Hundreds of dead fish fouling lake

Something’s fishy at Canyon Lake. Roadside overlooks boast red rock cliffs plunging into sparkling blue water. One does not suspect what a closer look reveals: Hundreds or even thousands of dead fish lying or floating along the lake’s rocky shoreline.

At the Acacia picnic site on Saturday afternoon, some 50 people sat chatting on the beach or wading in the shallow waters. Children as young as four splashed around just beyond the belt of small, dead fish lining the water’s edge.

Bill McCartney, a fisherman from Phoenix, identified the silver-colored fish, which ranged from one to six inches long, as a mix of minnows and shad. He said both were varieties that fisherman typically use as bait.

Officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department could not be reached Saturday to explain the deaths.

Duane Cuckler of Apache Junction said he’s been kayaking regularly in Canyon Lake for the past year and has never before noticed such a fish kill.

Local triathletes are concerned. Jeff Banas, a Gilbert triathlon coach and physician, said he and fellow athletes went to swim at the lake on Thursday, but were deterred by the gruesome sight along the shore. Some did swim Saturday morning but remained uneasy about what might be contaminating the lake.

Racers planning to compete in the Ford Ironman Arizona Triathlon on April 15 in Tempe have precious little training time left.

On Saturday afternoon, Francisco Rodriguez stood in a motorboat near the shore with family and friends.

“(The fish kill) makes us think the water’s contaminated,” he said. “But it doesn’t bother us too much.”

But Sergio Quezada of Phoenix, a swimmer, was more hesitant. He decided not to swim this visit, sitting instead at the shore’s edge and staring out at the view. He wondered why only small fish had died and washed ashore.

In April 2005, biologists linked a toxic algae to more than 2,000 dead fish in Saguaro Lake, northwest of Canyon Lake. A toxic species of golden algae was killing threadfin shad, the typical first victims of toxic algae.

The toxic algae also was found in Gilbert’s Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch that year.