Thread: Big Head Carp in Red River

Fishermen are complaining that the oxbow lake west of Benton on the Red river is fished out. No one is catching bass, crappie, or bream and a lot of people are at a loss to explain why. The lake is connected to the Red River.

Duponts fish market came and seined part of the lake. They did not catch very many of the above fish or even carp or buffalo which the lake has plenty of. However, they caught a lot of large Big Head Carp. Big Head Carp can get to 95 plus pounds. They are plankton eaters, with eyes set low on the head. They are rarely caught on hook and line. They have a huge oversized head, numerous bones, and a strip of red meat that must be removed before eating. Red River must be full of them also.

The Feb issue of In-Fisherman has a short article on them. You can also find info on them by typing "Big Head Carp" in a Google search. There is no proof that the Big Head Carp is responsible for the lack of bass, or crappie being caught in this oxbow lake.

man--this post got me to thinking--i know, that's very dangerous. but i didn't think i had ever seen a "big head carp". so i did a little research and found a couple of pics of them. and they are kinda weird looking. eyes set really low in their heads. obviously a bottom feeder. i am attaching the pics i found.

anyone out there ever seen or caught one of these??

doc

We had a problem with the Big Head and the city allowed a commerical fisherman to come in and net the Big Heads and Carp it's been going on for many year since the flood of 93 . a average day for him is 2000 lbs. and he does this many times a year it has resulted in better fishing and all fish are growing really good now. Still have them in the lake and he's still netting them. on a three day netting last spring they took over 20,000 lbs of rough fish from the lake. I say way too go GENE....... He does wreck the brush piles ....

About three years ago I saw one for the first time. I was riding around running my jug lines for catfish when something jumped behind my boat in the wake. It was large and in charge and scared the you know what out of me. I went on to see them for a few months and one of them jumped in front of my buddy that was kneeboarding and he bit it. Didn't hit the fish though. I have only seen them at Larto that one summer. Im sure they are still there. I found videos of them on you tube. They are also called asian carp and some places have competitions catching them in nets while riding in boats.

That looks alot like the carp that I have seen on TV...You know those guys who shoot the jumping fish with bows and arrows. I think its the missouri rivers where they do that. You can go to YouTube and watch em. This may be a bad thing for the river. Lets hope they dont make into our lakes.

Can't tell from the pictures if it's the same fish, but you definitely don't want this nemesis in your waters.

YouTube - Asian Carp Invasion Part I

YouTube - Asian Carp Invasion Part II

kev

Toby, I believe those jumping carp are sliver carp. I hope I never run into any of those, it could be a dangerous situation.

"gene"

You tell me Gene but I think this is the same fish. Look at this video on YouTube and make yur decision. Looks like the same fish to me. Yikes


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb8OmEr7VqI

Got to agree with ya Toby. That one at the beginning looks pretty close. Perhaps its aka silver carp. Has anyone ever seen them jumping in the oxbow you're talking about?

"gene"

Hi, I have been newly assigned to the area and have been reading this site to gather information on local fisheries. This is a topic I have some first hand experience with. These are the "jumping" carp that are very bad news for anyone in a boat. In the rivers they like to get in fairly shallow water and if you run a boat through a school of them they jump out of the water. While running catfish lines in the Missouri river a "flying" carp almost knocked a 10 year old boy out of the boat I was riding in. The carp hit him in the chest and if no one was behind him he would have rolled out the back of the boat. Please be careful operating a boat where these things are at. There are two seperate instances where old river rats at home in central MO did not come home and were found later in the river. No one can say for sure what happened since they were on the water alone but one theory is that they were knocked out of the boat while traveling down the river by a carp. These things can easily jump 6 foot out of the water.