White bass kill

Craig, have a question for you. All around the shoreline at Elk City Lake there are a bunch of dead white bass. This seemed to happen after the last big rain we had and the lake came up about 3.5 feet pretty quickly. All sizes, but mainly big ones. This was about 2 weeks ago, and the lake is back down to normal now. I have never seen this before, and was wondering if you had any explanation as to what might have caused this? And does anyone out there in crappie land see this on Toronto or Fall River? Thanks in advance!

sunka27,

First off, I apologize for not seeing your question earlier. Not real sure how I missed it!

Early spring white bass die offs are not all that uncommon in Kansas reservoirs. The usual cause is Columnaris. Healthy white bass normally fend off Columnaris, but when the fish become stressed they become more susceptible. Kansas die offs usually occur when fish are stressed from spawning activities. Spawn stressed fish, warming water temperatures, and sometimes increased population density open the door for Columnaris to take hold of weakened fish. The KDWPT Fish Bio for Elk City investigated the die off and estimated 5,000 white bass were impacted.