Asian Carp In The Missippi And Iliniois Rivers

[gramps50]

Was channel surfing this afternoon (July 30, 2012) and ran across a show on National Geo Wild called Monster Fish, they has a epsiode on Asian carp, pretty interesting hour.

The folowing hour they ran an epsoide on Monster Fish in Thiland.

[Clayton Will]

Pretty interesting stuff. I read the Chinese are putting in a plant on the Illinois River to process the Asian Carp and ship them back to China for food. They have the support of local cities and are investing millions of dollars. Just too bad we couldn't do this ourselves. If we wouldn't eat em I don't think cats are that picky.

Guess if it helps eradicate them it would be OK but the Chinese likely know that's not possible.

[Jerry Rapp]

Clayton? Why didn't we do it ourselves instead of the Chinese?

[Tim Smith]

The Chinese aren't the only ones processing Asian Carp. They might be the only ones with access to a domestic market who will pay a premium for them rather than grinding them into fishmeal.

I'd be interested to know more about this.

[gramps50]

They are suppose to be building a prosscessing plant in Grafton, IL

http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x2067834548/Asian-carp-processing-plant-to-be-built-in-Grafton

[fishinwrench]

Is there a shortage of them in China? Are their waters so polluted that even Asian carp can't flourish?

Sounds like the end of unemployed Americans if so. What methods are legal to capture them and transport to the plant ?

[gramps50]

They aren't game fish so I don't think there are any regulations on how they can be caught. Go to You Tube and search for Asisan Carp Peoria, there some guys there that spear them and catch them on all sorts of contraptions.

The TV program that I saw on NG Wild they were netting them with both drop nets and also catching the jumpers in dip nets.

From what I undersand is that in China they are considered a delicacy, but the waters there are so poluted that they are uneatable. They have a bad flavor.

They can spawn 4 times a year so I think even with them being harvested it is still going to be hard to control them. Now they are headed for the Great Lakes and they have somethings is place there to try and stop them. If the rerun the National Geographic Wild show about them it's well worth watching.

[moguy1973]

Problem is, you can't really catch them on a rod and reel...they have to be netted or speared or something like that...they are plankton eaters so they really don't bite bait or lures...

[gramps50]

But they will jump in the boat.

This morning I was at GWP and while fishing the back side I heard something flop into the boat turned around a nice size one was flopping around on the floor of the boat.

[Jerry Rapp]

unfortunately they will never be controlled. The money being spent on trying to keep them out of the Great Lakes is idiotic. The only hope the Great Lakes has is the cold winters. Maybe they can't tolerate a real cold environment over an extended period of months? Sort of like the Zebra Mussels, they will get everywhere sooner or later, no matter how much of our tax dollars are spent trying to control them. We will just have to learn to live with them.