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• Temperatures that cracked the 100-degree mark last week killed thousands of northern pike in several shallow southern Minnesota lakes. Large numbers of the fish also have died in shallow Wisconsin lakes, and in the James River in southeast North Dakota and northeast South Dakota this past week. Northern pike are vulnerable because they're better suited to cooler temperatures and can't seek refuge in the depths when lakes and streams are less than 6 to 8 feet deep.
• While nobody has tried to keep an exact count of how many fish or lakes and streams have been affected -- and the region's most popular fishing lakes have been spared -- officials warned that Minnesota is likely to see additional die-offs as the summer progresses. Lakes farther north in Minnesota and other species of fish also could be affected if the heat persists, fisheries managers with the Department of Natural Resources said.
• While the region is experiencing something of a respite, temperatures in the high 80s and 90s are still common across the region and long-range forecasts say above-normal temperatures are likely for at least the next couple weeks.
• That means the conditions that caused the recent die-offs in Geneva Lake and Fountain Lake in the Albert Lea area and other parts of southern Minnesota could spread.
• "These things are going to occur," said Henry Drewes, the DNR's regional fisheries manager for northwestern Minnesota in Bemidji, where he said some area lakes have already seen water temperatures in the mid-80s. "There are going to be more fish kills reported in the weeks ahead."
• Fish kills are nothing new in warm summers, said Jack Lauer, the Minnesota DNR's regional fisheries manager in the southern city of New Ulm, who estimates (Continued on page 14)
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