Asian carp in Illinois River

[bankpoleken]

This article appeared in today's Peoria Journal Star newspaper. Thought some of you who fish the Illilnois River may enjoy this article.
Havana company angles for Asian carp
HAVANA - More than 20 million pounds of Asian carp could be harvested from Illinois rivers each year if a Havana company succeeds in developing and marketing products made from the invasive exotic species.
The Full Story - If anyone is interested I can copy and paste the article. It is fairly lengthy.

[bankpoleken]

Sorry guys - I just read that you can't make reprints of the paper's articles without written permission. Here is the website if you want to read the article. www.pjstar.com

[cats4uandme]

ya, thats something i would like to read. im close to the illinois so it affects me. a buddie of mine went to havana to a bow shop last week and talked to a guy that nets them. they get over 500# per day and the $1700 nets they bought were paid for within a few weeks. they get like $.17 a pound for them and they were cooking some. some type of bredded pattie. he tried one and said they were good. tasted like bluegill he said.

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

i have herd of people eating them maybey the next one that jumps in the boat will land in the skillet

[flathunter]

I have also heard those fish will destroy our fishery for native species, even catfish...They are plankton eaters and compete with shad for food..And will eventually take over a river system..Sounds like they got a good start now!

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

you ain't kidding that they got a good start take a trip up to the peikin lock on the illinois river they look like salmon trying to swimm up a watter fall and you are right they are bad news for everything in the river sytem and god forbid that they make it to the great lakes they will wipe out the salmon and trout

[chicagoriverking]

a couple weeks ago a guy caught a asain carp and chopped it up and threw all the pieces back into the water around a tree next day there were a lot of bull head and channel cats only in the spots he put the pieces of asain carp

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

does that meet with lke michigan? those things are terible down here some times it looks like you can walw on ther backs. would not be cool if they got into the great lakes

[cats4uandme]

from what trevor says wilson there better eating than cats. seriously. bud sampson had his annual fish fry. ask goofy. bud went to hudson to the fella that nets commercial fish on the ill. he said ya can have 1 bag of carp. (asian.) thats it. take all the catfish ya want. gave him 15 # BAG OF THE ASIAN CARP AND 40 # OF CATFISH. trevor said the asian carp was all gone before the catfish was even started on. trevor said its great eating. do you have ant hoop nets still? seriously. this may be my next fish at the annual fry i have. its easy to come by and from what i have heard good eating and ill be doing a favor to the river. try one or bring it by here and ill cook a fillet up. theres a bone down the fillet that has to be removed with some red meat but trevor watched bud and them clean and cook it tonight. said its good stuff.

[ultima_cat_man]

i just saw a guy from peoria ill. win 10 thousand dollars on americas funniest videos his video showed an asain carp jump and hit him in the head while driving his boat, wish i would have thought of it we get nailed by them all the time, tim

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

herd about the vidio winner if that was me it woulda knocked the camera out of the boat- jerm -yes- i still have a few nets but you need a comercial license to use them and each net needs its own tag (alot like licenplates but smaller) check out a place called-memphis net and twine-i think they got a web sight but dont know what it is off hand ,thats where dad used to get his supplies

[astutzman]

Is it hard to get a commercial license or do you just have to apply for it and you get it? It might behoove some of us catfisherman who fish the Illinois to release all of our cats and then catch a couple netfuls of asian carp for a fish fry. Kill two birds with one stone.

