Fishing 🎣 during a fish 🐟 kill

[NJ219bands]

Went fishing 🎣 in 97.8 degrees Robert G Martin Lake this evening on a hot 🥵, humid, sunny day with a light west wind before a thunderstorm and cold front. Found a dead 18” largemouth bass and more than 50 dead bluegills on the shore from an illegal cast netter. Saw more than a hundred dead and dying 14” gizzard shad in the lake. Reported the fish 🐠 kills to NJDEP and Hamstat. Threw out canned, whole kernel corn 🌽 for chum, then caught three bluegills including a double and a common carp with corn bait. Landed 42 carp this year. Took pics.

[bulletbob]

Cast netter?.. Why would someone throw away an 18 inch bass, if they were cast netting for fish to eat?.. Same with Bluegills.. They are as good eating as anything that swims if you don't mind cleaning them.. is it possible all those fish are dying because the lake is 97 degrees and is devoid of oxygen?... 97 degrees seems awful high even for a small lake in central NJ....

[NJ219bands]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Cast netter?.. Why would someone throw away an 18 inch bass, if they were cast netting for fish to eat?.. Same with Bluegills.. They are as good eating as anything that swims if you don't mind cleaning them.. is it possible all those fish are dying because the lake is 97 degrees and is devoid of oxygen?... 97 degrees seems awful high even for a small lake in central NJ....

There were two different fish kills. A cast netter dumped more than 50 tiny bluegills onto the ground several times this year, then sunny, calm 100 degrees weather with no wind for several days caused the water temperature to rise above 98 degrees and depleted the oxygen, causing hundreds of gizzard shad, and many brown bullheads, black crappies, bluegills and largemouth bass to succumb to hypoxia. I saw lots of shad die near my fishing spot.

[bulletbob]

I wonder if an aerator would help?.. Seen many on small lakes, they would at least keep the water oxygenated.. Of course they cost money, and the state, county ,or township might not consider keeping fish alive much of a priority,, In any case, pretty interesting.. I wonder if someone is killing all the little sunnies because the lake is overpopulated with them, and is actually trying to help the situation???. Just a thought... bob

[Broad Bill]

Cast nets are illegal in New Jersey lakes and waters that are trout stocked, period. There's too many instances in this state where certain groups come in at night with lights and use throw nets to catch fish they sell. I assume what bands is seeing is the collateral damage associated with illegal netting. Again this is a lack of enforcement issue and people who don't give a shit about the resource and cause fisheries to disappear and access rights to bodies of water dwindle. Report the problem, hopefully F&G catches them and throws the book at them. Absolute &*^%$@! morons.

[NJ219bands]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

I wonder if an aerator would help?.. Seen many on small lakes, they would at least keep the water oxygenated.. Of course they cost money, and the state, county ,or township might not consider keeping fish alive much of a priority,, In any case, pretty interesting.. I wonder if someone is killing all the little sunnies because the lake is overpopulated with them, and is actually trying to help the situation???. Just a thought... bob

An aeration system would probably solve the problem. I fish near an aerator in Colonial Lake and never saw a fish 🐟 kill there.