Update on Lake Auman's Water temperature and conditions for fish.

Paul Kirst

On August 10^th, after a week of temperatures topping out daily in the range of 103-106 degrees F, the water temperatures of Lake Auman reached what I believe are all time record highs for the lake. The surface temperature was 90.7 out in the open lake, 91.9 at my dock and 93.4 in a shallow cove. 

There has been some speculation that with high summer temperatures there would be low amounts of dissolved oxygen in the coves and possibly cause a fish kill.  All the fish in our lake thrive at oxygen values at or above 5.0 mg/L.  The cove with the surface temp of 93.4 had a dissolved oxygen content of 7.1 mg/L on the surface, 7.1 at a depth of 2 feet, 11.4 at 4 ft. and 10.7 on the bottom at 5 feet.  At those same depths in the open lake the oxygen content was a uniform 7.0 mg/L.  The cove had more oxygen than anywhere else in the lake, probably because of the abundance of oxygen producing aquatic vegetation in the shallows.  Bluegills in the weedy coves were abundant and active.  Bluegills can survive temperatures up to 96.8, bass up to 95.9 and catfish up to 95.  Of course the water temperature cools significantly at depths below 10 ft., so our fish population is not likely to be threatened by extreme summer conditions.