Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Sick bass - Cedar Creek Lake, Texas

We had a tournament on Cedar Creek lake last weekend.

Every bass we caught during the tournament looked sick.
Every bass that I saw weighed-in looked sick too.

Here are a few picture examples.
http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/cowboy...rt=3&page=1

It looked worse in person.

Do you know what is affecting the bass?

Thanks for any info.

Al Kohutek

Al!!!!!

Where you been????!!

Some of those pics looks like they may be due to stress from spawning, but that one pic with the 'cuts' looks like it could have been a heron attack.

I do agree though. Odd that all of the fish looked 'sickly.'

Sunil,
I am not buying the spawning theory.

First of all the spawn occurred months ago. Central Texas is part of the Great South! Down here the spawn is over and done with while your bass are still in a deep freeze.

Second, all bass were effected.....even the real little non-spawning bass.

Third, I live on a lake in the same region and visit many others fishing in all types of bass tournaments, and I have never seen bass look so bad as these. If it was spawning related, I would observed this elsewhere.

I think something else is going on.

Al having a problem with the pics. Do you have a close up of the sores ? The fish (other than the sores)look in ok condition ( a little skinny but good muscle mass). Do all of the LMB have this ? What about other fish (BG)- do they have the sores?

Try this link for some resources (TX).

http://fisheries.tamu.edu/pond-management/diseases/

I was fishing in a bass tournament so I did not observe any bg.

I did see about 5 dead sandbass, 1 dead bass, and some almost dead bass.

I saw 57 bass weighed in and everyone of them had bloody spots somewhere on their body. Almost every one had bloody areas behind the pectoral fins (side fins). Some looked worse than others. The camera did not do a good job of capturing the details.

Many has fungus areas.

The mouths looked bad....red and bloody

I have seen the condition b4, but never have I seen so many bass effected.

Water temp was 73 to 76 main lake

Lots of rain over the last couple of months

I am the phographer for the club so I looked at each and every bass.....plus all the ones that me and my partner caught

What is the status of boats coming and going in the lake from other lakes ?

Al, maybe a post about the sores on the bass section of TFF might at least tell if others are seeing this at Cedar Creek too.

It's concerning that they all had the sores. Was it as obvious when you caught them, as it was at the weigh in?

It was more obvious when we caught them.

I remember seeing fish that looked like these 5 years ago, but it was only about one in about 6 that looked sick.

5/11/2011 Cedar Creek Lake bass show signs of disease
Participants in a Cedar Creek Lake bass tournament last weekend reported catching numerous fish with open sores.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department fisheries biologist Richard Ott said it sounds like a bacterial disease called Columnaris. It’s always present in a fish population, Ott said, but manifests itself only when a fish’s immune system is depressed, usually by sudden temperature changes or spawning stress. Fish healthy enough to feed often recover from the disease, he said.

Taken from....
http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/other-sp...key-hog-hunting

I emaild the TP&W about this but have not heard back. The news article is speculating on what it is. The question is, have they actually examined and sampled some of the bass.....and if so what was the finding?

Sure sounds like there's a real problem in that lake.

Will they take a fish and confirm the cause ?

Here is the link

http://fisheries.tamu.edu/files/2013/09/...m-columnare.pdf

Here is what the TP&W said...

**************************************

Mr. Kohutek,

I received your email in regards to some ill looking Largemouth Bass that were recently caught in a tournament on Cedar Creek Reservoir. After looking at the pictures you submitted, I would likely concluded that most of the fish were exhibiting signs of columnaris, a bacterial infection. While it is unsightly, it should not present any health threats to humans, and typically not to the fish population either. It is very common in aquarium species, but is also found in freshwater reservoirs throughout most of the country. We have had similar questions from a few of our other reservoirs in the last two weeks. Columnaris is very common in fish this time of year, as the water is warming up, plus a lot of the fish are still recouping from the spawn, making them slightly more susceptible to infections. Typically, these fish will heal and appear normal and healthy again soon. A phrase we use a lot, but is very accurate would be “Typically, a truly sick fish will not feed, therefor not be caught by anglers”. In short, I would not be too concerned about columnaris affecting the fish population in Cedar Creek Reservoir as a whole, or to present any issues to the anglers. I have attached a quick fact sheet on columnaris that may prove helpful. Let me know if you have any more questions.