ELKHART COUNTY – Hundreds of fish are dying in Indiana and low water levels are to blame.
The Department of Natural Resources said the dry weather and unusually warm water is slowly taking its toll on the wildlife.
The DNR reports about 30 dead fish in the Bristol area, specifically where the St. Joseph River meets The Pigeon River.
WSBT put on waders Thursday and hit the water to see if we could spot any trouble.
A few friends, the bright summer sun, and a river that's supposed to be full of fresh fish.
"I think it will be disappointing if we do see a lot of dead fish and don't get anything," said fisher Karen Wakefield.
The DNR said from northern Indiana to south of Indianapolis, hundreds of fish aren't surviving the drought in Pulaski County, Elkhart County and Johnson County.
"Fishing so far this year has been kind of slow, but it feels like it’s getting better," said fisher Phil Flickinger's.
It’s Flickinger’s second summer on his boat.
"We went fishing today and we went yesterday and two days before that," he said.
You could say it's his hobby, so we hopped on board with Captain Phil and he took us for a tour. He has noticed the lower water levels this year, but said it hasn’t affected his fishing.
A canoer found the 30-some dead fish on Tuesday – mostly northern pike . The DNR said those are dying off because they're sensitive to heat.
We tried to look for some, but didn't see any.
"We're still catching them,” Flickinger said. “I guess I haven't noticed a difference and I haven't seen any dead fish."
About 20 minutes upstream off the St. Joseph River, water levels are extremely low – it was barely touching our knees when we stepped in. This is very unusual for this time of year. Fish could not survive very long in these shallow conditions.
We did some more searching in this river, but didn't find anything.
That doesn't mean they're not there.
The DNR said fish are adaptable. If the water is low, they'll move to deeper water to survive...but a few may succumb to the heat.
“Sure it's been a hundred degrees, but July is supposed to be hot," Flickinger said.
The only solution to prevent the fish from dying off? Rain, and lots of it.
There are no restrictions when it comes to fishing out there, so fishers plan to reel away.
"I haven't caught anything yet, so I’m hoping to catch my first one," said Wakefield.
Maybe the fishing gods will grant her some beginners luck. The fishermen have caught bass, bluegill, walleye and Thursday they caught perch.
The DNR said they've seen northern pike, carp and suckers really suffering. But they said this could be a great time for fishermen that travel to deeper waters. More fish than usual will be there because it's so shallow everywhere else.
The DNR hasn't seeing any salmon or steelhead trout die off just yet. Those fish spawn in rivers then make their way to Lake Michigan where it's deeper and they have a better chance of surviving.
