New Article: The Consequences of Planting Grass Carp

[N Florida Mike]

We put some in our lake 6-7 years ago. There arent but maybe 20 left, but theyre huge. 40-50 pounds. Our fishery isnt as good now. I attribute more of that to Otters than the carp though.

We do have some kind of submergent algae or weed that is dark green and goops up your bait with nearly every cast. The carp may have somehow caused it , because we didnt have it before we stocked the carp…

[Pat Brown]

There's big grass carp on every lake in pond that I fish in North Carolina.  I'm not exactly sure how well they help keep the vegetation down or not.  I think that they've used chemicals and grass carp around here on one of the lakes I fish because the first year I started fishing that Lake it was completely loaded with hydrilla and I was catching a lot of big bass and seeing a lot of them with my eyes.  About a year ago we went out there in the summertime after focusing on another Lake for a while and all the grass was gone and the water instead of being kind of clear was more of your typical orange color for North Carolina. 

 

Never got the details on what happened but I'm guessing they treated the lake. 

 

The fishing definitely got a lot worse on that particular Lake, but it's starting to come back this year.  By this time 2 years ago there would already be hydrilla visible under the surface. Starting to get close to topping out and there's no hydrilla anywhere to be seen so whatever they did worked. 

 

The thing that sucks is whatever they did can't seem to touch the snot grass and there's plenty of that still. So whatever. 

 

I personally prefer knowing the lake well and knowing how to navigate it and having the vegetation there, but that's just me. I guess the average weekend angler can't stand the stuff and I can accept that.

[TnRiver46]

On 4/21/2024 at 1:00 PM, 2tall79 said:

"Grass carp ruined my home lake." 

 

Silver?

 

Amur 

 

Or did you mean the lake ? 

[2tall79]

Sorry,

Meant Silver Lake, Cowlitz County.   Used to be the premiere largemouth fishery in the state.  After the introduction of the carp.....not so much.

[33oldtimer]

On 4/12/2024 at 12:30 PM, Mobasser said:

I don't like them. A few years ago I saw a huge one swimming close to the bank early in the morning. It looked to be three feet long. 

There is a four foot long carp in a pond I fish. First time I saw it I couldn't believe it. Not long afterward it swam right by me just a few feet off of the bank. Another pond I fish is rather small and I counted 12 carp in it. Can't believe the city is allowing the carp to take over that pond.