Strange Fish Challenge Day Six - Stop Watch Rules (Part 3/3)

After leaving Mukwonago I meandered generally north and west.  This part of Wisconsin is tougher to fish.  The rivers are slow and muddy, the country is farmland so there can be water quality issues due to runoff of fertilizer and manure.  Still I almost made the magic Number 20 at an impromptu stop on the Crawfish River.  I had a Flathead Catfish that kicked off just before I could get a net on him.  And some small odd fish that would not take quite enough of my light tackle line to get one fully hooked.  Oh, and something huge that took the same light tackle, tossed his head once and broke it.  Skunked.

But I left as I had one more spot to visit as the day was getting late.

I had run across it by accident on a previous trip through the area a month before.  Just a tiny stream leading to a weedy pond which in turn connected to Beaver Dam Lake near the city of the same name.  

When I was there in April I noticed that the creek was packed with hundreds of small fish.  They were swirling around, jumping up in the air etc.  I could see at least two different types, one of which might be a Mad Tom.  These are weird little bull head like critters and I'd like to catch one.  The other looked vaguely like a sunfish but was pale in color.  I figured they were in some kind of mating frenzy.  I dragged a micro hook past them and there was no interest.  Apologizing for disturbing their revels I bid them to carry on and promised I'd be back when they were less distracted.

On my return a month later it was clear that something was very wrong.  There were still some little fish swimming about listlessly but they were blotchy and sick looking.  And there were numerous dead ones floating, both the small panfish like critters and some enormous, stinky dead carp.  The stream and pond were weed choked, stagnant water.  When even carp can't get enough oxygen things are dire.

There was no point in fishing there but I followed the stream to Beaver Dam Lake.  There I found another similar stream with exactly the scenario I'd seen in April.  Hundreds of small fish all trying to swim away from the lake and up into a pipe.  They were jumping all over the place.  Some landed on the ground and stayed there.  Well at this point I had to know.  With some difficulty I finally hooked one of these little guys.

This one puzzled me, but my fish guy says this is a very small Common Carp.  Their mouths are not the same as in the adult version.  Obviously he's in tough shape.  He and his countless siblings were not mating but were all trying desperately to escape from the Apocalypse that is Beaver Dam Lake, a troubled body of water that has had considerable difficulty with low oxygen fish kills.  As I said, when even carp can't survive things are dire.

Well, it's still Number 19...so only one fish to go for my seven day, 20 species Challenge.

Beaver Dam Lake has certainly given me a keen appreciation for the much nicer waters we have in the northern half of the state.

Addendum:  You'd think the Common Carp would be an easy catch.  Wrongly would you so think.  Felt to be among the smartest of fresh water fish it is said that any individual carp who bites a hook will never take another one.  But these poor guys never had a chance.