# Menhaden Kill



## Dixie719 (May 12, 2003)

Found this on another board:

http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=4260697


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## Rodwatcher (Sep 17, 2003)

On tonights news(WECT) some of the in-know people thinks the fish took a wrong turn ending up in a small body of water and it was so many menhaden, looked like peanut bunker to me. Anyway, to many fish up the creek caused oxygen depletion and they kicked the bucket.


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## edwkrm (Dec 4, 2005)

*saw same thing*

i watched the samething on tv. sucks that it happen wish i had a bunch of them for bait. could use them thats for sure


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## Rodwatcher (Sep 17, 2003)

edwkrm said:


> i watched the samething on tv. sucks that it happen wish i had a bunch of them for bait. could use them thats for sure


Maybe if you hurry you can get and few to freeze. They shouldn't be in to bad of shape in this cold weather.


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## Guest (Dec 20, 2005)

Rodwatcher said:


> On tonights news(WECT) some of the in-know people thinks the fish took a wrong turn ending up in a small body of water and it was so many menhaden, looked like peanut bunker to me. Anyway, to many fish up the creek caused oxygen depletion and they kicked the bucket.



How would this kill the fish quickly? Oxygen depletion in that small area? I was wondering if there was a dramatic temp drop for them. That can kill quickly like that.


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## rattler (Jul 3, 2004)

:--| ...some thing is wrong...


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## uncdub13 (Aug 9, 2003)

too bad i'm in florida or else i'd be out there scoopin em up


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Pauky said:


> How would this kill the fish quickly? Oxygen depletion in that small area? I was wondering if there was a dramatic temp drop for them. That can kill quickly like that.


 Either way can kill quickly,Pauky..


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## Rodwatcher (Sep 17, 2003)

Pauky said:


> How would this kill the fish quickly? Oxygen depletion in that small area? I was wondering if there was a dramatic temp drop for them. That can kill quickly like that.


You cram that many fish in a small area, they will suck the 02 right out of the water, case in point, put to many live bunker(finger mullet included) in a bucket of water and see how long they last without constantly changing the water.


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## FunnyFishMan (Nov 19, 2004)

How ironic...

Almost impossible to get my hands on some for bait and then this...estimated a quarter of a mile...hundreds of thousands...good god.

Curious to here what the outcome was.


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## edwkrm (Dec 4, 2005)

*fish kill*

well tonight the news was that mother nature was removing most of the kill and they still believe its an o2 deperivation that killed them


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## Ryan Y (Dec 1, 2005)

*no doubt*

Those little Ba$$tard$ wil suck down somw O2 outta the H2O. Whada been nice to have a bucket or so to freeze for what ever reason....(stashing them in your buddies F250 under the seat with the heat on high) (edwkrm)


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## Clyde (Oct 18, 2003)

Just to the south of Mason's Inlet there's a little "creek" that dead ends at the Hotel. It's not really a creek, it's where the inlet used to be before they moved it. This big school of fatties got caught in there at low tide and paid the price. Then when the tide came back in & went back out, it covered the beach with dead fish. I almost went there Sunday PM but the couch just felt tooo good. Guess I'da had plenty of bait if I weren't so lazy!


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## uncdub13 (Aug 9, 2003)

here's a few pics of them from today. if the creek theory is true, that creek sure must have been jam packed FULL of pogies. there must be millions of them out there floating around. it's a field day out there for the birds.




























they were scattered along this tideline outside the inlet as far as you could see..



















think i should scoop up a few to take to hatteras next week??


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## Clyde (Oct 18, 2003)

The kill last weekend was on the north end, these pics were from the jetty. Something else going on here. This is two major kills within a week. What the crap is going on?


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

Clyde,

What do you mean? Different ends of the island? Creek my arse. Though I've seen a kill from a creek on a much smaller scale (maybe 500 got trapped) but this is sick. Got too cold?
I need bait not bait wasted. Fat gulls around that can't fly I bet.


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## Clyde (Oct 18, 2003)

Yep, different ends of the island. Read on another board where the fish today were definately fresh. So that's two major fish kills here in the last week. The water temps aren't that cold. Could have something to do with the "big boom" last week I suppose. One thing they do have in common is we don't know what caused either of them.


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## uncdub13 (Aug 9, 2003)

yeah, water temps were upper 40's in the ocean/inlet today and like 43 in the creeks, definitely not cold enough to kill pogies. it's weird because no other fish seem to be affected. i sure would like to know what's going on if anybody hears somethin.


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## flathead (Dec 18, 2003)

Well,for what it's worth,it resembles something that happened back in the 70s more than once.Some pics of Hatteras where the anglers are ankle deep in bunker.Happened other places as well.Large school of predators,like big blues or porpoise, circled'em and they ran themselves back in the shallows,where they rapidly depleted the oxygen due to the stress.Wasn't there about a 4-6' shark in one of the photos ? Seems to me,if it were anything else,you'd be finding specks,gray trout,whiting,etc. in with'em.


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## Ryan Y (Dec 1, 2005)

*Two fish kills?*

The fish kill had Menhaden on the beach from south Figure Eight, all the way to Masonboro Inlet, and back into the ICW at masons inlet. A majority of the fish didn't wash up until the evening after the news reports. Then some washed out intot he ocean over the next few days....When did the next kill occur? I live here and didn't here a thing....


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## Clyde (Oct 18, 2003)

I took these Saturday morning at the south end of Wrightsville.

This one's standing at the jetty looking south towards the inlet.










Here's a close up. They were all about 6" long. No bite marks on any that I saw.










This one's a couple of hundred yards north of the jetty. This was the worst area I saw.










Same area, the bottom was covered.










None of these fish smelled, and they were firm. I don't think they were the same fish from the Sunday before.


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## Fox Watersports (Jul 17, 2005)

*Well.........*

"Well,for what it's worth,it resembles something that happened back in the 70s more than once.Some pics of Hatteras where the anglers are ankle deep in bunker.Happened other places as well.Large school of predators,like big blues or porpoise, circled'em and they ran themselves back in the shallows,where they rapidly depleted the oxygen due to the stress.Wasn't there about a 4-6' shark in one of the photos ? Seems to me,if it were anything else,you'd be finding specks,gray trout,whiting,etc. in with'em."

The above is from Flathead. And he is correct, it did happen up here, but not with anglers standing around. A huge, I mean enourmous pod of juvi fatties got ambushed at Hatteras Inlet at the biggining of a flood tide. The fish stacked up in such tight numbers on top of the bar that in between waves, they were actually dry. lack of oxygen killed them, the flood tide spread them into the sound, wind went W/NW, and the entire shoreline from Hatteras Village to Avon was ankle deep in little dead fatties. And let me tell you, after a few days, you could smell it in the classroom at school.

The pics Flathead is talking about were from a bluefish blitz on the north side of the point, with adult fatties being the victims, and not near the volume of fish killed.


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