Thread: Asian Carp

Originally Posted by rnvinc

14 fish today spider riggin ... Not 1 baitfish in 14 bellies ...

This is scary ...

:-(

Rickie

Your going to be labeled as wanting your cake and ice cream too Rickie.......

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Originally Posted by rnvinc

14 fish today spider riggin ... Not 1 baitfish in 14 bellies ...

This is scary ...

:-(

Rickie

The fish have been that way since early last fall Ricky.
I've had one brief week to 10 day period that I had shad in the fish I cleaned around the end of Febuary and other than that absolutely nothing much to speak of.

Got this big black. Almost sixteen inches. Pound and a half on the scale. Fish this big should be well over two pounds.

I think Pirogue is correct. Some people will complain about losing a $6 crank bait in a commercial fisherman’s net. I’ll risk losing a crankbait or a jig to preserve the fishery. The carp have completely disrupted the food chain. The carp eat the food the baitfish eat. If they have nothing to eat, no baitfish. The crappie eat the baitfish. If no baitfish, then eventually no crappie. No crappie means no need to waste money on cranks and jigs to fish lose in a net.

Look at all the reports and pictures of thin fish. They didnt go on a diet, they dont have enough to eat. No reports of baitfish being seen on sonar. The Crappie USA tournament this past wknd reported the lowest weight ever for Ky/barkley according to the tournament director. My letter of concern is gone to Mr. McConnell and Mr. Paul. If we sit aroumd and do nothing we can only blame ourselves if that is the result we get.

The only way I see to eliminate or reduce carp numbers to the point they dont affect the food chain is to overharvest them. Profitability is the only way to cause that to happen. The federal government is the only pocket deep enough to subsidize commercial fishermen to make it profitable to overharvest. Extra funds are also needed to help KDFWR do their job. I will risk losing a crank bait or two to preserve the fishery. I wish we could unite and work together to help solve the problem before we just sit back and ignore it beyond repair. Any other suggestions out there to do it? Lets talk.


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Chaunc, Nice catch and thanks for posting. Now, I see some Bluegill in the catch. Let me know if these seemed healthy to you. The reason I'm asking is that I want to come down in May/June for a week of Bluegill fishing. If they are skin and bones, I'd like to know. Was there last year and they all seemed OK of what I caught.


Thanks, Jim

Originally Posted by KFC

I think Pirogue is correct. Some people will complain about losing a $6 crank bait in a commercial fisherman’s net. I’ll risk losing a crankbait or a jig to preserve the fishery. The carp have completely disrupted the food chain. The carp eat the food the baitfish eat. If they have nothing to eat, no baitfish. The crappie eat the baitfish. If no baitfish, then eventually no crappie. No crappie means no need to waste money on cranks and jigs to fish lose in a net.

Look at all the reports and pictures of thin fish. They didnt go on a diet, they dont have enough to eat. No reports of baitfish being seen on sonar. The Crappie USA tournament this past wknd reported the lowest weight ever for Ky/barkley according to the tournament director. My letter of concern is gone to Mr. McConnell and Mr. Paul. If we sit aroumd and do nothing we can only blame ourselves if that is the result we get.

The only way I see to eliminate or reduce carp numbers to the point they dont affect the food chain is to overharvest them. Profitability is the only way to cause that to happen. The federal government is the only pocket deep enough to subsidize commercial fishermen to make it profitable to overharvest. Extra funds are also needed to help KDFWR do their job. I will risk losing a crank bait or two to preserve the fishery. I wish we could unite and work together to help solve the problem before we just sit back and ignore it beyond repair. Any other suggestions out there to do it? Lets talk.


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Most of the problem with the nets is that most of them do not follow the guidelines with the floating markers every "x" feet. They only have one on each end. This happened to me on Good Friday at Jonathan Creek.
Regardless, netting is not going to do what everyone wants it to do. These fish are out of control, period. They have destroyed the ecosystem/food chain. These fish are in so poor of condition it is sickening. There is nothing in their stomachs, none of them are showing fat stomachs, their belly and back fat is almost non existent.

Adam, with the lack of food sources, could our population of crappie begin to slow in overall growth, potentially taking longer to reach 10", and possibly living shorter lives due to lack of nutrition?

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Today wasn't a good day on Barkley. We fished pretty hard for about five hours straight and landed one catfish, three bluegill, and about a dozen yellow bass. We were fishing for crappie the majority of time outside of the last hour in which I switched to redworms from minnows. We talked to a half dozen boats and nobody was catching anything. Several boats reported not even getting one bite!!

When leaving Willow Bay today, the Asians were doing aerial acrobatics behind my motor. I'll bet there were a hundred of them in an area the size of a small house. These are big fish, 10-15 pounds or more. We also saw some that were so big they couldn't really get out of the water despite their efforts.

It's just a SCARY SITUATION. A couple of folks told me that these fish actually suck in bluegill, redear, crappie and bass eggs as they swim around in constant gorge mode. We hear of them eating plankton but don't hear of them eating all of the eggs as much??

Originally Posted by bandchaser

Most of the problem with the nets is that most of them do not follow the guidelines with the floating markers every "x" feet. They only have one on each end. This happened to me on Good Friday at Jonathan Creek.
Regardless, netting is not going to do what everyone wants it to do. These fish are out of control, period. They have destroyed the ecosystem/food chain. These fish are in so poor of condition it is sickening. There is nothing in their stomachs, none of them are showing fat stomachs, their belly and back fat is almost non existent.

Adam, with the lack of food sources, could our population of crappie begin to slow in overall growth, potentially taking longer to reach 10", and possibly living shorter lives due to lack of nutrition?

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Other than commercial fishermen....what kind of plan do you have ??
If I was as concerned as you seem to be....I wouldn't care if there was an unmarked net every 50 yards across every bay on the lake. Gripe about the carp.....gripe about skinny fish....gripe about hanging up on nets.
Typical.

P