No Fish on the Lower Black!!!!!

[Zeke-BE]

We actually go right below where the White and Black merge and usually fish the upper most part of the Salt. We drove in last night and a couple of guys in a white Tundra flagged us down and told us there are no fish!! I thought he was joking because in a half day I can catch 30-60 fish in this area. Then he said " I bulls**t you not" went on and said there is alot of orange algae and the fish have parasites! Went on and said there are 6 other fishermen down there now and they have been there all day and haven't caught one fish. They themselves went after it for 2 hours and didn't catch fish and left that night. We got down there and talked to the fishermen and they confirmed it to be true. Well shoot we are already there so we camped anyways and it was dinner time. This morning where we camp the water is slow moving and usually in the morning you can see and hear the fish all morning jumping and surfacing. NOT One! We went out for 20 mins, by this time the rest of the other fishersmen broke camp and left and usually after 5-10 cast we catch stuff. Nope nothing! So we took everyones word and broke camp.

 

So whats the deal???? Something I missed?? Something killed them off because there are hundreds of fish in there and not one.

[trphyhntr]

if none of them caught fish how did they know they have parasites?

[Zeke-BE]

if none of them caught fish how did they know they have parasites?

 

I guess let me do a better job of explaining because I suck at it. When I mean nobody caught fish I meant nothing was really caught! The guys said when they talked to the other fisher guys they caught one and only saw one more in the river. They claimed it had little worms in the fish. The other 4 guys didn't see or catch a thing in 6 hours of fishing. The parasites is just hearsay!! The guys in the Tundra said all their food source was gone and talked about weird bugs that the bass usually eat. I never bothered with those items because I just use crank bait. Nonetheless regardless what it is there is almost no fish in there. The worst day I had there fishing was 25 fish caught! When everybody between 13 people only catch 1 you can just say no fish in this river. But 13 guys and only 1 fish there is something wrong!

[Couzer]

Wondering if it was poisoned by tribal G&F to clear out non native fish?

[Coach]

It's really sad - I've been fishing the Black for decades. It's one of the reasons I moved out of the valley a long time ago so I could be closer for fun Spring fishing.

 

Not sure where to start - there are a lot of people who keep everything they catch. That doesn't help, but the health of the river has been declining due to the fires. Seems now there's a build-up of sludge all along the river. The smallmouth population is tied directly to the amount of crawfish in the creek/river. I used to carry only a pole and a few hooks, and catch crawdads for bait. With all the muddy sediment now it's hard to even catch a few crawdads. No crawdads, no food supply for the smallies, other than the bugs that fall into the water. That protein-rich, always-available food source is the sole reason the fish grow so fast and always replentish.

 

Then there's the stingy gray/green moss. This is new to me since the wallow fire.

 

The parasites have always been there - not sure why. Years ago I learned that if I was keeping a fish to eat, you had to clean it really well - those little things that look like seeds in the flesh are worm-like parasites. Probably dead after a good frying, but I don't take chances with them.

[Zeke-BE]

It's really sad - I've been fishing the Black for decades. It's one of the reasons I moved out of the valley a long time ago so I could be closer for fun Spring fishing.

 

Not sure where to start - there are a lot of people who keep everything they catch. That doesn't help, but the health of the river has been declining due to the fires. Seems now there's a build-up of sludge all along the river. The smallmouth population is tied directly to the amount of crawfish in the creek/river. I used to carry only a pole and a few hooks, and catch crawdads for bait. With all the muddy sediment now it's hard to even catch a few crawdads. No crawdads, no food supply for the smallies, other than the bugs that fall into the water. That protein-rich, always-available food source is the sole reason the fish grow so fast and always replentish.

 

Then there's the stingy gray/green moss. This is new to me since the wallow fire.

 

The parasites have always been there - not sure why. Years ago I learned that if I was keeping a fish to eat, you had to clean it really well - those little things that look like seeds in the flesh are worm-like parasites. Probably dead after a good frying, but I don't take chances with them.

 

Thats what the guy said in the Tundra he didn't see one crawdad

[stanley]

Wow, that sucks! Also strange since some of the guys were posting some pretty darn good reports earlier this past summer. Bummer!!!!

 

Like a lot of folks, I used to go up there at least once per year. We would fish up higher than the White/Black confluence, but still the lower portion of the river. Of course used to be outstanding. This summer we had pretty good luck again in some of our old favorite areas. Seemed like maybe it was finally starting to come back. Sucks if it is taking a turn for the worse....

[FancyRedneck]

With the algae and lack of food source do you think that the water temp might also have something to do with it? We used to fish that part of the river every spring and between 3-6 guys would quit fishing in the early afternoon from catching so many fish. We decided to fish a different spot this last year and the difference in size was noticeable , not as many fish but bigger fish.

[trphyhntr]

The old fish kill to keep people from hitting the spot trick. You ain't fooling me, I'll see ya there this weekend

[Coach]

She's Crafty!

[Zeke-BE]

The old fish kill to keep people from hitting the spot trick. You ain't fooling me, I'll see ya there this weekend

 

 

Please go and message me if your catching anything

[hoghntr]

I haven't fished it in 20-25 years and fish had parasites then. Little things that look like sesame seed they enter around fins and when filleting fish I would cut these little "seeds" out and ten fish in I realized my seeds were crawling away. 😧

[jjwilli1]

My friends and I have been up to the Black 4 times this year most recently in early October and fishing was lights out every single trip! Although we never fish near where the black turns into the salt like you described. Hopefully the algae bloom and parasites dont move further up river too far.

[Zeke-BE]

My friends and I have been up to the Black 4 times this year most recently in early October and fishing was lights out every single trip! Although we never fish near where the black turns into the salt like you described. Hopefully the algae bloom and parasites dont move further up river too far.

 

My hopes are that its just coming off the white river and its not directly off the black