(ABC 6 News) – If you took a stroll near the Mississippi River recently, you may have seen a striking sight.

Hundreds of dead shad are washing up on shore. But the Minnesota DNR says it’s typical this time of year.

What is less than typically, is that we don’t usually see it, but we can thank this year’s warm weather for that.

— RELATED: Warm winter weather impacts on Minnesota economy —

“There ain’t too many game fish, it’s mostly shad and they always die off in the winter time,” Duane Diggins said.

According to the Minnesota DNR, this is known as seasonal fish die-offs, and it’s due to stress caused by temperature changes.

It’s not only causing a sour smell, but it’s souring local fishing as well.

“From the beginning of winter, we’ve seen a lot of shads come through and they took all the good fish out of the marina here overtake,” Skyler Henry said.

They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, in this case it’s a fish’s gold mine.

“They got so much to eat in this water, they don’t have to bite. It affects you fishing because that’s what they eat, they live on shad.”

Until the ice freezes over, we’ll be seeing some dead shad for quite some time.