Hello everyone, I am new to the board and wanted to say what a wealth of information to be found here. Thanks to all who contribute. I wanted to get some opinions from those who fish Oxbow's off the Miss. River. I have been fishing these lakes for 40+ years and it seems to me that since the Asian Carp were released into this river system the crappie fishing have been on the decline. The worst of it over the past several years with this year topping the list. I know we have had a lot of high water for a longer time than normal and fishing has been tough but when conditions are suppose to be right not many fish are being caught. I have read all I can on these nusiece preditors and can not help but beleive they are destroying the crappie stocks in this river system. Thoughts?

Welcome Oxbow, I don't know that much about asian carp, but I know they CAN NOT be helping any of the other populations...

We need to establish a commercial market for them so the commercial fishermen will help us out.

Asian Carp - Boo, Hisssss, Boo.

My understanding is that they are filter feeders thereby taking out the food for the shad/bait fish. Once the shad decline, the game fish are next. MSDWFP and game and fish in general has been pretty slow to react to this IMO. Don't know of anything out there put out by anyone as a measure to control or erradiate them. Guessing they are here to stay and the best you can hope for is that they don't make it to your water shed.

Lot of annectdotal reports of fisheries declining where they show up as well.

Wannabe...

They actually are not predetors but are filter fish they consume large amounts of alge and other floating alge the same thing shad feed on they basically eat more than the shad and in a matter of time the shad die off. Other preadetors Bass , cats start feeding on crappie and it doesnt take long for this to happen.You wind up with a dead lake. As far as crappie go.

The Asian Silver Carp aka the "jumping carp" are a real danger to both boaters and the ecosystems we so proudly fish. Introduced to Mississippi fish farms in the 70's to clean up the ponds; they escaped to the river systems with the floods of the early 90's. Ferocious plankton eaters....they consume around 40% of their body weight in that vital nutrient that support shad and other bait fish. They have made their way up to Illinois and being cold water lovers; the folks up north are worried they'll infect the Great Lakes. And like you guys have said......no bait fish no crappie or other sport fishes. I'm not sure if anyone knows how to control this problem....but we better come up with some answers quick.

__________________
Meet a resonable man halfway everytime....don't meet an unresonable man at all.

A lot of fishermen, me included, think these fish feed on the eggs on the beds. This could explain a rapid decline in fish numbers.

Thanks to all for their replies. In researching this devastating problem I have learned there is a commercial fishing industry on the upper Miss. buying these fish for $.12-$.14/Lb. processing them and sending them overseas to Asian markets where they are a highly prized food source. Another venture capitalist is forming an investment group to launch a processing factory to be built on a barge and have commercial fishermen bring their catch to them. Then their is the researcher in Australia who is trying to develop a strain of this species that will only reproduce male offspring thus eliminating the species over a period of 15-20 years. I certainly do not have an answer but I am afraid the crappie fishing as I have known it on my favorite oxbows may have come to an end. I certainly hope I am wrong.

Where do the Gar at Tunica Cutoff fit into this picture....maybe they are not Asian carp... but it just looks like the gar have just "taken over the lake" . Hope this upcoming tournament will prove otherwise......

Maybe my geography is not too good....what are the major oxbows to be of concern??
I only know Tunica and maybe Lakeview????

my 2 cents....

I fish Mellwood, and the gar are worse in it than in Tunica. The carp aren't as bad yet, but they're getting there.