I was wondering if anyone has gone since the kill. How much rain did it get? Also wondering how many redfish got killed. In the pics I saw alot of tilapia and bream but it was also hard to tell on some. Thanks Steve

bump

Did anyone even go this weekend?

Yep,, Me and the Little Woman want to See bout Fairfield...any Reports on the Reds there ? I have never seen the lake before and could use some advice !
Thanks

I am thinking on going this Friday. Anyone else going to be there? Has anyone been there?

A buddy of mine went this past weekend and didn't catch squat. they said the dead talapia were clogging up the PP intake. Maybe this rain will invigorate the O2 levels and turn the fish on.

That is what I was thinking.

Is there a ramp that is safe to launch from. I've seen many on this board that have had problems.

A buddy just e-mailed a link to tpwd web site to me with this article. As previously stated not good at all. Hopefully the fact that there has not been a continuing kill is a good sign as hopefully the system is fixing it self and not b/c most of the fish are just already dead. 0 oxygen not good.

News Release
General Media Contact: Business Hours, 512-389-4406

Sept. 9, 2010

Fish Kill on Lake Fairfield
ATHENS — A major fish kill occurred at Lake Fairfield August 25 through 26, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Inland Fisheries biologist Richard Ott.

Fish kills also occurred on Lake Fairfield in 2008 and 2009, but this year’s kill was several weeks earlier and of much greater magnitude.

An estimated 1,255,674 fish were killed, which was higher than previous years (914,189 in 2009 and 121,568 in 2008). The majority of the fish by number were threadfin shad, gizzard shad, and tilapia but also included sunfishes and common carp. However, a substantial number of game fishes were also killed in this event, including an estimated 27,731 red drum; 48,176 largemouth bass; 1,474 channel catfish and 313 flathead catfish.

Luminant Power staff noticed dead fish the morning of August 25 and notified TPWD Inland Fisheries management and Kills and Spills Team (KAST) biologists. TPWD personnel arrived at the scene that afternoon and began assessing the situation to determine the extent of the kill.

Dead fish were located along 12.25 miles of shoreline from the dam to the effluent cove on the west side of the reservoir and to Big Brown Creek cove on the east shoreline. Dead fish were also abundant on the surface throughout the lower half of the reservoir.

Water quality datasondes (electronic data-gathering devices) were deployed in the northwest cove (within the kill zone) and offshore of the south boat ramp (outside the kill zone) to provide water temperature and dissolved oxygen data at 30-minute intervals over a several-week period. Six detailed shoreline counts and eight open-water transects of dead fish were conducted in randomly selected sections to allow estimation of the total kill.

Water quality data collected at Lake Fairfield on August 25 indicated extensive areas of lower-than-normal dissolved oxygen in the areas where the fish kill occurred. Dissolved oxygen levels below 5 mg/L cause stress and levels below 3 mg/L are fatal to most species of fish.

Daytime dissolved oxygen levels of 0-3 mg/L were recorded August 25 and dropped to 0 mg/L that night. Datasondes documented additional low-oxygen events from August 31- September 2 and again from September 4 to 8, but no additional fish kills have been reported.

The numbers of red drum and largemouth bass killed were considerably above the 2009 fish kill estimates of 1,579 red drum and 1,928 largemouth bass and 2008 estimates of 3,718 red drum and 257 largemouth bass. To put these numbers in perspective, anglers only harvested an estimated 1,329 red drum and 211 largemouth bass during the September 2008 through May 2009 creel survey. TPWD has stocked over 6.2 million red drum in Fairfield since 1984, and anglers spent over 9,000 hours seeking them at Lake Fairfield during the six-month creel survey in 2008-2009.

Normally microscopic plants called phytoplankton produce oxygen using a process called photosynthesis during daylight hours and increase oxygen concentration enough to compensate for respiration (oxygen use) by those same phytoplankton and fish as well as bacterial decomposition. However, during periods of cloudy weather, sunlight (measured as solar radiation) is reduced; oxygen consumption remains high but oxygen production is greatly reduced. When cloudy weather lasts for several days and oxygen concentration falls below the minimum level to support aquatic life, fish begin to die.

Because the watershed for Lake Fairfield is small relative to lake volume, make-up water is pumped from the Trinity River to maintain elevation. Trinity River water is high in nutrients, which are further concentrated in Lake Fairfield due to evaporation and lack of water discharge through the dam. This high level of nutrients contributes to high phytoplankton and fish production in Lake Fairfield but also contributes to dissolved oxygen depletion during cloudy weather.

TPWD biologists began to unravel the ecological factors contributing to fish kills on Lake Fairfield in fall 2009. By combining oxygen data from the datasondes with solar radiation data from a local weather station, biologists were able to understand the mechanisms leading to repeated kills at Lake Fairfield.

In late August and September, water temperature and bacterial activity are still high but day length shortens incrementally. In power-plant reservoirs such as Fairfield, water temperature and day length can become out of phase and increase the probability of fish kills.

Similar fish kills have also been reported at other power-plant lakes such as Victor Braunig and Calaveras near San Antonio but are of much lower magnitude than those at Lake Fairfield.

