Asian Carp = Bad news

I replied to someone's post earlier about them and thought I would start this thread. I wish there was something we could do about them, I fish a lot of North MS lakes and have to deal w/ them just about everywhere the river touches.

They can and will ruin the lake over time. I've watched tunica cutoff's steady decline over last 3 yrs. when the sun is just right @ cut-off you can see them just under the water by the hundreds (if not thousands) cruising around in groups of 15-20. for lack of a better term, they suck in the worst way. Check out the post about reelfoot jumping carp. No one knows what to do about them. Several small river lakes near memphis are completely over run and have put a few baitshops out of business..just ask Jim @ Island 40 lake

I have read somewhere they had a virus that would kill them. It would only affect the Asian carp. Its prob. against the law but some people down here line up on the back of party barges and shoot them with shotguns when they jump.

we did that once once on a private oxbow off of river but don't tell anyone :)....
one of best times I've had in awhile, was like a great quail hunt in overdrive.

I work for the USDA-ARS and work with a couple guys that have done taste test that compare Asian Carp with other commonly eaten fish. Supposedly, the carp were preferred over the other fish and was said to have really white meat.

sounds disgusting..I'll take your word for it... maybe they could use them for dogfood if there was anyway to harvest large amounts of them.. I see you holding a cormorant in your picture..do you eat those too?

I fished the crappiemasters Miss. State Championship last year on the cuttoff and at 5:30 am I had 20 pounders landing in the boat. My partner got slimed by one and ruined his shirt. After that tournament I had to replace the carpet on the front deck of my boat.

We do have them in Lakeview. I just hope they aren't that bad. We'll have a better idea when the water warms up this summer and they get more active.

Heard that the fish maket at lakeview is selling them as fast as they can get em. The ribs are like buffalo ribs and the rest is supposed good? The slime can be used as wallpaper paste. ha ha

Once there in there in for good and seem to multiply quickly. It only gets worse.. lakeview will feel the brunt of their damage soon enough, sadly. One solution I'm thinking of proposing is to have game and fish authorities hold sanctioned, lottery draw-only, well regulated 'hunts' for them w/ shotguns using only steel shot. As you know they jump up in great #'s behind a moving boat and you shoot them like quail. I think the demand for this would be incredible b/c it is incredibly fun to shoot them. The remains of the fish would sink to the bottom and restock the food chain.. don't think it would put a dent in the population but it sure would be fun (a guy can dream can't he). Chances of this being put into place? Slim and none and slim just left town..... They were snagging them @ reelfoot this weekend, Go to TN board and look @ the 'Reelfoot Jumping Carp' thread.

Jay Gregory had show on the outdoor channel where they were shooting them with bows. It looked really fun. I agree, I think shooting them with shotguns would be a blast, literally. They actually hold tourneys somewhere in missouri on the mississippi river for bowfishing the jumping carp.
ringo

a ton of those videos on youtube.. folks bowfishing them, catching them w/ nets, etc.

Any videos of someone fishing for them with a shotgun?

I read I think last year. That on the IL river there catching them and hauling them to the dog food and cat food makers.
But I like the shotgun ideal better. Shoot Charge say $30 per person to hunt for an hour. I think I would sign up for a few hours of that. Man that would be more fun than using a stinking Bow for them. HEHE
Also Make it fun. Yes give them a heavy load.
Pete

Not to ruin the fun, but if you put that much lead shot in the water you wouldn't be able to eat the game fish you were trying to save. I think Asian Carp baseball is where it is at. Stand the batter on the front of a deckboat and let the pitcher drive.

water Turkey got the right idea...if folks think they are good to eat, well so long asian carp...pretty simple to figure out. Put a comercial harvest on them and they will fish them out.

They may taste good but it would be hard to market CARP. I think shooting them with shotguns is a lot better idea, at least a lot more fun.

we should get a bunch of guys together and go bow fishing for them. If you can see them under water with or without a fish finder it would be fun to just sneek up on them and shoot into the water. If ya'll want to pick a date when it warms up I know a few guys who would love to do it.

And they say they only got into the river in 1993. That's not a long time for them to get as far as they have!

Mississippi River Halibut...I bet you could sell it world wide.

Below Carlyle lake in Illinois they hired commercial fishermen to net them below the dam. I don't know how many they ended up with, but they had 60,000 lbs after the first day.
John

This shotgun idea makes my shoulder hurt just thinking about it.

The other white meat.

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Originally Posted by NoLuck

And they say they only got into the river in 1993. That's not a long time for them to get as far as they have!

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They've been around longer than that. Catfish farmers in Ark. brought in the big head and the silver carp to control aquatic growth in their catfish ponds. The most recent incident of fish accidentally escaping was in 1993. The first incident was in 1973, I believe. The black carp was accidentally released in Lake of the Ozarks .

I have never had any personal experiences with them, but they don't sound good. What do they do to a fishery, except make it hard to drive a boat without getting knocked out?

filter feeders that eat constantly, eating everything (plankton, etc) that small fry of the game fish eat and, more importantly, eating the small fry themselves. And they multiply rapidly...add it all up and they slowly (or quickly) desintigrate a lake. Illinois had an international symposium last year to try to figure out what to do ( to no avail).. It was said that these carp were one of the worst things to ever happen to our fisheries, including pollution.

Asian carp can go right up there on the list with kudzu, cogon grass, & feral hogs.:mad:

I have often thought that they should have a "gar day" at the cutoff. At least one day a year allow everyone to blast on the trash fish with their favorite shotguns. Would probably attract enough of us rednecks to do a little damage anyway

Actually was a little gar tournament out of charlies last year, fishing was slow and I think everyone was a little bored so had a weekend gar tournament. Most pounds caught anyway you could catch'em.