Silver carp

It seems to me that when the fish farmer in southern Arkansas let them get out the environment of the Mississippi river and its tributaries has been changed for good.
Burnt cane was just a few years back one of the best lakes I have fished. Several spots would each turn out 5-10 nice crappie and some would provide 100. Now the water has a milky stain and crappie are hard to find. I saw as many as 75 boats at the ramp and one day supposedly there were 114. Sunday 3 including mine. Silver carp were everywhere. Crappie were nonexistent except one baby. Tunics is a mess. Mellwood has been subpar. Guess I am gonna Have to start fishing for them. Maybe start Silvercarp.com or something!!!!

latest I heard they are working on finding something biological like a virus that only effects them. Their was a die off of them the other day on a stretch of the river and some biologist suggested that's what it was. Also an Asian women opened a factory in Wickliffe Ky to process them and ship them back to Asia. Supposedly they prefer the wild ones to the pond raised there.

The whole debacle has been a screw up of epic proportion. The next time somebody gets the bright idea to import some foreign species to make some money with it I think we should ....being a family forum I just can't say here.

Saw my first bighead asian carp at sardis spillway saturday. About 8-10 pounds guy caught on a micro lite rod n reel with 4# test. He did everything right to get it in but released it live.

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Originally Posted by downsouth

Saw my first bighead asian carp at sardis spillway saturday. About 8-10 pounds guy caught on a micro lite rod n reel with 4# test. He did everything right to get it in but released it live.

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Not enough education out there. If he didn't want it, it should have been placed in a trash can.

We're working on it!!
The problem is the fish price, $0.10 a pound is too low for many commercial fisherman to get involved, plus there are very few left & most, like me, are getting too old to do the heavy labor!!
It is fairly easy to catch 3000 to 5000 pounds plus per day, depending on the weather & season. Fall seems to be the "time" for maximum harvest.
Second is how to catch the dang things.
Regular gill or trammel nets made heavy enough to hold them are expensive! The lighter cheaper Chinese nets tear up putting them out! Like handling a spider web! Plus you have to have the top of the net out of or above the water or they will jump over the net. Once you have your net set, the fish are easily driven by banging on the boat or just putting a "clacker", string with wooden bead, on the trolling motor.
I have even tried the "Hydro Wave" fish caller to drive them. I'm certain that there is a certain frequency that panics them. Just wish I could Hydrowave to make it!!
We're working on / with a "trap" type setup (300 foot wings leading into a 40 foot box) like they use in AUstralia, but because of regulations, the trap can only be used in private lakes. It works if you "stake" it. Our lake is about 6 foot deep & we use bamboo poles to hold the top of net 18" above water level. Same for holding the "box" in position.
Same goes for electro shocking, which is impractical cost wise. The Chinese made "back pack" 12 & 24 volt units are not powerful enough. The Smith-Root shocker like the DWNR uses are $17K!
So, that leaves netting as the only economical way.
AND, the sport fisherman need to support these efforts, plus lobby the officials to change some laws just for Asian Carp (AC). SO far, all most States have done is "study" the problem. Kentucky and Illinois are the only states to host a tournament or be proactive.
There are several Chinese companies interested in pursuing AC harvest & I have been working with them for a year. The market is there. The problem is the catching or harvest. Netting is very labor intensive & nowadays, nobody wants to work that hard!
If ANYBODY would like to come help me catch the AC's, they're welcome anytime! I have the nets, the boats, the lakes, just need somebody willing to get in & get tired & nasty!!

Thanks for posting very interesting the commercial harvest side of the problem. God's speed brother. I don't get out on the Mississippi and the Ohio as much as I use to.But we have began using them for bait for catfish now. I usually just snag them.

I think it was about 5 years ago or so now,I went over on the Tennessee river below Kentucky Dam in October to do some catfishing. When I got there almost nobody was there. I was puzzled because on a nice day as that one there would have been 50 boats out there just a few years before. I was marking fish everywhere and baitfish. I thought man this going to be easy.I threw a cast net into a bait ball and guess what....all Asian carp fry!! The entire tailrace was full up with asian carp and their fry.

I tell you it made me sick to my stomach.

We have some places locally that are dressing them and selling the meat. I've ate it and it is good eating.

There are a couple of local plants that are processing it. The price just needs to get up to 15 cents/pound for the commercial fishermen see it as a viable option for income.

Right!! Maybe one of these days we hope

I'm having a tournament on my private 800 acre lake Nov 2 thru 6. Y'all come. Most carp wins $100. Pays 10 places back. I. E. 2nd $90. Etc