Humboldt Lake may smell a little fishy.

Over the last few weeks, large amounts of winter kill fish have been reported to be floating to the surface or have washed up on the shore of Humboldt Lake. Gord Sedgewick, fishery biologist for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment says it could have something to do with the long winter.

"If there is a complete snow cover for a long time, the sun can't get through the ice for the aquatic vegetation. So the vegetation may have died and decomposed, which takes up oxygen," said Sedgewick.

According to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment in a 2012 report, Due to the lakes' shallow nature and extensive algae blooms, Humboldt Lake has experienced occasional winter and summer fish kills, with the last die-off reported in April 2005.

Due to those occasional winter kills, since 1924 the lake has been continuously restocked by the Ministry of Environment walleye, pike, and perch due to the winter kill year in and year out.

"We couldn't do a walleye spawn camp this year due to the Pandemic, but we've got Humboldt on the list for 500,000 walleye for June of 2021."

Tests are being conducted on the fish by conservation officers to determine the exact cause of death. There is no exact number of the fish that have died.