“It is unknown how the present fish kill will affect the fishery at Lake Fairfield,” Ott said. “TPWD staff will conduct additional fish sampling at Lake Fairfield this fall and next spring. Staff will be able to compare catch rates and size distribution to sampling in fall 2008 and spring 2009 and will be better able to assess the population effects to each species.”

Additional information about the kill and comparative size distribution of fishes involved over the past three years is available on the Inland Fisheries District 3-C Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TPWDIFTyler

The TPWD Kills and Spills Team is a group of biologists who respond to pollution reports or natural incidents that threaten state fish or wildlife resources. If you see dead or dying fish or wildlife or pollution threatening fish and wildlife, please contact the 24-hour Communication Center at (512) 389-4848, or contact your local game warden.

Additional information about KAST is available at http://archive.tpwd.state.tx.us/landwater/water/environconcerns/kills_and_spills/index.phtml.

Questions about the Lake Fairfield fishery should be directed to District Biologist Richard Ott at (903)-566-2161, richard.ott@tpwd.state.tx.us

went today.... drove 2 hours from dallas .. never had been and the little woman was on board to catch some Red's... neither of us had ever caught fresh water Red's... so we get to the State park and the lady says there has been a huge fish kill and there is a sign on the window says Warning Extreemly Hot Water in the Lake,,, so I had to ask... the Fish Lost were Estimated to be Around 1.2 Million in Number and the Water Temps were said to have reached 97 degrees... so I asked if there wany Fish Left in the lake and she said she thought there were.. she also said the lake was 4 feet low and if I were going to launch I should go try the far Ramp at the back of the park... ( I heard her say Try" to launch.. so We get back there and there are two trucks trying to pull 1 boat out of the water.. his tires went of the ramp in the water and the bottom of the trailer was dragging... eager to try my new cannon mag 10's I started to get things ready when I realized that I had left Fish Tv at home on the Kitchen Tabls.. ( fish TV is Humminbird 788ci... so that was the deciding factor..Boat never got wet... Put my tail between my legs and drove 2 more hours back home... I still want to go back there..wondering where other axcess is besides the state park ? .. all for now ..

"I still want to go back there..wondering where other axcess is besides the state park ?"

No other ramps on that lake. Just the bad ramp and the terrible ramp. Between the ramps and the fish kills I cant get to excited about fairfield. I cant see TPWD investing to much more money in that lake given the current state budget situation.

No other access Whiskey Bob. What size boat do ya have? Does the trailer have skid plates at the axles? I still would have fished the coves there were you could walk. I'll be out there in 2-3 weeks trying the North ramp myself.

We have fished FF 3 times this year and limited 4-5 people 2 times and caught some fish on the 3rd trip. We troll with DD22 and Rapala #8 blue glass shadraps. Lots of people use shrimp, just to cheap to by bait. The TP&WD put rocks at the end of the far ramp. It is rough, but I can load and unload my 22' Pontoon. No poontoon jokes please!

When were you there?

( No other access Whiskey Bob. What size boat do ya have? Does the trailer have skid plates at the axles?) Well,P.B., Perhaps I should have tried from the bank or at least waded out a bit...I know the water was warm enough ..lol my boat is kinda heavy Sea Hunt cc...W/ no Skid plates..anyway, I had read a report somewhere that reds were excellent on spoons with downriggers at Calavares and was thinking it might work at Fairfield... but without a depth finder ( left on the kitchen table)it was gonna be kinda silly dragging lead ball's in the mud.. ( no Lead Ball Jokes Please )... but the ramp situation was terrible.. we checked it all the way across the ramps and there were huge holes at the end of the concrete there... I did learn two things..call first to check conditions and don't leave fish tv at home ! ..

has anyone got a report on if the lake is worth fishing right now? was thinking about making the drive this weekend and camping but I don't wanna drive all that way to a dead sea....

Don't make the drive dead sea... hit it on the head.

Just got back from the lake. Water temps from 96.4-110.8. Caught a few bass in the back of the cove by the spillway and the back of the big cove across from the powerplant point. LOts of dead shad and assorted other fish floating everywhere. Plant personnel are cleaning out the strainers at the plant every 30 minutes, removing dead shad and fish to keep plant turbines clear. If you go be prepared to fish reeeaaalllyyy! SLOW. My fish came on jigs, flukes and beavers.

May, June and end July

dewayne ... would you tell me the truth if it was good ??

Just watched Southwest Outdoors--they had a small segment on Fairfield--nothing that hasn't been brought up here though

I wonder what the estimated total population on redfish is there. They said around 28000 died but is that half? 1/10th?

I heard 1.2 million fish............SW Outdoors show.

1.2 million was the amount of the total fish killed(bass, catfish, redfish ect.)

I asked one of the employees at the park when we were out their the first time we saw this 2 or 3 years ago and if I remeber correctly he told us at that time the estimated red fish population was 30k-40k. So for the previous kills that was about 10%. I have no way of knowing whether that is true or not but if it is that may be up to 90% of fish this go round. The breakdown on size didn't look to have as many of the big fish as last time. If someone knows for sure what the population was, especially if it was higher please post it b/c 28k out of 30k is downright depressing.