Low water levels leading to 'clustering up' of small, dead fish - KCRG

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Each spring, there’s a fish kill in Iowa’s rivers, but most of the time you don’t see too many of the fish.

That’s not the case in the backwaters of many Iowa lakes this spring.

“There’s so many fish here,” Travis Libbert said.

Libbert often walks his dog through Prairie Park Fishery once a week. In the portion of the backwaters, many dead fish floated along the shore. Paul Sleeper, Iowa Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist, said most of the fish were gizzard shads, and this was common for this particular species.

“Last year, we had a lot more snow cover,” Sleeper said. “When that happens, it blocks light getting through the ice creating a loss of oxygen. When the sun melts the ice, it brought the river level almost to flood stage, and the fish were dispersed across the river. This year low water has then clustering up.”

Sleeper said clean-up often happens naturally.

“Bald eagles, pelicans, and other small critters have a feeding frenzy during the springtime,” Sleeper said.

Sleeper said gizzard shads are a sensitive fish, and it doesn’t take much to have a kill.

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Low water levels leading to 'clustering up' of small, dead fish - KCRG
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