Fishing News
James River paddlefish wind up in hot water - The Conservation Department searches for answers to fish kill.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Hot weather and a drop in the water level in the James River below Lake
Springfield contributed to the death of 88 paddlefish, according to the Missouri Department of
Conservation.
An angler alerted the Conservation Department June 4 after seeing dead paddlefish, some of them four
feet long, around the Missouri Department of Conservation's Tailwaters Access just below Lake
Springfield's dam. Besides the paddlefish, which ranged from 37 to 48 inches measured from the eye
to the fork of the tail, fisheries biologists found approximately 100 other dead fish of other species,
including black bass and catfish. They said evidence points to a combination of contributing factors. Hot
weather was the primary factor in the kill, according to Conservation Department Fisheries Regional
Supervisor Chris Vitello.
The City of Springfield uses water from the lake to cool its electric generating plant. Paddlefish swim
upstream to spawn in the spring, congregating below dams and other manmade barriers. Normally,
paddlefish would swim back downstream to escape adverse conditions, but a drop in the river's level
trapped them as water temperatures rose, and dissolved oxygen levels fell.
"This is an unusual set of circumstances," said Vitello. "It's late in the season to have paddlefish up by
the dam, and early in the year to have such hot weather. Plus, the fish didn't have anyplace to go.
Without any one of those factors, we probably wouldn't have had a fish kill."
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