It's been a while since I've had time to jump on here but I have some time and took some underwater footage to confirm proof of life after an extreme drought he in Ontario from about July to mid to end of October, almost no rain at my location and high heat. I know for sure that I lost a lot of trout at the very end of the drought just because I saw eagles flying away with them and the odd morning I would see a trout at the surface struggling....so Ill assume that had happened on the days I wasnt there and the eagles were taking care of business.
For context my lake is about 13 feet deep in a small area but averages about 8 feet for the entire 6 acres. The extreme conditions this summer and fall caused a massive growth of algae that covered the weeds that had grown very high which in some areas left only about 4 feet of depth and of course some deep areas. The water became extremely clear and in the deeper areas I could see the trout swimming clear as day - it was too clear.
Which brings me to this week. After thinking all my trout were gone I put a camera in and to my amazement I saw one...it attacked the camera, so I have at least one left lol, But I suspect there are more, probably the smaller ones but I cant say for sure until I start ice fishing. in the next couple of weeks. I also saw schools of LMB (about 10) in formation cruising the banks and of course many PS sunfish. I had not been aerating during the drought, I'm not sure mixing the water would have helped even at a raised aerator depth of just under the surface, and I kinda wanted to see if they could make it to be honest, I'm hoping this lake could support fish on it's own without support and it's looking like it will. the depth did drop about 18 inches so subtract that from the original depth.
So what I've done is this: In the fall just after the drought I started letting tanninish water in from a swamp above the lake, through a 4 inch pipe I estimate Im getting about 500gpm, I'll have solid flow thoughout the winter and over the summer and hopefully the tannin water will help keep the algae from growing - and keep the water from becoming so clear that the eagles can pick the fish off. Also, Im raising the water lever by about 16 or 18 inches which will keep the water cooler and keep the light from penetrating so far. At this point its obvious I have areas of refuge for the trout so Im just trying to make the area more survivable. At it's peak the surface temp was 82 degrees in the summer....no idea how they made it. Cheers.