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

the rules and such are on the idnr web sight 35.00 for the license then an seperate fee for each device depending on the type the ill can only be comercal fished below rt-89 werever that is but all the info is on that sight

[cats4uandme]

trevor said this fella from hudson bought two or three new nets. $1700. in 3 runs to pearl to sell the carp the nets were paid off. :eek:

[Cattracker16]

If you guys are looking for some nets i think my father in law had some... he don't need them any more.. god rest his soul.. but i believe he had a couple hoop nets if that is what you are looking for.. i'll have to check with mother in law see if she wants to sell and how much... i live in eastern iowa
email me @.... dkordway@netins.net make sure ya let me know your from the BOC ... Kenny

[QuincyFisher]

My cousins husband hunts those things for a living. A few of his guys on his boat have gotten hit in the face by them while lookin for em

[astutzman]

speaking of asian carp, anybody else see that fishing show on TV a couple months back (tahnksgiving time maybe) about these guys that were bow and arrow fishing for them as they were jumping out of the water. it took em forever to hit one in mid air but it looked like fun.

[Rat]

What I can't figure out is asian carp are listed as a nuisance species in the rules and regs book, but they also offer a catch and release pin for a Bighead carp over 25 inches that is caught and released. Sent the DOC an email asking about this last year and never got a reply. I thought nuisance species were not to be returned to the water after they were caught.
Rat

[dgde4x4man]

I remember that Rat. Boy I tell you they are getting worse in the river every year. Hate to see what they are like this year. It used to be if you stayed in the channel you were okay, but not any longer. They seem to be through out the water column in the river anymore.

[Rainman4u2]

Did that bump ever heal on your head??? :) Just Curious Chris.....

Ray

[rodsboys]

I had no idea about the asian carp infestation.Makes me sick.I loved fishing that river with my grandpa when I was a kid.Hopefully I will be able to put a few of them up on the banks this summer.:)

[JimF]

Do they eat anything else (plankton), can you catch them on a hook? They get huge it be a blast to catch them on a rod & reel.

[Rainman4u2]

By the sound of it, they are mostly netted, and snagged.

Ray

[Rivercat1]

There are two kind of asian carp in the river the Bighead asian carp and the silver the silver can't be cought there the ones people get hit by. The bighead carp can be cought i've cought them up at the peoria dam on White twister tails, use a big rod and spool it up with 30lb plus line they are the hardest fighting fish you will ever hook in the Illinois River. The biggest I cought is 28lb have seen 40 plus cought.

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

i have also caught them mostly on white bass tackle-silver spinners and white curly tails dont land verry manny but i am still using the light tackle

[Bigguy]

:mad:

The DNR have written off the Illinois river, they only hope now to try to keep the carp out of Lake Michigan. They built an electronic barrier by Chicago, but now the gov. dept.'s are fighting over the power bill and the cost of an upgraded permanent barrier. The Illinois river as a fishery is being ruined by the carp and Lake Michigan may be the next step.

I have almost quit putting out onto the Illinois river, here at Peoria. There don't seem to be significant numbers of catfish in the Illinois unless you go south to Havana or North to the Hennipin area. I hate the carp jumping into my boat. One night last summer around 2 am my son and I were fishing about two miles south of the Peoria lock and dam. As we tried to motor back up to the Mendenhall boat ramp my motor began sputtering badly and was barely running. My son (19 at the time) was laying in the back of the boat, pumping the gasoline ball-pump to keep the motor running when the Asian carp started flying out of the water by the dozens. The school of fish must have been huge because we had between 20 and 30 fish land in the back of the boat in the 15 - 20 minutes it took to limp back to the ramp. Matt kept stabbing the flopping, slimy carp with his bowie knife; then pitching them back into the river. He was really getting the brunt of it and screaming like a girl. I couldn't keep from laughing at him, but they were also landing on my front deck and hitting me. The biggest that night in the boat was about 4 lbs. On a different afternoon I had a ten pounder fly out over my front deck and land in my lap. I was freaking at this flopping slimy creature with eyes that make it look upside down.

I can't tell you how much I hate them.

As it warms up, if anybody knows where to fish for cats around Peoria, I have an old boat and I could use some help learning to find the fish. For the Illinois I used to use my 75 horse Johnson, but with gas so high and the old motor so thirsty I now have a 9.8 hp for lakes and putting around. But I could put the big motor back on for a good trip.

