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The mercury reached 85-degrees Friday morning.
Since the reading came from 6 feet below the surface, at the end of Dan Lee's Chapman Lakes pier, it means the fish are in hot water.
As the Chapman Lakes Conservation Association president, Lee keeps a weather eye on lake conditions. He's interested in how things are above and in the water. Taking the lake's temperature each day is just one way to monitor conditions.
"I predict a lot of fish kills," Lee said. "Some die from spawning stress and the heat just adds to that. There are already 25 to 30 trash fish carp and suckers - floating on Big Chapman.
"I'm no scientist, but I don't think this is good."
Ed Braun is a scientist, and he agrees with Lee's predictions of increased fish mortality.
"This will lead to a bunch of kills and there's not a darned thing you can do about it," the District 4 field biologist said.
Lake temperatures are usually in the mid to high 60s in June. Normally, water temperatures don't reach the mid-80s until late July and August.
The first signs of increasing temperatures are major algae bloom, resulting in green-looking water, and an increase in the number of fish that die.
Heat reduces the amount of dissolved oxygen available for the fish to breathe. It's spawning - egg-laying - season for many species and that's stressful enough.
Warm water is a stress; less oxygen is a stress; being handled is stressful, too.
Braun said it's really early to be this hot and there are a lot of bass tournaments scheduled this month. The more fish the anglers handle, the higher the rate of fish mortality. They'll swim away fine, and die from handling a couple of days later.
"Bass should be done spawning, so they'll move to cooler water, we hope.
"Just like in humans, stress in fish leads to lowered immune system, to disease, to exhaustion."
A few dead fish here and there don't alarm biologists. If hundreds in an area start to die, they'll be very concerned.
Many area lakes were treated with systemic herbicides designed to kill Eurasian Watermilfoil in May. The chemicals work very, very slowly.
"The dying vegetation isn't going to cause oxygen depletion. We hope. The way this weather is, it may cause problems. We're not sure yet.
"There's nothing we can do about it," Braun said. "All we can do is say, 'Yep, it's happening.'"
Indiana Department of Natural Resources biologists can be reached at the Tri Lakes Fisheries Station in Columbia City. Braun oversees the southern half of Kosciusko County lakes, Center, Pike and Winona, plus the lakes in 14 other counties. Jeb Pearson manages lakes north of U.S. 30 and in other counties.
On the Net:
www.chapmanlake.com
