I'm not a fan of carp. My favorite canoeing spot is so infested with carp, I constantly hit a carp with every stroke of the paddle. Wouldnt be so bad, but they get so huge. They knock into the bottom of my canoe. Now I'm willing to bet if i was looking for carp, id never see one........
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Pesty Carp
- Thread starter meopilite
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The local lake here is invested with carp (I think they call them buffalo carp)......
Made me curious just now, so I read up on them a bit. Not really carp at all - they are buffalo fish. They spawn in the vegetated shallows by the thousands. Some folks I know make a point of catching some every spring and planting them in their vegetable garden. Supposedly makes some monster tomatoes. They're easy targets for bow fishing when they're spawning. I've been thinking of heading out there with a frog gig and spearing a few for my tomatoes.
Last winter, I ran into a crew out there who were netting the buffalo fish. The refuge was trying to see if they could thin those fish out by developing a market for them. I never heard another thing about it, but I haven't asked either. Might have to bring that up, next time I;m at the visitor's center.
Made me curious just now, so I read up on them a bit. Not really carp at all - they are buffalo fish. They spawn in the vegetated shallows by the thousands. Some folks I know make a point of catching some every spring and planting them in their vegetable garden. Supposedly makes some monster tomatoes. They're easy targets for bow fishing when they're spawning. I've been thinking of heading out there with a frog gig and spearing a few for my tomatoes.
Last winter, I ran into a crew out there who were netting the buffalo fish. The refuge was trying to see if they could thin those fish out by developing a market for them. I never heard another thing about it, but I haven't asked either. Might have to bring that up, next time I;m at the visitor's center.
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Anybody ever paddle through the carp that fly out of the water? I haven't yet but they are getting closer to us on the Mississippi.
It's quite an experience to have a carp, seemingly out of nowhere, fly out of the water and land in your lap !
I've experienced it while on Project AWARE in Iowa. Four times, all about 4#.
We were on the Big Sioux River, a tributary of the Missouri river, during a river clean up. The aluminum canoes seemed to attract more carp. These are the Asian carp that escaped from Arkansas.
Little can be done to thin them out. They grow so rapidly, predators have little chance. Spawn when ever they feel the urge. They do NOT bite on a hook, as they are filter feeders. BUMMER ! And easily grow to 50# plus !
They are however tasty, but very boney, and slimey !!!
They are sensitive to electricity, and an electric type of fence, low voltage, is used to prevent them from entering some lakes.
After a while on Project AWARE, many wanted the aluminum canoes, just for the experience of the flying fish.
We are stuck with them!
Jim
I've experienced it while on Project AWARE in Iowa. Four times, all about 4#.
We were on the Big Sioux River, a tributary of the Missouri river, during a river clean up. The aluminum canoes seemed to attract more carp. These are the Asian carp that escaped from Arkansas.
Little can be done to thin them out. They grow so rapidly, predators have little chance. Spawn when ever they feel the urge. They do NOT bite on a hook, as they are filter feeders. BUMMER ! And easily grow to 50# plus !
They are however tasty, but very boney, and slimey !!!
They are sensitive to electricity, and an electric type of fence, low voltage, is used to prevent them from entering some lakes.
After a while on Project AWARE, many wanted the aluminum canoes, just for the experience of the flying fish.
We are stuck with them!
Jim
The silver carp variety of so-called Asian carp are now in all tributaries of the Mississippi River system. I have encountered them numerous times paddling Indiana rivers that flow into the Mississippi such as the White and the Wabash, and even in oxbow lakes that were once part of the Ohio River such as Hovey Lake. They are voracious filter feeders that have no natural predators except man, and they rapidly displace native fish species that can't compete with them.
They jump high out of the water when startled, especially at dusk, and can present a real hazard. I have been physically struck by flying silver carp and had them land in my canoe on multiple occasions. Once, on the White River I must have paddled over a school and spooked them and had more than a dozen fly out of the water simultaneously, several striking the side of my canoe. One leaped over my boat directly in front of my body, clearing both gunwales.
They are large, ugly, slimy, and stink. When they land in the boat, they flop around aggressively and are difficult to get out. I am given to understand that in Indiana it is actually illegal to return one of these to the water.
Here is some info regarding the Asian carp menace:
http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Threats-to-Wildlife/Invasive-Species/Asian-Carp.aspx
They jump high out of the water when startled, especially at dusk, and can present a real hazard. I have been physically struck by flying silver carp and had them land in my canoe on multiple occasions. Once, on the White River I must have paddled over a school and spooked them and had more than a dozen fly out of the water simultaneously, several striking the side of my canoe. One leaped over my boat directly in front of my body, clearing both gunwales.
They are large, ugly, slimy, and stink. When they land in the boat, they flop around aggressively and are difficult to get out. I am given to understand that in Indiana it is actually illegal to return one of these to the water.
Here is some info regarding the Asian carp menace:
http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Threats-to-Wildlife/Invasive-Species/Asian-Carp.aspx
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Another reason to hang on to my old aluminum (pimped in wood) canoe!
All our lakes are full of carp and buffalo. Most of the lakes are 10' max and very muddy with connecting sloughs that make great breeding habitat. Every spring and fall the commercial fisherman from Wisconsin and Eastern Iowa come it with their big flat bottomed boats and nets. Quite the operation. They string out huge nets to basically corral the fish (no gill netting) and then keep closing it in until they're all trapped in a small area. From there they're put into containers and loaded on the trucks to be sent out to fish processing plants.
