WHY are my trout jumping out of the pond? Trouticide? Whats the deal?

[kevinvention]

My pond is fed by a large lake. My pond has a creek running out of it back into the lake...

Instead of swimming down the creek and back into the lake, my trout are jumping out and landing on the grass in my yard. This pond is 20 years old and I have never seen any behavior like this before. Last week 9 trout all jumped out and landed in a spot in the middle of a 1 acre yard of grass in the size of a coffee can lid...to which I astutely said WTF??

Any ideas on why trout jump onto land like this? Never seen it before. Thanks in advance if you have the answer.

[mrsllriffel]

it could be that they are jumping at bugs and landing out on the grass. There might not be enuff food source in the pond for them and they are trying to catch bugs. Also another thing is that since you found them all in one place that someone took them out and placed them in the grass. Unless you actully saw them jump then i say its the bugs. If you didn't see them jump I say someone is messing with you.

[icecubez189]

maybe an algae bloom is starving the lake of some oxygen? or maybe some wild animal is taking them out of the lake and putting it there to mess with you.