:cool:

[Rivercat2]

{BigGuy} Me and Rivercat1 fish the Illinois about every day, We fish from the lock and dam to liverpool. I would be glad to show you some great spots. I have a 18ft johnboat with a 60hp tracker motor we could all go in my boat. last summer I had a 8lb carp hit me in the face I really hate those things.

[barnold]

Do you guys ever use them for cut bait? Shad are getting hard to find :crying: . at least last year we had problems and I have been looking for an alternitive.

[elmer]

Last year while putzing around lookin for a likely spot, the captain ventured a wee bit too shallow and spoked a few of them slimey flying fish. This One landed in the back of the boat.

4904

Now da captain is a BIG boy. Some of you all know him here, and might even recognize his boat in the picture. While it was kinda funny to have this big ole slimey SOB land in the boat, the funniest part was turning back around to see el capitan standing on the very nose of the smallish aluminum vhull boat (How big is it bud?) screaming........"get it out of my boat.......no really I mean it.....I hate them things.....C'mon.....get it out"

I laughed so damn hard, I couldnt see through the tears in my eyes.

You guys aint lived till you witnessed The "NF" tiptoeing on the frontmost rubrails of his boat while floatin on the Illinois River:p ;) :p

[elmer]

Shad are getting hard to find . at least last year we had problems and I have been looking for an alternitive.

Upriver of Starved Rock we had THREE seperate hatches of shad last year. In July Aug , the smaller shad were so thick, a guy could hardly haul his net back into the boat.:o

[barnold]

Down by Havana we couldn't find them. Threw cast nets everywhere and couldn't get enough to bait a hook. Fished a lot of shrimp last year. Might have just been a fluke but the bigheads are getting worse in our area.:crying:

[Rivercat2]

I fish alot down around Havana we get ours at the mouth of the spoon or that Island across from the spoon. If you will use frozen shad come up to pekin now and go up to the discharge at Edwards Staion. One cast and you will get 500 shad (big ones and small ones).

[elmer]

The bigheads havent shown up in real big numbers upriver of the Starved Rock Dam...............YET

Lack of rain in this area last year made the river pretty ripe plankton wise. It almost glowed Green. That same lack of water flow made the shad spawns, at least up here, SUPER successful last year.

this was an average net toss up here towards the end of the season......
4929

[barnold]

Thanks for the info on where to get them now. I might have to make a trip. Man Elmer that is one full net. I would have killed for that last year. We threw nets by the barges, mouth of the spoon and at the marina and didn't do any good last year. Hope for better this year. I will also try jumpers as cut bait. can't hurt . Bo

[Environmentor]

There are 5 types of asian carp. All are considered exotic species, unless stocked by the DNR (grass carp), then they are only exotic if in a body of water that the DNR hasn't stocked them. However, most of you seem to say that it is the Bighead and silver carps in your area. Around here (Iowa) the problem is typically with grass carp and common carp. Common carp are the most common. Grass carp are actually raised by the state DNR to control vegetation. Bighead, black and silver carp are less common (although I have ran across them on only a few occassions, but have seen hundreds/thousands of common carp or grass carp in my life/career). Maybe it is just a difference between the Quad Cities and Peoria. I know the silvers jump out of the water, but so do grass carp. Anyway, the bighead and silver carp (as you have stated) are filter feeders and compete with buffalo, paddlefish, baitfish, mollusks, numerous fry, and other organisms. Black carp consume. Black carp decimates mollusks (feeds on mollusks) and destorys native populations. Common carp and grass carp destroy habitat by eating vegetation (reduces vegetation, oxygen, cover, and water quality). It is recommended that you kill these species (gill them by simply destroying their gill, or throw them up on the bank) because they reduce fisheries. However, make sure you don't kill stocked grass carp because these are actually stocked in highly vegetative or eutrophic lakes to increase the fisheries.

Rat, I agree - why would the state have a pin for catching/realeasing a dangerous invader such as an Asian Carp. What's next a pin for spreading zebra mussels!