One group has been in town for the past month and we've been doing the repair work on their vehicles. Nice guys and interesting to talk to. Right now they're cursing the cool weather that's moved in during the past couple weeks as it's really shut them down. They went from getting 30,000 pounds/day to 10,000 if they're lucky. They got at least 150,000 pounds from one 2200 acre lake alone (not in one day). One day they managed to get 4 sheepshead and a handful of carp from another lake. Doesn't seem like weather or strategy would play such a crucial role when you're using a net in shallow lakes but apparently it does.
They said they drag up all sorts of junk in their nets like trees and outboard motors. Sometimes they get hung up on something solid and someone needs to jump in and cut the net free. One local lake they went too they dredged up a bunch of buffalo skulls, one complete with horns. They saw them fall out of the nets, marked the location, and came back the next day to wade around in the water and find them. Unless someone had a private herd that got on the ice in winter and fell through they were probably at least 130 years old.
By all accounts carp and many other "rough" fish are quite tasty if you can get past our mental hangups. Best caught in cool water in the spring and fall rather than 80 degree water in August. I can remember eating sheepshead as a kid. The small ones were very good. The larger ones not as much.
One of the biggest problem with carp, so I've heard, is the number of small bones making them very difficult and tedious to clean if you don't wan to be picking them out of your teeth. I read once that carp was the largest source of protein for humans worldwide. If I remember correctly carp and other rough fish are being used in place of what was traditionally cod due to that species collapse from over fishing.
Alan
Interesting to read about the buffalo fish. I wasn't aware of the difference between them and carp. Now I know what's making the water boil along the shore this time of year. After reading about Haff disease, I will probably pass on a buffalo fish meal.
A quick run down of the different rough fish species, their distribution, and usage from our local fish processor: http://www.stollerfisheries.com/stollerfisheries/speciesoffish.html
Alan
Alan
A video showing the flying silver carp and what they do when they land in your boat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Bf0WhvsNk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Bf0WhvsNk
Buffalo, in my opinion, are uglier than carp. We used to see fish sandwiches at the summer festivals around here and they were buffalo. They weren't too bad if you could get enough onions on them.
Talked to the crew that's fishing our local waters this morning. Yesterday they went over to Spirit Lake, which is actually a "nice" lake compared to most of them we have around here, and they absolutely killed them. 100,000 pounds with one net. He said they probably started with 200,000 pounds but there were so many they couldn't keep them all corralled.
Alan
Alan
My dad came across this article. It's a few years old but it talks about the crew we've gotten to know in the past month or so. They make you answer one survey question in order to read the article. Interesting read. http://host.madison.com/news/local/...l&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share
Interesting note in the article about a different commercial fisherman who got a large fine for killing game fish by not removing them from the nets early enough. I asked them about catching game fish the first time I talked to them and they said they've pretty much got that figured out by where they tend to net and the size of the holes in their nets. Said they don't catch a lot of game fish but the ones they do get are really big.
Alan
Interesting note in the article about a different commercial fisherman who got a large fine for killing game fish by not removing them from the nets early enough. I asked them about catching game fish the first time I talked to them and they said they've pretty much got that figured out by where they tend to net and the size of the holes in their nets. Said they don't catch a lot of game fish but the ones they do get are really big.
Alan
Feeling blessed. Never seen a carp
Our pesky fish are togue and northern pike
Our pesky fish are togue and northern pike
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Got more info from them today about the big catch at Spirit Lake. Sounded like all heck was breaking loose. They put out long nets and then pull them into a corral. The boss, Tom, said he knew the fish were out there by the sonar but as the net was getting hauled in there was no sign of all that many fish. Then it turned to pandemonium. The fish were Buffalo, which by all accounts are a stronger and more aggressive fish than carp, and they all tried to escape. Fish were flying everywhere as they rushed and jumped over the nets. They broke the cable to the winch on shore which left them trying to pull it in by hand. One guy cut his hand up badly with the rope and the fish were winning and pulling the net back out into the lake. They'd submerge some of the floats and would then surge out over the net. The guys would have to jump in the water to reestablish the barricade only to have them push down the floats and begin escaping in another area. In the end they wound up with a 300' corral containing 100,000 pounds of fish that they think originally started out as 200,000 pounds.
Buffalo are a native fish around here, unlike carp. I think many people confuse the two and lump them all together as "carp". I know I did and still have troubles telling them apart in the water sometimes. Quite valuable as a food fish I guess along with sheepshead (drum), which are another native rough fish.
Alan
Rumor has it the rough fishermen netted a 57 pound Muskie this weekend. That's nearly 7 pounds over the state record. Serious fish!
First time I met them I asked how much strategy was involved to keep from catching game fish. They said there was a fair amount of strategy but that much of it was the design of their nets. He said, "We don't get many game fish, but when we do they're really big ones."
Alan
First time I met them I asked how much strategy was involved to keep from catching game fish. They said there was a fair amount of strategy but that much of it was the design of their nets. He said, "We don't get many game fish, but when we do they're really big ones."
Alan
Invasive species have posed problems for years in the Great Lakes basin. Sea lampreys, Zebra mussels, Round Goby and Asian carp to name a few.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/asian-carp-st-lawrence-river-first-invasive-1.3616364
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/asian-carp-st-lawrence-river-first-invasive-1.3616364
Green crab Chinese snails northern pike
Interesting info.
Sorry, I can no longer resist. Am I the only one who, on first reading thought "Swim. Down. Together!"
Sorry, I can no longer resist. Am I the only one who, on first reading thought "Swim. Down. Together!"
