Fish Kill Event - Spirit Lake
Spirit Lake
- Event ID
- 849
- Date of Kill
- 8/16/2011
- Waterbody Type
- Lake
- Cause Origin
- Natural
- Cause
- Disease/Parasite/Stress
- Mode
- N/A
- Magnitude
- 3 (1001 - 5000 fish killed)
- County
- Dickinson
- ESD Field Office
- FO 3
- Fisheries Office
- Spirit Lake Hatchery
- LongDD
- -95.10332
- LatDD
- 43.45270
- Created Date
- 5/22/2013 10:21:00 AM
- Last Update
- 3/27/2019 3:37:52 PM
Impacted Assessment Segments
Onsite Comments
A combination of high water temperature and old age is responsible for thousands of dead yellow perch at Spirit Lake.
“We have had great fishing for yellow perch because of really large year classes of fish and this die off is a natural step for those 5 to 6 year old fish that were not harvested,” said Mike Hawkins, fisheries biologist for the DNR at the Spirit Lake hatchery.
He said the die off has occurred over several weeks.
“Yellow perch are a cold water fish and do not tolerate warm water very well and if you factor in a bacterial infection that is a product of old age, this is the result,” Hawkins said.
Even with the die off, Hawkins expects there to be another good fall and winter in store for perch anglers on Spirit Lake.