I am surprised not to see the larger fish dead, although a few 18" CC are dead; no large bass are dead, and medium and some small BG are dead. Maybe the big ones sank. We had ice covered with snow for a long time, but there is some open water now and things are expected to warm up soon. The ice was not safe to go on to clear the snow. I have never had a fish kill in the past 8 years since the pond was dug and stocked. I think that raising the drain 6" last year, combined with the drought, added too much vegetation to the water after the water reached full pool this winter. Fortunately, the water did not drop much during the drought, but it did not fill either. I am restoring a lot of habitat and do not want to have ongoing pond maintanence, so the fish are on their own. I am hoping that I did not lose the paddlefish added last fall, but I am not hopeful. I think they need higher oxygen compared to the other fish. Time will tell.
