Dead fish were found on the shores of Humboldt Lake after the 2020 spring thaw. (Cindy O'Neil/Facebook)

By Chris Vandenbreekel/CKOM

fish find

Thousands of fish found dead at Humboldt Lake

May 14, 2020 | 10:39 AM

Piles of dead fish were trucked away or buried on the shores of Humboldt Lake this week, after what the area’s reeve is calling a bad winter kill.

Posts on Facebook described thousands of fish being found over the weekend, as winds pushed the bodies to shore.

“In some places (they were) two deep, three deep along the shoreline,” said Larry Ries, reeve of the R.M. of Humboldt.

He told 650 CKOM while a winter kill isn’t unusual in the small lake south of Humboldt, the numbers this year seemed “severe.”

“We don’t know how bad it is,” he said. “We don’t know if half died, or if 25 per cent died.”

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Conservation officers are still waiting for test results to come back on the exact cause of death for the fish, along with tests on the water in the lake.

Ries wasn’t sure of the total number of fish that died, and couldn’t provide a ballpark figure.

Humboldt Lake is stocked with fish on a regular basis, featuring perch, pickerel and jackfish. Ries said most of the dead fish he saw were pickerel.

He did say it’s disappointing for cottage and home owners around the lake.

“It’s quite a loss to the people out there,” he said. “You go right out the door and you can go fishing. Now you go out there and there are piles and piles of dead fish.”

CKOM