Thread: Heard some news about a fish kill at Harney...

Can't give you a accurate % of any 1 species Rock, but I drove Rt 46 a couple weekends ago & the ditches were filled with dead fish, most looked like tilapia, however, only seen from road passing through & with the water flow from that area, the fish would have come from the puzzle lake area=a low O2 levels in shallow waters & stirred up muck from the bottom during the hurricane. On a positive outlook forward for the ones that survived, there will be less competition for feed & may produce some good size SLABS.....

Went out Gator Hunting on Sept 23rd, put in on Monroe and hunted to the CE Lee south of Harney. On the water from 11pm- 9am. Many boat houses and docks underwater on the river. Didn't see any dead fish until we hit the mouth (North side) of Harney. Saw a couple crappies just hanging out at the surface, they swam off when poked with the rod, also of interest was multiple stingrays swimming on top/ near the top of the water at the north mouth of the lake. I snagged one to confirm it was a stingray and it was. Moving south there were dead tilapia everywhere, saw hundreds dead and floating. Got back into one of the coves and there were dead bass and dying bass seeming to be gasping for air. Saw about 50 dead bass, a couple dead crappies, a buddy of mine reported seeing a dead striper as well (not stripper). The water had a sheen of oil on top of it, I presume it was fish oil from all the dead tilapia. CE LEE Park is launchable, not from the boat ramp but off the bank, even for good sized boats. We ended up loading there in the morning. Gator hunting sucked.

Saw some sting Rays on Seminole Blvd in Sanford.... Unusual site!

Originally Posted by Slab_Slammer83

Went out Gator Hunting on Sept 23rd, put in on Monroe and hunted to the CE Lee south of Harney. On the water from 11pm- 9am. Many boat houses and docks underwater on the river. Didn't see any dead fish until we hit the mouth (North side) of Harney. Saw a couple crappies just hanging out at the surface, they swam off when poked with the rod, also of interest was multiple stingrays swimming on top/ near the top of the water at the north mouth of the lake. I snagged one to confirm it was a stingray and it was. Moving south there were dead tilapia everywhere, saw hundreds dead and floating. Got back into one of the coves and there were dead bass and dying bass seeming to be gasping for air. Saw about 50 dead bass, a couple dead crappies, a buddy of mine reported seeing a dead striper as well (not stripper). The water had a sheen of oil on top of it, I presume it was fish oil from all the dead tilapia. CE LEE Park is launchable, not from the boat ramp but off the bank, even for good sized boats. We ended up loading there in the morning. Gator hunting sucked.

Thanks for the thorough update, it sucks to hear there is that there is that big of a fish kill as I'm sure it will only get worse. Its a little surprising that there are so many dead tilapia as I thought they could breath air. As for the Gators, they have a whole bunch more area to play in right now, I bet its pretty hard finding them.