Round Lake in Van Buren County

General musky fishing discussions and questions.

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esox64
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:42 pm
Location: Alsip, IL
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Round Lake in Van Buren County

Post by esox64 » Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:10 pm

On Saturday, I attended a fishing swap meet in Alsip, IL and was informed by one of the vendors that Round Lake had a fish kill last Fall. The vendor claimed to be a property owner on Big Crooked lake and stated that the Round Lake Homeowners Association hired a contractor in the Fall of 2015 to kill off the weeds in Round Lake. According to this vendor the contractor over dosed the lake with weed killer and the lake sustained a big fish kill. Is there any factual truth to this vendor's claim or is this all bull?

Scott Williams
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Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 12:28 pm
Location: SWMI

Re: Round Lake in Van Buren County

Post by Scott Williams » Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:05 pm

Have not heard of this myself... but very curious to hear if this is confirmed.

esox64
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:42 pm
Location: Alsip, IL
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Re: Round Lake in Van Buren County

Post by esox64 » Mon Feb 22, 2016 4:53 pm

Here is the reply email that I received from Brian Gunderman of the Michigan DNR:

The only fish kill report I received from Round Lake last year was in early June and consisted of bluegills, largemouth bass, crappies, and bullheads. Our crew was conducting fish surveys on Crooked and Little Crooked lakes around the time of the fish kill report on Round Lake. As you probably know, water from these lakes flows through a culvert into Round Lake. Many of the bluegills and a few of the largemouth bass captured during our sampling efforts had symptoms consistent with a disease called columnaris. This disease is caused by a type of bacteria that is found in waters throughout the state. The disease outbreaks on Round and Crooked lakes started about 1-2 weeks after herbicide treatments. My interpretation is that a combination of spawning exertions, temperature fluctuations, and exposure to the herbicides stressed the fish and made them more susceptible to columnaris. I did not receive any reports of dead muskellunge on Round Lake and I did not receive any complaints of poor fishing after the kill.

Brian Gunderman

Acting Southern Lake Michigan Unit Supervisor

Michigan Department of Natural Resources – Fisheries Division

621 N. 10th Street

Plainwell, MI 49080

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