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A few weeks ago, my son inlaw was fishing Mantua
Seen a boat with water management markings spraying chemicals in the water. When asked, they said they were getting rid of the alge bloom and excessive weeds.
This weekend, we went there to see dead trout floating everywhere.. Bass laying on the bottom dead.. the water was clear.. the only fish I could see were Perch Minnows. Took the boat all around the lake, and it was the same everywhere.
I think they killed Mantua.
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(10-09-2023, 11:29 AM)GreatWhite100 Wrote: A few weeks ago, my son inlaw was fishing Mantua
Seen a boat with water management markings spraying chemicals in the water. When asked, they said they were getting rid of the alge bloom and excessive weeds.
This weekend, we went there to see dead trout floating everywhere.. Bass laying on the bottom dead.. the water was clear.. the only fish I could see were Perch Minnows. Took the boat all around the lake, and it was the same everywhere.
I think they killed Mantua.
Well that's not good at all, thanks for the report, hopefully it didn't kill all the fish in there. Sounds like it would have been better if they just left it alone and not treated it, this late in the season, it would clear up on it's own.
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Here is the KSL artical on the alge bloom experiment.
https://www.ksl.com/article/50738213/pil...-in-mantua
From what I saw.. this is a very bad situation.
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It doesn't sounds like that experiment worked out too well. 
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(10-09-2023, 11:29 AM)GreatWhite100 Wrote: A few weeks ago, my son inlaw was fishing Mantua
Seen a boat with water management markings spraying chemicals in the water. When asked, they said they were getting rid of the alge bloom and excessive weeds.
This weekend, we went there to see dead trout floating everywhere.. Bass laying on the bottom dead.. the water was clear.. the only fish I could see were Perch Minnows. Took the boat all around the lake, and it was the same everywhere.
I think they killed Mantua.
Not good. Hopefully you have notified the DNR about this? All fish kills should be brought to their attention.
"We fish for pleasure... I for Mine, you for yours." -James Leisenring
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Well I hope you didn't buy stock in that process.... Wonder why such a disconnect between what they say about not killing fish and what has happened... I'm surprised they hadn't discovered that in the small scale before they tried it on a big lake... So I'm sure they said it's safe for Brigham to drink the water too.... Makes ya wonder if you dare trust the water in your pipes if they missed the fish kill that badly.... Too bad I hate to see Mantua get wiped out, it's always a good early ice destination... Maybe not this year... Later J
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!
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(10-10-2023, 04:38 AM)Joe_Dizzy Wrote: (10-09-2023, 11:29 AM)GreatWhite100 Wrote: A few weeks ago, my son inlaw was fishing Mantua
Seen a boat with water management markings spraying chemicals in the water. When asked, they said they were getting rid of the alge bloom and excessive weeds.
This weekend, we went there to see dead trout floating everywhere.. Bass laying on the bottom dead.. the water was clear.. the only fish I could see were Perch Minnows. Took the boat all around the lake, and it was the same everywhere.
I think they killed Mantua.
Not good. Hopefully you have notified the DNR about this? All fish kills should be brought to their attention.
Yes, I will be most interested to see comment and report from the Utah DNR.
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10-11-2023, 09:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-11-2023, 10:16 PM by obifishkenobi.)
I spoke with a couple DWR biologist today, they said the process successfully killed the algae but because Matua is so shallow with not much much volume of water the dying algae lowered the dissolved oxygen to an extremely low level that caused the fish kill. Trout can not survive in less than 5 parts per million and as of today the lake was at 2.3 ppm but got as low as 1.5 ppm. They said that the warm water species where impacted but should rebound as there are places like the numerous springs and creak inflow where some would survive to replenish those species, but in the short term this winter in particular will be tough. In my opinion the only bright spot I can see is that the fish that did survive will have less competition and we may see some trophy fish for those that have patience in the next couple years.
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The company should be held responsible to stock a certain percentage of all species immediately to speed the recovery process.
That is what the DWR would do after a Rotenone treatment.
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Not sure what successfully killed algae means - 100%, 90%.......? One would expect that even small % algae left, that is enough to completely 'reseed' for next year. So, does this algae kill need to be redone next year and ongoing as a control? If so, probably benefit to the company. Additionally, survival of 'some' and 'rebound' seems to mean they really don't know or perhaps anticipate the result. Either way, I expect DNR had little to say regarding impact to a nice fishery.
