Is the "Carp Infestation" affecting our catch numbers...??

This is my theory...(and I'm stickin to it)...

I've talked to dozens of crappie fisherpeople on the water and in the bait shops and byways the last 2 weeks (I've been on vacation, fishing every day)...and most all of them are completely discouraged with low catch numbers...

IMO...these herds of 40lb fish cruising above our crappie is the sole reason no one is catching the numbers of crappie as in the past...

Our comparatively small crappie are scared to death to come out of the brush because these massive beasts are swarming in the thousands right above the crappie's head...

A crappie (or any other species) doesn't know these massive cruising herds of gigantic fish are plankton eaters...

If I were a crappie... I wouldn't come out of the brush either....

Rickie

Rickie my numbers have been slightly off this spring and I have no doubt the carp could be part of the problem. But on the flip side in Capps and Coleman's interview at the Crappie USA tourney last weekend they said they caught close to 200 keepers in two days. Ronnie Capps actually said he thinks there are too many fish on the lake right now. They weren't the only team that caught well into triple digits of keepers. I'm not sure that the cold, hard winter hasn't changed the patterns a little this time. Most of the teams that reported catching a bunch of fish last weekend were fishing on the main lake and in deep water. I've caught quite a few fish in the past week and all were still prespawn white females in 17-25fow. But one thing that does alarm me and could possibly be the carp too is that the fish seem a little thinner to me than in years past. There are certainly some chunky, healthy ones but on average I don't believe fish from this year of a given length weigh as much as years past.

I saw some massive shad kills while duck hunting this winter. I've fished the last 3 days solid and am seeing nowhere near the baitfish that you normally see. The big whites are still way deep and as pab said, they don't appear to be anywhere near ready to spawn yet. Nothing but blacks up shallow.

I've been catching a few white females in 4' Of water that definitely have dumped some eggs. I have also noticed the fish aren't as fat this year.

Hit the whites today where there had been nothing but blacks the last two days. They were up shallow and they were ready to go. The fish seem to be all over the map right now... but most of them have lockjaw.

They are all over the map. Got a limit sunday and they were anywhere from 5 to 21ft deep. Only 2 blacks in the bunch. Didn't notice they were thinner than years past tho. The ones i'm catching are still pretty thick and loaded with eggs.

It's always common for some to be "on the fish"...some guys are just that good...

I only talked to 3-4 dozen guys during my 2 week vacation of fishing every day...but a full 99% of them were not happy at all with not being able to find fish...

If that small sampling of 3-4 dozen guys were all complaining about the low numbers...

Why aren't more of those guys (and countless others) posting here...with their opinions of the low catch rates...??

Rickie

I will throw one in the complaint box. I have had a tough time finding the numbers. Size has been good but fish seemed to be scattered

My brother and I was down from April 15-19 and averaged 25 a day. Had a major cold front come through while there, 34 one morning and 29 the next, caught very good quality fish overall. Had a good trip and didn't fish real hard but what we noticed was the lack of non keeper fish. I bet we didn't catch a dozen through backs our whole trip. Was in Anderson one afternoon and it was full of those big carp and we usually catch fish in there but not that day. Anybody else catching sub legal fish in numbers?

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Originally Posted by slabdaddy

Anybody else catching sub legal fish in numbers?

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Caught a bunch this weekend all the way down to 6".

I was down on the lakes for the past couple weeks. I was catching them anywhere from 5-22 feet deep with 8-12 feet deep best for size and numbers. I was catching limits of fish but not as good as last year. However my fish were bigger this year. I think this winter has had an affect. My honey hole farther south that I like to fish did not produce good fish this year. My really big fish were on bottom and in 12 foot range even when every one was catching them shallow. But I prefer to fish deep for size. The Asian carp will really have an affect I just haven't noticed it yet being a factor for me. I'm blaming this year on the wild winter we had.