All rights reserved. If you're a bass fisherman who reads the magazines of the sport, you've no doubt been concerned about the frequent reports of the largemouth bass virus. LMBV has resulted in fish kills in major lakes stretching from central Texas to North Carolina in recent years. Alabama has not been immune.
Biologists believe the disease has resulted in one fish kill in Alabama thus far.
That occurred in 1998 on Lake Eufaula. The LMBV was for years believed to be a warm-water, Southern lake problem. Then, last year, the virus was found in Lake George, a 525-acre natural lake on the Indiana Michigan border. The LMBV has struck fear in marina owners, fishing guides and others who make a living from bass fishing. Recreational anglers have been worried as well.