Asian Carp: Another Stream Invasion

[Old plug]

What happened more than likely is that he had cast over the fish and the lure collided with the fish hooking it. I had the same thing happen to me with a wiggle wart. It came through the water and the line got over the bill of a spoonbill that and lodged in between those 3 bones that have soft spots at the top of their bill. Over the years i have had my share if fish lures colliding with and foul hooking fish.

[Al Agnew]

Supposedly, one should remove 10 adult bass and 100 adult bluegill for every acre of pond each year to keep them in balance and growing well.

The one grass carp I still have in my pond, which was 44 inches long two years ago when I caught it on a 4 wt. fly rod, is very wary, but it often hangs close to the surface when it's just lollygagging around, so it would be pretty easy to snag it with a Rattletrap. And while they do eat mostly plants, that one took a popper off the surface when the cicadas were thick on the pond, so apparently they do eat insects, at least.

[Quillback]

Jerry, thanks for the clarification. It was still big and smelly.

Wayne, maybe so. My friend has no cattle. I know of a lot of weedy ponds with clear water and healthy bass populations. My friend's pond was mucky and the bass were skinny.

Q for all. How could my friend tail snag this monster on a rattletrap? Right place at the wrong time? Or did the disturbance of the lure attract the fish? Do we know for sure they don't eat other stuff than plankton and weeds? Aren't they known to graze on gamefish beds? Seems like a very big fish for a small pond.

I accidently snagged one that went about 20 lbs. in one of the local lakes on a jerkbait. Doing the twitch pause sequence, gave it a pull and snagged myself a grassie. My guess is it came up to take a close look at the suspended bait. The community lakes here get periodic stocking of grass carp (sterile), bass and panfish populations are very healthy.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Now if the Chief would just do a big dance for us we should be OK. Oh Chief can you put a few extra steps in there for medium steady rain.

How'd that work for ya? It rained here.

[Old plug]

Well Chief we got a nice rain and it was a colder. So we appreciate it. I have not really been out there at it. We have a large Ornamental Garden and I have spent most if the past couple days, potting, dividing, moving and transplanting. That sort of takes even the desire to fish out of my 74 yr old bones. But I do believe Wrench had a fair time of it in his neck of the woods. Hmmmm maybe you should bill him for the service. I will be out tomorrow i hope. I am about caught up for now. I THINK.

[Jason R.]

You can definitely get a grassie to eat a fly- I am not sure why but they will hit a small popper. I have caught them on brown and copper woolies as well. Some fight really well and some feel like you hooked a big turtle or an old boot.

[Greasy B]

Nice fish!

[Jason R.]

Nice fish!

I think I have caught that one several times since that picture. When it is hot they don't really fight- which is disappointing.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, the one I caught in my pond that was 44 inches never made any hard runs, just bulldogged around for a LONG time...probably took me 30 minutes to land it. But I caught one a little earlier in the year at Perry County Community Lake that took off on a screaming run that stripped 50 yards of 12 pound test line off my casting reel as soon as it was hooked, and it wasn't nearly as big, maybe 30 inches.

The way I caught that one was funny. I was bass fishing the lake, which at some point had apparently been heavily stocked with grass carp. They had basically eaten every bit of aquatic vegetation from it. In one cove of the lake, there is an old farm pond just above its head, and it had been wet and that pond was overflowing, dumping water and floating mats of algae into the upper end of the cove. A bunch of grass carp were congregated up there sucking in those mats of algae. I really wanted to hook one of those carp. So after studying the situation for a while, I dug into my tackle box and grabbed a Zara Spook, and took off one of its trebles. I tied the treble to the end of my line, and very slowly and carefully sneaked up along the bank until I was at the very head of the cove where the overflowing pond was dumping in, without scaring the fish that were only a few feet away. I let the hook dangle a few feet off the end of my rod, and gently reached out and dropped it onto one of those playing card size mats of algae. Then I gave it line as it drifted the few feet to where the fish were. Sure enough, a big one came up and sucked in the whole mat, including my hook. I set the hook and the battle was on. The thing took off for the main lake and didn't stop until it reached the bottom of the cove, and it took me a long time to gradually fight it back up the cove and land it.

[cwc87]

Nice story Al So now that asian carp are creeping up our beloved rivers and gigging season is in I am curious how many are being gigged and where at?