Asian Carp

Venting. Everyone I talk to about this is scared, including myself. I have a nice lake house in the Big Sandy area and I worry about what is going to happen in the next couple of years. Everyone, everywhere is talking about it and when that happens, people will not come in to the area and spend their money on guides, hotels, etc. Property value is going to drop big time. I am wondering if I should go ahead and sale my place while I can? No I am not trying to be a "chicken little". I fish almost every week and I am seeing the thin crappie and huge amounts of carp in every cove. Can't even fish some of the brush or stake beds because of how thick the carp are stacked all around them. It also amazes me that people are still wondering if the carp are spawning. Daaa Every cove is full of them.

Thanks for letting me vent. Yes I am going to the meeting in May. Yes, I would be willing to give money towards helping this situation. Yes, I am willing to help. I also wonder what the other states above us are doing?

As far as I know, Indiana DNR is doing nothing about our rivers in Indiana. I have heard that Purdue U. In West Lafayette was trying to develop something like a virus to kill only the Asian Carp but that was year or so ago and nobody has heard anything else out of them. I think that is because of the threat to the Great Lakes if the carp get thru the 3 electric barriers they have on the Ill. River that goes into Lake Michigan up Chicago area. The dang Carp are spread thru all our rivers that lead into the Ohio R. and it’s pretty ugly in areas and progressively getting worse.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but sure hate to see that tremendous fishery being decimated. Up here in Illinois where I live they are thick in the Ill river .... a guy on a jet ski got killed a couple years ago when one jumped out of the water and knocked him out and into the river.

I'm wondering if there is any way for the sport fisherman to assist the commercial fishermen harvest these things. I watched a commercial fisherman on the river here lay out a REALLY long run of net and then went around banging on his boat and revving his engine and driving the carp into the net. They are very easy to scare when they are in relatively shallow water.....Heck, I would be willing to come down for a week or 2 at a time to help the commercial guys if there was anything I could do besides get in the way. There were 2 guys in one of the biggest jon boats I have ever seen and when they pulled in the net they had that boat completely full of carp ... took them about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to do the whole thing. They didn't have to leave their nets set out. I don't know where they take them for processing here.

If you are out on the river, there is not much to worry about if staying in the channel .... but all bets are off if you get into shallow water.... it's pretty much like it's raining carp as they fly out of the water around you..... they do make real good catfish bait.

Talked to a guy the other day from southern illinois. He said he helped his commercial buddy catch them this past winter for 3 days. In 3 days they caught almost 250k pounds of asian carp and took them to a process plant in wickleffe ky. They were paid 18 cents a pound and didn't have to do any processing just drive up and dump them off. When u put a figure on that its pretty good money, about $45k in 3 days. He said it wasn't that hard to catch them just trap them in an area and circle them with the nets then rev up the motor and run them into the nets. Don't know about yall but from what I've seen at ky lake a man could get rich like that. Now if govt starts subsidizing this the incentives go up. IMO we need more processing plants in areas accessible to ky and barkeley, commercial fishermen and these guys would all be doing good business

There is a lake out west, Utah Lake, as big as Kentucky Lake, they started a program in 2009, in 5 years, removed 10 million pounds, with a 2 week program once a year, for 5 years. Now have reclaimed the lake. Just google Utah Lake, if intrested.

I've been visiting KY Lake since about 1994, initially for a big coon hunt, then beginning about 2010 three long weekends each spring to chase crappie.

As much as I love the place after this year I just can't justify the expense anymore (approximately $600 each trip) due to the poor fishing. I'm not the best fisherman in the world but when I fish from can see to can't see a total of 12 days between early March and late April and don't catch quality double digit keepers at least 4-5 of those days something is bad wrong. And don't think for one second this is the first year where the fishing was off... there's been a steady decline in recent years in both quantity and quality of the fish I've caught.

I'm concerned for the guides, hotel owners, and restaurants as the economy in the Aurora area is heavily dependent on fishing. The question at this point isn't whether the carp are affecting the fishing, the question is how long it will take the eco system to recover AFTER a solution to carp problem is found.

It's a very concerning situation to say the least. We fished about 6 hours yesterday and caught three channel catfish, ten tiny largemouth bass and probably a dozen 5 inch bluegill.

When you can't catch a few bluegill that run bigger than your hand, something is wrong. I'll have a more firm opinion by early June, hopefully it's just early in the season and they eventually come up.

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Originally Posted by CRAPPIECON

Talked to a guy the other day from southern illinois. He said he helped his commercial buddy catch them this past winter for 3 days. In 3 days they caught almost 250k pounds of asian carp and took them to a process plant in wickleffe ky. They were paid 18 cents a pound and didn't have to do any processing just drive up and dump them off. When u put a figure on that its pretty good money, about $45k in 3 days. He said it wasn't that hard to catch them just trap them in an area and circle them with the nets then rev up the motor and run them into the nets. Don't know about yall but from what I've seen at ky lake a man could get rich like that. Now if govt starts subsidizing this the incentives go up. IMO we need more processing plants in areas accessible to ky and barkeley, commercial fishermen and these guys would all be doing good business

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How did they get these fish to Wickliffe?

Thatvmich weight it had to be tractor trailers[emoji4]

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Originally Posted by speckfinder

How did they get these fish to Wickliffe?

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Originally Posted by Lane47

There is a lake out west, Utah Lake, as big as Kentucky Lake, they started a program in 2009, in 5 years, removed 10 million pounds, with a 2 week program once a year, for 5 years. Now have reclaimed the lake. Just google Utah Lake, if intrested.

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That would be great but I'm not sure their situation is the same. It is a different type of carp so they may spawn at a slower rate. The lake is considerably smaller than Kentucky lake and it appears to be a landlocked lake and not part of a river system. In Kentucky and Barkley regardless of how many pounds are removed there is a continuations supply re-entering through the rivers.

Commercial fishing does seem to be the best current method at some type of control but unless there is some sort of scientific magic bullet that someone comes up with I can't see how they can ever come close to eradicating them. Hopefully demand and prices increase to where harvesting them keeps the situation manageable.