains and the stream itself gets muddy. Then the whole lakes gets muddy. This usually takes a few days to settle and then return to the normal clear water.

With your lake being 9 acres, I don't believe there's much from an internal lake perspective that could make the whole lake turn muddy (ie/ huge catfish stirring up the mud).

There always the possibility that something associated with the stream, upstream from you, has changed. Could be something like land that was cleared and is now allowing muddy run off into the stream.

If it's possible, can you follow the stream, upstream, and see if there's anything new up there?

On a side note, when my lake gets muddy, the water level is usually a lot higher due the stream being in "overflow" status.

I guess your original post is from 7/15. Are things still as you described?

And thanks to Ric for keeping your topic near the top.