Unusual surface feeding carp

I fished one of my regular lakes over the weekend and did ok saturday afternoon / early evening then it went unusually dead overnight.

I woke up at 7am to find the lake shrowded in mist and the water looked really soupy. On closer inspection i could see all round the margins on my swim's side of the lake (where the wind was blowing) tens, if not hundreds, of carp sitting on the surface sucking in and blowing out the water. I've never seen so many carp laying on the surface before. I could not see what they were feeding on so tried feeding floating pellets etc but they had no interest at all.

I setup a controller float and managed to get the pellets and cut-down pop-ups right over their mouths and actually managed to hook a nice double more by chance of it sucking in than it going for the bait. I later changed to a free line and hooked another couple of doubles but again think this was more luck than them going for the bait.

Does anyone have any idea what they were feeding on, was it some kind of larvae? if i'd have known what is was and could have mimicked with a fly setup or something i would have cleaned up - all the fish i managed to take off the surface were a decent size. One of you clever folks must have some ideas??!! thanks, John.

They were not feeding.

The lake has an oxygenation problem.

They could well be dead now.And your fishing for them was not a good idea, even if it was in ignorance.

Did you let anyone know? If not, do it now.

that is worrying. one question though - if it is an oxygenation problem why were they all in the shallowest part of the lake, would there not be more oxygen in the deeper water areas?

John
I think the answer lies in the fact that the wind was blowing that way.
Have you reported it? Will the club/owner be aware?

sounds likely. yes have just emailed the fishery, thanks for pointing it out. what would they be able to do about it?

don't email them, phone them and do it now.
They may be able to get some aeriators or pumps to put some oxygen back in the water

yep i tried calling but they are closed. will buzz them tomorrow. of course now i kinda feel bad about the 3 i caught....

not really your fault if you didn't know, but now you do, so it's something for you to be aware of, especially in this weather and for you to inform others in the future