HURON, Ohio — Lake Erie gizzard shad don't like chilly water, a bonus for fishermen when water temperature slowly ebbs at this time of year.

Chronicle/Ken StevensA Michigan Department of Natural Resources official said a hard winter likely is what caused a large fish kill on Mona Lake. Thousands of gizzard shad were found along the shore.

For decades, sturgeon numbers have fallen in the Great Lakes. But in recent years, the ancient species has been coming back.

A gizzard shad, seen here bleeding at the sides and mouth, lies dead on a sand and pebble beach near Saint Joseph, Ont. Grisly images like these are why scientists suspect VHS might be behind the ...

Submitted photo A reader sent this photo of dead fish along the shoreline of Lake Milton. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Division of Wildlife, said they are gizzard shad and were ...

But the word had leaked out: The lake trout were beginning to show up. And that had the anglers willing to put up with the weather. I first heard about this fishery from Rich Ignatowski, ...

Cutting in on Lake Winnebago at Quinney; ... So there is the potential that there may be a good number of gizzard shad, kind of closer to shore, compared to most other years," she said.

And in August, while fisheries biologists were doing exploratory electrofishing at the lake, they found 91 gizzard shad. Electrofishing temporarily stuns fish.

While fishermen covet Lake Erie’s walleye and yellow perch, the hundreds of common and red-breasted mergansers present on this day were after different fishy fare: emerald shiners and gizzard shad.

Image | dead gizzard shad. Caption: A gizzard shad, seen here bleeding at the sides and mouth, ... Ont. Dead fish have been washing up in unusually large numbers this spring on Lake Huron, ...

Scientists suspect a deadly virus is behind an unusually large number of fish deaths in Lake Huron this spring, where thousands of carcasses have been washing up on Ontario beaches and shorelines from ...