# Carp die off on Oconee



## markland

Anybody heard or seen anything about a massive carp kill on Lake Oconee?  Had a buddy call me about it this weekend and said there were 100's of thousands of dead carp floating around the lake, DNR supposedly is blaming it on some type of fish herpes or virus or something but have not seen anything official on it yet!


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## fredw

Mark, here's a link to the press release from the DNR:  http://georgiawildlife.com/node/3935

There's a couple of other threads on the forum regarding the fish kill also.


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## markland

Thanks Fred guess it was not as bad as my buddy was making it out to be!


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## p&y finally

I wouldnt believe DNR/WRD if they told me the sky was blue! The dead carp are VERY bad!
We fished Oconee last week around Sugar Creek area and dead carp everywhere (8 just on the boat ramp). The stinch is unreal too.
I'm not sure about the rest of the lake but a buddy fished a tournament Saturday and said it wasnt AS bad up Apalachee area but definately not good. DNR's prediction of 1000-1500 is a joke.


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## markland

That's too bad I know alot of guys that bowfish and carp fish that lake and will be very dissapointed over this.  And yes I hear ya and don't believe it is not something minor, and do not believe that 1000's of fish just die off overnight from a virus either, I am sure there is some kind of chemical spill or something going on somewhere, but who knows.  JK of course, but you never know what kind of things can happen!


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## Kris87

I have 1000's just in my cove alone it seems.  I'm mid lake around the 44 bridge.


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## Zombielove7475

Yes it's way worse than 1500, and more than just carp. I live on the lake and they are everywhere! It smells so bad. If anyone hears anything new on this please let me know. For now I will not eat anything out of the lake, that's if I can catch anything, nor will I get in the water! Yuck!


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## Patrik

Yeah, it looked bad Sunday, but this is nature taking care of nature. If you've ever seen a carp spawn, it's a massive ordeal right up in shallow water. We had a few hot days, and I'm sure oxygen levels got depleted up in the shallows. Very difficult for fish to recover from that. Ironically, the water up in the Oconee arm was as clear as I've seen it in years. I saw no other species affected, and rashes on live carp I caught in the cast net certainly looked like a viral infection. No need to get hysterical about it. Fish kills are part of the natural cycle and occurs regularly in various species, including carp. It's basically the lake culling itself.


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## wack em

Two weeks ago I shot there and saw a half dozen or so dead carp and just assumed someone was dumping them as they shot them. We did kill a couple that were covered in warts and thought that was odd. About 5 days later the die off hit full bore.


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## Day trip

Fished til 9 tonight above Redlands landing.  Saw 50-100 dead carp and the catfish were not biting very well.  Caught 3 and one hybrid bass.  3 of the fish had spots like they had been in a fight.  Small 3-5mm ulcers in 2-3 places.  Maybe it is a virus.


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## Patrik

Yeah, it's been rough fishing during this kill. That amount of dead fish I'm sure puts a lot of stink in the water, which may confound the fish.


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## Zombielove7475

All looks good in my cove now. Same for everyone else? So glad, and ready to catch some fish again!


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## SELFBOW

I was there first weekend of May and it was pretty bad. We saw 100s and we didn't travel very far on the lake.


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## ebrauns23

Same thing on Sinclair, from the 23rd until yesterday afternoon I have been clearing dead carp off the seawall (one stripper ). I thought it was caused by people in a jug fishing tourney but the kill off didn't stop. Then I thought it may be caused by more boat traffic and carp feeding near the surface and being run over. I found a few with slashes across the body. I did not realize it was caused by a virus.


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