Thread: Asian Carp.. Kentucky Lake how bad?

Originally Posted by mrdux

I am seriously under the impression KY F&W doesn't give a big hairy rat's arse about Asian carp or getting rid of them.They downplay what those of us who are on the lake often are seeing. Maybe if their cash-cow elk herd started dropping dead from some mysterious malady they would be quick to get that under control.

I am really starting to think the Dept's position is it would be so politically incorrect to kill off massive numbers of an invading species that they have just chosen to put their fingers in their ears and yell NANANANANANANA!!! all day, every day.

You are on the water all the time and seem to know what the Fish and Wildlife people are doing and will or will not do. What is your prediction on the future of the fishery?

Originally Posted by mrdux

I am seriously under the impression KY F&W doesn't give a big hairy rat's arse about Asian carp or getting rid of them.They downplay what those of us who are on the lake often are seeing. Maybe if their cash-cow elk herd started dropping dead from some mysterious malady they would be quick to get that under control.

I am really starting to think the Dept's position is it would be so politically incorrect to kill off massive numbers of an invading species that they have just chosen to put their fingers in their ears and yell NANANANANANANA!!! all day, every day.

I completely agree! The same DNR could care less that they have and currently ruining our states waterfowl hunting because of the elk. They are to support all wildlife, not just what's at the top of their project list.
These invasive fish are destroying what has generated decades of tourism dollars for western KY and the state. Oh, that's right, back in the goose hunting haydays, again it generated tourism dollars in western KY and the state.
The elk are out in central and eastern KY so they can hide all the money that western KY is making for the elk!
Won't be long before the state completely ruins public duck hunting and the Asian carp ruin the lakes, they will have to put the elk on Obamacare and food stamps!

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Originally Posted by fishincrazy

You are on the water all the time and seem to know what the Fish and Wildlife people are doing and will or will not do. What is your prediction on the future of the fishery?

I really have a problem with somebody peeing on my shoes and telling me it is raining. The powers that be are putting folks like Paul Rister and the other regional fishery biologists in a really bad situation by asking them to tow the powers-that-be line that there is not a problem.

Let me be perfectly clear to start----I love my country but pretty much hate politicians and those who make the decisions as to where the $$ that is generated from OUR license fees is spent. I pay $95 per year for a Sportsman's license, $150 per year for a commercial guide license, $150 per year for a taxidermist license, plus all the other fees like elk draw and such, not to mention nearly $2000 total to get my Coast Guard Six Pak license. I feel those fees give me the right to express my opinion even if just being a CITIZEN of this once great country doesn't.

NOW--- I have been on top of this carp issue since it left the catfish farms in MS and AR. When it was just a novelty to see a video of some funny fish jumping out of the water, I was saying "OH CRAP!! We have to stop those before they get here!!" I screamed that at anybody who would listen as did thousands of us who depend on the fishery for part of our incomes or just love to boat and fish. We were told then it won't be a problem. When the commercial fishermen met with F&W types at KY DAM after netting nearly 200,000 pounds of the invaders in TWO DAYS, we were told it isn't as bad as we think it is. NOW we have them jumping into boats on KY and Barkely lakes, our bluegill and redear spawn was non-existant, and we can side scan the areas where we have traditionally caught good numbers of big gills and redears and all we see on the screen are 4 foot long shadows of bully invaders that are terrorizing game fish species into leaving those areas even if they claim they are not being eaten by the carp.

This week I watched silver carp jumping in several bays on KY Lake. I got report from friends who are seeing massive schools of bigheads as well as several silvers jumping in major bays on KY. There was recently an article written by Steve VanTreese in the Paducah paper about a family having their pontoon damaged by a big silver that took out the front railing when it jumped into their boat WHILE THEY WERE MOTORING IN THE CUMBERLAND RIVER CHANNEL ON BARKLEY.

IMO, they are taking a whizz on our shoes and telling us it's raining. Folks who should be able to tell us the truth are fearful of their jobs and retirements if they paint the true picture of how bad it is really.

Le t me add this--- this issue is NOT going to go away unless every state that has waterways that connect to the Mississippi drainage gets involved and works together on stopping them. I'm not so foolish to think KY can even make a dent in it by itself. It has to be a national issue. It's much more politically correct to give BILLIONS to take care of illegal invaders who cross our borders but will eventually find a way to vote to give themselves more of our tax $$.

This is a side image screenshot of Barkley last Thursday, the sad part is my screen looked like this for at least couple hundred feet. As I entered shallower water the silver carp were jumping every where behind the boat. Don't know how this is going to effect the crappie fishing, but I've got a few buddies that bass fish and they think the carp is changing the way bass have been found in the past. The bass aren't on the ledges in numbers as in the past, their theory is that the carp is replacing shad so the bass are feeding on baby carp which are not found in the same areas as shad. I think there is some truth in that.

I'm afraid our wildlife officials are not going to do anything until our tourism officials start throwing a fit about tourism dollars suffering from this invasive species ...

Money drives all in today's society ...









Rickie

That bottom screen shot is what pretty much every gill/redear bedding area I scanned this spring looked like.

We have all seen them for years and have told the powers to be. I know personally of someone that has been to the government and told them we have a major problem.
Until one of them or there family are hurt or inconvenienced by these fish there will be nothing done.
What we as sports fishermen need to do is get the local government officials and businesses that are soon gonna be affected by this invasion.
If the local marinas, lodges, campgrounds, and businesses were made aware of how great the problem it and that their tourism is soon to be affected them maybe they will help us out by getting on with us in contacting someone to come see for themselves the true problem.

We put in at the Paris Landing marina this morning and checked out an area just north of the bridge. It was completely covered in carp. We were trolling an area checking out brushpiles that should have been holding crappie. Instead, there were carp swimming everywhere just below the surface. We saw them on the depth finders all day. There was a higher concentration the further north we went.