[elmer]

Big Head, Silvers, Grass or plain ole carp if and when they get to a point that they are so thick they start jumping into the boat like in this video........Ill be taking up a new hobby.


Click here and Check out this Video (http://media.putfile.com/Incredible-Fishing-Video)

[tm509]

elmer, thats the way I want to fish. any idea where the video was takin ??

[ultima_cat_man]

that video was awesome, if nothing is done that is what the mississippi and all the rivers that run into will be like ,,, only difference is those were little ones the ones i come across on the river are from 10 to 60 lbs, they are huge and jump high ,,,,,,, tim

[elmer]

From one of the posts on that page below the video

The footage was taken in the Guaporé region, on a portion of the Mequens River inside the Porto Rolins Park (a protected conservation area) where fishing is forbidden. The jumping fish shown in the video are matrinxã (Brycon cephalus), a Brazilian fresh

[Rat]

The 2006 rules and regs booklet is out now, picked one up at Walmart today. Lo and behold, they removed the offer of the catch and release pin for a bighead carp and put in an asterisk. It sez "May not be possessed alive". Guess they figured out they were not using their brain pan when they originally came up with the idea of catch and release for bighead carp.
Rat

[barnold]

Tm509 My hookup is to slow to download the clip . If you want to see these things first hand anywhere from Peoria to Beardstown for sure. You need to go slow and in shallow water for the best show. Also around snags is a good place . Be careful . My friends boy was almost knocked out of a boat last year and I had one hit me in the jaw . A lesser man would have been knocked out! These things are dangerous!!!

[Graywolf]

Yeah, I hear the captin still has a knot on his head from his experance of the bighead carp. All he needed was protection of the "Green stocking Cap".
MMMOoOOAAAAUUUUGGHHHHH HEHEHEHE HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

[SubnetZero]

Wow, I never knew Dom DeLuise was such an outdoorman! :p

[cats4uandme]

a catch and release pin. i thought it was illegal to return a nuiesence species to the water. maybe its a trap. send in for the pin and get a ticket,lol.

[howards]

Could they be ground up for fish cakes?

[Fishhead1]

I didn't want to believe it but they do taste great.

One way to fix them is to cut the side off bone and all, skin it, then cut between the heavy rib bones making a stack of ribblets. Bread then fry and slide the meat off the bone. You won't believe how good it is. It is a bit labor intensive though.


I work on the IL and Miss Riv and have been hit a ton. One night fishing (around midnight) and camping on the river I took a 15 lber right in the temple. I think I might of blacked out for just a second before I realized I was still full throttle and backed the boat down. I was dizzy and my stomach felt weird for about 30 minutes after that. The worst part was I lost my new hat and the fish made it out of the boat without payback :mad: I also had a small 4-6 lber hit me just right on the top of the head. Xrays, MRI, and physical therapy all following that little hit and I'll have a stiff/sore neck for the rest of my life.

You hear stories about boats running around and the driver is missing or later found drown. I think a silver carp could do this easy.


Not that it will make much of a difference but you shouldn't release them alive. A simple tug on their gills before you release them does the trick, and yes they work for cutbait.

[Believer]

Ok, i'll admit that I haven't read this entire thread, but I do recall that one of the first posters mentioned how thick they are around the Pekin Dam.

I was wondering if anyone has ever been snagging for them there?
I'll be going there in May to my sisters wedding & would love to snag a few of those guys, they're great fighters!

Eric

[Rivercat2]

We have been up to the dam a few time and have not seen them there this year. but I bet come summer they will be there.

[Believer]

Ok, stupid question. Is there a Dam at Peoria & one at Pekin or are they one in the same?

Eric

[kyblue49]

Hey they are fun to catch, but please kill them all.

[Believer]

Hey they are fun to catch, but please kill them all.

Oh, I will, I plan to eat them! :)

Eric