Sad Day For The Lower Meramec

[Guest]

deleted

[Smalliebigs]

Mitch, you weren't kidding you hit that spot a lot!!!! If you ever see a SeaArk with MossyOak break paint job that is me.I have been seeing those stupid asians and silvers, bigheads, whatever you want to call them, all the way up to HWY 30. It's brutal!!!!!!!!!!!! and it's only getting worse. Hell, Mitch I have been seeing them in little creeks I fish, that I had never seen them in before, they all have a common factor, they empty into the Mississippi......bummer!!! I have heard they are good to eat???? I know they smell like someone dung themselves when they jump in my boat.

[Mitch f]

Mitch, you weren't kidding you hit that spot a lot!!!! If you ever see a SeaArk with MossyOak break paint job that is me.I have been seeing those stupid asians and silvers, bigheads, whatever you want to call them, all the way up to HWY 30. It's brutal!!!!!!!!!!!! and it's only getting worse. Hell, Mitch I have been seeing them in little creeks I fish, that I had never seen them in before, they all have a common factor, they empty into the Mississippi......bummer!!! I have heard they are good to eat???? I know they smell like someone dung themselves when they jump in my boat.

Smallie,

If I see you I'll stop and talk, I'm driving an 1650 Xpress with a 60/40 merc, olive green.

[flytyer57]

You can laugh and make jokes about it, but take a look at the attached link and view the video of what the Illinois River looks like today!

You cannot run a boat faster than a few miles an hour unless you have a solid shield to hide behind, or don't mind taking the chance of getting your jaw broken by a 15-20 pound fish hitting you in the face! There is one newpaper report about a lady who was hit in the head so hard that it broke her jaw, cheekbone and eye socket, knocking her unconsious and out of the boat into the river...fortunately she was wearing a pfd and was rescued before she drowned.

BTW - there is no way that you can bowhunt, shoot with a shotgun, net or anything else to effectively reduce the numbers. One biologist said the only solution would be to poison the entire river and then re-stock with game fish - extremely expensive and very unrealistic.

They installed an electric barrier across the Illinois river just outside of Chicago. For some unholy reason, they were not permitted to turn it on, and now those carp have been spotted less than a few miles from Lake Michigan. They are predicting that if they get into Lake Michigan, they could devestate a multi-million dollar salmon, trout and steelhead fishery. And there is no barrier between the other 5 Great Lakes to stop them.

They should string up the morons that introduced these fish into US waters by the balls and sloooooowly skin them alive.

[gotmuddy]

why cant they electrofish for them and sell the fish to canneries or something? They may not eradicate the fish but it should help control the numbers.

[Outside Bend]

The problem with electrofishing is partly that it isn't selective- you roll a ton of catfish, buffalo, and other fish in the process. Lots of commercial fishermen aren't going to let that "by-catch slide."

There's also the issue of insurance- the fish jump, and it's no fun being hit with a 15 lb carp, trust me. Even if commercial guys were out there electrofishing asian carp, it'd take an awful lot of them to make a dent.

Plus, it doesn't affect the market. If you can't sell the fish, you're not going to target them. Simply put, no one really wants to eat "carp," and there's only so much zoo feed and cat food you can sell.

[jdmidwest]

The river has been high for a long time this summer and is forecasted to stay up for a while. This gives them more opportunities to run up streams that are not accessible under normal conditions. I wonder how long it be before they run up the Castor and the Whitewater rivers out of the Diversion Channel? The Saline, Apple Creek and other tribs here in SEMO are at risk too.