Massive Fish Kill.. ( Carp )

Last weekend me and josh were fishing up in the North West corner of CT for bass and we stumbled upon one of the worst things ive ever witnessed on a fishing trip. First we smelled what we figured to be a dead fish.. as we got closer we saw what looked like a bone yard. Every rock had between one and 4 dead carp for about a 50 yard stretch. There were some that were still alive but just barely with there eyes burnt from the sun and wounds from the vultures all over there bodies.

To our left was a small waterfall that fish cant get past so when the water level came up they tried to go around to the right and when the water went back down they all got trapped. We found one pool no bigger than 4x5 feet that had 6 dead fish in it and one that looked very alive and somewhat healthy. There were maggets all over the place and the smell was terrible but i felt like it was my duty to save this fish. As i tried to grab its tail it would shake me off. Still had alot of strength which made me want to try that much more because i knew this fish had a chance to survive.

This carp was about 16-18 lbs maybe a bit more and trying to grab him from that nasty water was proving almost impossible. I snagged his lip with my grub just to keep him in front of me but that didnt work and he broke the line. By then i was getting pissed and i just reached in and flipped him onto the rocks.  With fish in hand i started walking back to the river and josh started to film it.  The fish probably wouldnt have made it another day so i think we were just in time. As i got him to the nice cool running water he swam right away down river.  I hope he makes it but i guess only time will tell.

Josh went back up to film some of the devastation. I know that carp is some what of a junk fish but its sad to see that with any kind of fish. There were literally around 100 dead carp and in that small river that could easily be more than half the population in that section. Makes me wish we were there a few days sooner. Maybe we could have saved some more.  I will post the video once its uploaded.