Smallmouth Bass (edit: Multi-Species) - What’s Happening?

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I also caught a few smallmouth bass this summer with sores on their mouth and side. It was only a few fish out of close to 100 on that trip, however, its concerning some anglers are observing the problem at much higher rates now. Fish caught and released are prone to bacterial infections, especially when the hook wound is major. Some fish are handled poorly and lose their protective slime that helps prevent infections. When fish are stressed infections increase, the stress can result from a combination of factors. I have also caught numerous skinny smallmouth bass this year, this might be explained by increased competition for crayfish as shad numbers have decreased. Any fish not getting enough to eat will be more susceptible to infections. As others have suggested, the algae bloom this year could be aggravating the problem, contributing to higher stress and infections. Viral infections are also a possibility, I will be consulting with our fish heath experts that focus on fish pathogens and disease, I will seek their advice and report back here. We will be conducting electrofishing surveys September 19-23, at Wahweap, San Juan, Bullfrog, and Good Hope, this will help us estimate how widespread the problem is. Our fish health folks might have us collect some samples to look over in the lab. Thank you for brining this issue to our attention, I hope its just stress related and will improve soon, perhaps when the water cools, again I will report back.
 
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I'm currently at Stanton Creek and have been fishing Halls, Moki, Knowles and Tapestry. I've caught striper, walleye, smb and lmb and have not come across this here. Most of the larger striper are skinny although, a handful of them have been healthy. But aside from the floating fish, all looks good up here.


Edit: I should also mention that my sample size is over 100 fish since I've been here.
 
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Dan Keller said:
I also caught a few smallmouth bass this summer with sores on their mouth and side. It was only a few fish out of close to 100 on that trip, however, its concerning some anglers are observing the problem at much higher rates now. Fish caught and released are prone to bacterial infections, especially when the hook wound is major. Some fish are handled poorly and lose their protective slime that helps prevent infections. When fish are stressed infections increase, the stress can result from a combination of factors. I have also caught numerous skinny smallmouth bass this year, this might be explained by increased competition for crayfish as shad numbers have decreased. Any fish not getting enough to eat will be more susceptible to infections. As others have suggested, the algae bloom this year could be aggravating the problem, contributing to higher stress and infections. Viral infections are also a possibility, I will be consulting with our fish heath experts that focus on fish pathogens and disease, I will seek their advice and report back here. We will be conducting electrofishing surveys September 19-23, at Wahweap, San Juan, Bullfrog, and Good Hope, this will help us estimate how widespread the problem is. Our fish health folks might have us collect some samples to look over in the lab. Thank you for brining this issue to our attention, I hope its just stress related and will improve soon, perhaps when the water cools, again I will report back.
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Thanks for the response Dan. Im not a biologist but bases on our observations I believe it's a food source issue.
 
We fished the San Juan in June and July, and are on our second day this trip. We caught a number of SMB with the lesions on previous trips. We’re guessing about 10-15% of the fish on previous trips had the lesions, and it was only SMB we noticed on. Yesterday we caught around 30 fish and only 1 SMB had lesions.

Every trip fish have generally been skinny. The friend with us keeps saying the stripers we catch look emaciated.

Unfortunately the mussels are fairing much better. Hadn’t really noticed the on the SJ much the past few years but seeing lots of evidence of them this trip.
 
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Here is an update on what we found electrofishing: At Lake Powell we primarily use electrofishing as a tool for sampling young of year Bluegill Sunfish, Green Sunfish, Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass. The steeply sloping shoreline and minimal littoral vegetation allows quick access to deeper water, resulting in most of the larger fish avoiding capture, however we caught a good sample of larger bass. Between our four sampling sites (Good Hope, Rincon, San Juan, Wahweap) we looked over hundreds of age 1-2 bass and some older ones, very few showed any signs of infections or other health concerns (besides many being skinny). We did find one Largemouth Bass with an old wound on its mouth that healed up fine, likely catch and release wound, and two Smallmouth Bass with minor lesions around their mouths, no large open sores. For now, the majority of fish show no health concerns, at least where we sampled. The fact that anglers reported high concentrations in localized areas leads me to believe that the stress of warm water, lower D.O., low shad density, and algal blooms resulted in isolated areas with lots of bass in poor health. Water temps ranged from 73-76 degrees, still quite warm water, however within a few weeks temps should drop into the 60's where smallmouth bass will be much more comfortable and their health will improve. I encourage anyone that catches fish with sores to continue to post pictures and a description where caught so we can continue to monitor this issue. Thanks!
 
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I learned the hard way that the bacterial infection that is killing fish in a section of Lake Powel (Padre to mile marker 50ish) can transmit to humans via opens sores and cuts. Its was a nasty and painful infection that lasted for 2 weeks or more. Its in the healing stage now. The finger nail fell off about an hour ago. I should've taken a pic last week, it was scary ugly.🤮

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SeaLegs said:
I learned the hard way that the bacterial infection that is killing fish in a section of Lake Powel (Padre to mile marker 50ish) can transmit to humans via opens sores and cuts. Its was a nasty and painful infection that lasted for 2 weeks or more. Its in the healing stage now. The finger nail fell off about an hour ago. I should've taken a pic last week, it was scary ugly.🤮

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Yikes! Getting off the original topic here, but regardless of where it was acquired, any infection that becomes inflamed should be taken care of immediately! Seems like being around water and humid conditions, is like a breeding ground for a staphylococcus infection. I got one from a mosquito bite in the tropics, and they are very serious. The treatment (along with antibiotics) is to literally rip the scab off daily until scar tissue forms from the inside out. It is not fun!
 
SeaLegs said:
I learned the hard way that the bacterial infection that is killing fish in a section of Lake Powel (Padre to mile marker 50ish) can transmit to humans via opens sores and cuts. Its was a nasty and painful infection that lasted for 2 weeks or more. Its in the healing stage now. The finger nail fell off about an hour ago. I should've taken a pic last week, it was scary ugly.🤮

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WOW
 
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