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(10-11-2023, 10:51 PM)smokepoles Wrote: Not sure what successfully killed algae means - 100%, 90%.......? One would expect that even small % algae left, that is enough to completely 'reseed' for next year. So, does this algae kill need to be redone next year and ongoing as a control? If so, probably benefit to the company. Additionally, survival of 'some' and 'rebound' seems to mean they really don't know or perhaps anticipate the result. Either way, I expect DNR had little to say regarding impact to a nice fishery.
Usually, yes, it would be an annual or "as needed" treatment. (although I don't have inside info on the Mantua case)
If the water managers do indeed feel the treatment was a "success", then it could be bad news for Mantua as a fishery as those in charge will likely reach for a repeat treatment every time some algae pops up. It certainly appears that algae issues in general are not going away in our lakes and fisheries.
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(10-12-2023, 03:03 AM)doggonefishin Wrote: If the water managers do indeed feel the treatment was a "success", then it could be bad news for Mantua as a fishery as those in charge will likely reach for a repeat treatment every time some algae pops up. It certainly appears that algae issues in general are not going away in our lakes and fisheries.
One can hope that repeat treatments to control algae would be done before algae reach levels that algae kill again lowers oxygen to the level fish die. Of course the driving factor is likely treatment cost with little consideration for fish.
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Sad that they always know what went wrong AFTER the catastrophe.
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(10-11-2023, 09:53 PM)obifishkenobi Wrote: I spoke with a couple DWR biologist today, they said the process successfully killed the algae but because Matua is so shallow with not much much volume of water the dying algae lowered the dissolved oxygen to an extremely low level that caused the fish kill. Trout can not survive in less than 5 parts per million and as of today the lake was at 2.3 ppm but got as low as 1.5 ppm. They said that the warm water species where impacted but should rebound as there are places like the numerous springs and creak inflow where some would survive to replenish those species, but in the short term this winter in particular will be tough. In my opinion the only bright spot I can see is that the fish that did survive will have less competition and we may see some trophy fish for those that have patience in the next couple years.
Did the biologist say what an acceptable number of dead fish are? Seems to me this late in the season it would be better not to do anything rather than kill all those fish.
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Depending on the number of fish killed, it could be a good thing. As someone else mentioned, it will reduce competition for food and improve growth rates of fish that survived. If the number that survived is high enough, fishing would improve as soon as next year. To me, the impact all depends on how much of the biomass was killed....
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Let's hope it didn't totally destroy the food chain...including invertebrates, young perch and bluegills, etc. If the surviving bigger fish got no groceries....well...
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Never fear: the "swimmer's itch" parasite will survive. As well as the snails the trout eat to make themselves inedible.
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(10-12-2023, 04:36 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: Did the biologist say what an acceptable number of dead fish are? Seems to me this late in the season it would be better not to do anything rather than kill all those fish.
Acceptable to who - biologist, water company, algae kill company, sportsman.......
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(10-12-2023, 09:00 PM)RockyRaab2 Wrote: Never fear: the "swimmer's itch" parasite will survive. As well as the snails the trout eat to make themselves inedible.
Can you elaborate on the snails, please?
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(10-09-2023, 11:29 AM)GreatWhite100 Wrote: A few weeks ago, my son inlaw was fishing Mantua
Seen a boat with water management markings spraying chemicals in the water. When asked, they said they were getting rid of the alge bloom and excessive weeds.
This weekend, we went there to see dead trout floating everywhere.. Bass laying on the bottom dead.. the water was clear.. the only fish I could see were Perch Minnows. Took the boat all around the lake, and it was the same everywhere.
I think they killed Mantua.
I fished Mantua on Wednesday (the 11th) . I fished the entire banks of the reservoir starting at the south shore and finishing at the west shore.
I did see several (20-30) dead trout (the water was unusually clear of moss) But I did see clouds of small 1-2" fish and it got me curious as to what they were so I caught 2. They're largemouth bass, thousands of them. I've never seen theses numbers of baby bass but then again it's never been this clear before. Just hoping the vegetation recovers so the fishery doesn't collapse.
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