[PARATROOPER]

I just go tback from the Illinois River over by Pekin, you would not believe all the Asian Carp out there. I saw literally thousands of them just jumping everywhere. 1 to 10 pound fish jumping in the boat, over the boat, under the boat, beside the boat, and hitting the passengers the whole way. It was pretty unbelieveable, these fish have pretty much taken over some of our waters. Does anyone know what the IDNR has planned to keep these fish from spreading and remedy this problem?

 

[dgde4x4man]

Nothing. They have put up an electric fence to try to stop them from getting into the Great Lakes. Of course you get all the rich Chicago people complaining up there and they do something, when they should have done something in Alton to that effect along time ago. But what do us dumb fisherman know. They are commercial fishing for them but that might only keep the problem under control hopefully. I guess we have to live with them. I was out Saturday and saw a 10-15 pound fish jump at least 10-15 feet in the air!

 

[Desperado]

Not much you can do with them. I bowfish them ,but not fast enough!!

 

[PARATROOPER]

Well, I guess I'm just going to have to start fishing the river with a helmet on......LOL. I tell you what I need to do, just stand up on the front deck of my boat with a shotgun and shoot them as they fly through the air.....that would be alot of fun. Does anyone know what they feed on? Is there any regulations on taking them out? Heck, they are so thick through the Pekin area that I was catching one about every other cast with my cast net.

 

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

Hey Bud You Must Have Been Up By The Dam,i Caught One Earlyer This Year On Twister Tail's Fish'n For Whites He Weighd In About 25#s Nasty Ugly But One Heck Of A Fight, Whenever We Get One We Run Him Through With A Fillet Knife And Toss Him Back In

 

[bankpoleken]

I have read several articles written by Jeff Lampe, outdoor writer for the Peoria Journal Star that points out how extensive the invasion of Asian carp in the Illinois River is at this time. Bath Illinois had a ******* fishing tournament where boaters drove their boats around and tried to catch the jumping carp in their boats. Only five boats were entered but over 200 carp were caught by the boats. They are suppose to have another tournament September 10th. There was a bowfishing tournament on the Illinois out of Henry Illinois and the winning team shot 442 fish with many of them being 15 to 20 pound Asian carp. The second place team shot 392 fish. The articles I had read regarding the Asian carp in the Illinois River are not optimistic regarding their eradication. They say any attempt would be costly and probably ineffective.

 

[astutzman]

I've read about a scientist in Australia who's researching ways to get rid of invasive fish down there (they've apparently got a common carp problem). Apparently, fish eggs can grow into either males or females depending on what biochemical processes occur within them while they're developing. This scientist found a way to make all of the eggs turn into males. He also found that those males only had male offspring. That means that over a couple of generations the male to female ratio would increase, until eventually there are only males left. Without females the species can't reproduce and they die out. It might be possible to do that with these big head carp. The ahrd part is convincing the government and environmentalists that it's the right thing to do.

 

[rat fink]

those fish irratate me :cursing: the onlie thing i seem to be catchingin the sagamon river latlie do u know anthing that i can do to get more cats and less carp?

 

[Larry]

Hey Paratrooper,
I got a real kick out of your idea, Skarp shooting on the bow (skeet+Carp=scarp). Make sure to get some vidio of that if you decide to go ahead and do it.
Just be safe.
Larry

 

[JERMSQUIRM]

well ill be right next to him on my boat. sounds like fun jonny. when ya get back from whatever foreign land they send ya to this time well do that. were pretty good at shooting skeet and ok at dove but these are a bigger target.

as far as i know there are no regulations. there a nuesiense species. if one jumps in my boat im stomping its head in brfore i get rid of it. best thing to do is kill every last one ya catch. putting it back won't help. they say the get $.18 a pound. we need to start the brotherhood of bighead fisherman. roflmao. well make tons of cash. shoot to many bigheads here already.

 

[BassMassey]

ive never heard of these fish, i hope they dont overrun the ohio waterways also..........are they just regulaur river carp or grass carp?? maybe they would make good cut bait? or live bait for the smaller ones??

 

[ArkansasCat]

Guys I will pass along some good information on the bighead carp that was told to me by a game warden. As yall know they can be dangerous jumping out of the water while motoring down the river and I have read where a big one knocked a guy out of his boat.
For some reason If your motor is running between 2000 and 2500 RPMs they will jump out of the water like crazy. I just learned this over the summer but have found this to be true so far.

 

[bankpoleken]

BassMassey - go to this website - it will describe the Asian carp this site is discussing.http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/asiancarp.htm

 

[JERMSQUIRM]

these were a species from asia that were being researched or what ever ya call it in a fishery along the missippi river. (in a flood plane) DUH!!!! well as murphies law has it it flodded. DUH!!!!!

they escaped into the miss in the late 80's i believe it was and have quickly spawened into massive schools of eating machines. game officials think if they were to get into the great lakes they would become the dominate species by consuming up food and devistating the other fish.

these fish are so thick in the illinois they are becoming a danger as ya heard from others. they can reach 100#'s.

the world record stands in texas at 90# from lake kirby.

the dnr has spent tens of thousands of $'s building and maintaining an electronic barrier to try and keep them out of the great lakes while were stuck with the mess in the river. its like an oil spill that just won't stop.

there are warnings everywhere about them. dnr says do not release any back into the water alive. in illinois it is illegal to be in possession of live bighead and or silver carp. another asian species.

 

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

he,s right don,t throw'em back till you poked em atleast one good time with your fillet knife, i think the .18 cents per # is in lotts of 1,000#s or more some peple do comercial fish for them but we need to do more

 

[crazy]

I tell you what they sure make some great blue cat bait. As for the idea with shooting them. There already doing that here in missouri. Although i'm not one to shoot my bait full of holes.

 

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

seen on the mens channel this morning that they were bow fishing for them , they were keeping them and filleting them they said they are almost as good as walleye but you have to score them cause the bones

 

[bearcat]

Hey On the red neck fishing tournemnet at bath.
I read in the paper that the second one was held. There were 25 boats participating. You are allow one landing net per boat. As many people as you want per boat. They boated 1250 some odd fish. The winning boat landed 265 fish. The winning boat took home 250 bucks. They then dug a big hole in the ground and buried all the carp.

Sounds fun.

 

[jtrew]

According to the link from Bankpoleken, there are 5 species of "Asian carp". Which one of those are we talking about here? We have a lot of the bigeye carp here in Arkansas, and lots of folks catch them while snagging, particularly in the spring. Some guys actually quit snagging for catfish because they snag a bigeye every few casts. These generally run about 20#-50#. According to what I've been told, they are much better tasting than regular carp; I haven't had the chance to try one, though, because someone almost always wants to take them home to eat. You very seldom see one thrown back in or left to rot on the bank.

 

[bankpoleken]

jtrew - I think the two species that the state of Illinois is concerned about in the Illinois River are the bighead carp and silver carp. It is the bighead carp that jumps out of the water when outboards are passing by. I have a friend that lives in Havana on the Illinois river and he put a five foot mesh wire fence around the deck of his pontoon boat to keep the fish out. There have been reports of guys being knocked out of their boats and some rather serious injuries reported from these fish jumping in boats.