Asian Carp Could Threaten Brackish Water Fisheries Too

Asian carp caught in Kentucky Lake. Photo by Steve McCadams

As Activist Angler has reported, the Great Lakes aren’t the only fisheries at risk because of bighead and silver carp.  The invaders threaten riverine impoundments in the Dakotas and natural lakes in Minnesota, as well as reservoirs along the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Ohio River systems.

And now it appears that brackish water fisheries, especially in Louisiana, are endangered as well, according to an article in Houmatoday.com. If that’s the case, we now should worry about shrimp, oysters, crabs, redfish, trout and many other saltwater species.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Evidence of bighead and silver carp living in the salty, brackish waters of coastal Louisiana is worrisome because the fish family they belong to is typically restricted to fresh water, U.S. Geological Survey biologist Duane Chapman said.

“Asian carp appear to be the exception, which was a complete shock to us,” Chapman said. “We don’t have any real data yet on the effects of the fish on brackish water populations of other species. We don’t know what will happen, but we are very concerned.”

 Also in Louisiana, chef Philippe Parola, an angler himself, has been leading the way in encouraging fishermen to catch, keep, and eat Asian carp. Check out his website.

For a little light entertainment, check out the silver carp explosion during rowing practice on a lake off the Missouri River, near St. Louis.

Commercial Tournament Highlights Carp Threat to Sport Fisheries

Commercial fishermen bring in catch during tournament. AP photo.

The threat that Asian carp pose to the north --- Great Lakes, upper Missouri River impoundments, inland Minnesota waters from the upper Mississippi, etc. --- makes most of the headlines these days.

But these prolific nuisance species also are moving south and east through the Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland rivers systems. And the severity of the invasion in these waters is evidenced by the results of a recent first-of-its-kind commercial fishing tournament at Kentucky and Barkley lakes.

Eleven teams brought in 82,953 pounds of Asian carp. That’s short of the 200,000-pound goal, but 41 tons are more than enough to reveal the extent of the problem.

The Gleaner.com reports the following:  

"It validated some of the things we had thought, that good skilled fisherman can come in there and take out 10,000 pounds a day, all you have to do is create a market," Kentucky Fish and Wildlife spokesman Mark Marraccini said on Thursday. The fish can be harvested to produce fertilizers, pet foods, and fish oil products, he said. They are also edible.

State officials are concerned about the rapid spread of the fish in Barkley and Kentucky lakes. The carp breed faster than some native species and eat up the algae and zooplankton that other fish depend on.

The Asian carp infiltrated the Mississippi River in the 1970s after getting loose from fish farms. Federal officials, worried about the species reaching the Great Lakes, are conducting a study to investigate how Asian carp DNA got into rivers and canals in the Chicago area.

Ron Brooks, Kentucky's fisheries director, said one species of the problem fish, the silver carp, is prone to leaping out of the water when agitated by boat noise, which can injure boaters and skiers.

Brooks said state officials will make tweaks to the next tournament to attract more fishing teams.

The two-day tournament winner was Barry Mann of Gilbertsville. His team hauled in 28,669 pounds and won a top prize of $10,000. The commercial teams used nets since the carp don't bite on baited hooks. More than 20 teams signed up but just 11 teams brought in fish for weighing, Marraccinni said.

The removed carp were taken to a processing plant in Mississippi, where they will be harvested for fish oils and used in pet foods, Marraccini said.

Here’s a video about the tournament.

To learn more about the threat that Asian carp pose to the east and south check out

Asian Carp Also Threaten Southern Fisheries.

Help Prevent Spread of Asian Carp

Here are a couple of good sources for more information about Asian carp:

Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA) and Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee.

Most importantly, check out the fliers at the MICRA website and be an Activist Angler in preventing the spread of these invaders that are outcompeting native species for food and habitat in many of the major riiver systems in the eastern half of the country.

More DNA Evidence Raises Odds That Carp Have Invaded Great Lakes

More damning evidence has just been revealed that Asian carp might already have invaded Lake Michigan via a manmade connection to the Mississippi River basin and it’s only a matter of time until numbers reach critical mass, spawning occurs, and we start seeing huge numbers of the prolific exotics.

That’s exactly what happened with snakeheads in the Potomac River. For several years, anglers caught just enough of them to remind us that they were there. Then someone found a mass of them spawning in a creek, and the population seemed to explode almost overnight.

In the case of Asian carp and Lake Michigan, researchers report that 17 of 171 samples taken from the North Shore Channel tested positive for silver carp DNA. Additionally, 17 of 57 from the Chicago River also proved positive for the genetic material.

Meanwhile, the Corps still is studying the situation.

"Asian carp are knocking at the front door of the Great Lakes, and we cannot afford to wait on a federal government that fails to act,” said Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.

Read more here.

Bass Don't Cooperate for Activist Angler in Arkansas Delta --- But Potential There

Lake Dunn in Arkansas' Village Creek State Park produced this 16-5 largemouth bass.

When I learned that I was to fish the small lakes of Lake Village State Park as part of a press trip up and down the Arkansas Delta, I was excited.

Lakes Austell and Dunn are notorious producers of big bass.

At just 85 acres, Austell has been stocked with Florida-strain bass for decades, and, a few years ago, it yielded a 15-12 trophy. Dunn, meanwhile, is about the same size and anglers have moved some of those Florida bass into it to boost the gene pool there as well.

As a matter of fact, Paul Crowder caught a 16-5 in Dunn earlier this year. It would have been a state record, except for the fact that he was fishing illegally, without a license.

My excitement grew when Jeremy Mitchell, the angler who would be taking me fishing, told me that he has caught 25 bass of 8 pounds or more during the past year at Austell.

Then reality struck, in the form and fury of the first winter cold front. We hit the water under blue bird sky with air temperatures in the low to mid 40s. A cold north wind buffeted us all morning. We managed a few small bass, but nothing close to what we were hoping for. Just as they do in the state for which they are named, Florida-strain bass are especially sensitive to cold weather, often contracting lockjaw for a few days in the wake of a front’s passage.

Sad to say, the rest of the trip wasn’t much more productive, except for a few hours on the Arkansas River at Pendleton, where I caught about 20 bass with David Shopher, a tournament angler and taxidermist, who specializes in North American, African and Asian big game.

Fishing with Jim Ferguson of “The Revolution with Jim & Trav” radio show at Lake Chicot, I managed one drum. Jim caught a sock.

An oxbow off the Mississippi River, Chicot is Arkansas’ largest natural lake and an interesting place, with a long history. French explorers named it “Chicot,” which means “stumpy.”

Asian carp  have invaded this fishery, as they have many others up and down the river. We saw silvers jumping in our wake, but none of them joined us in the boat.

Cypress-lined lake in White River National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Robert Montgomery

Fishing with Walter Jones on H Lake in White River National Wildlife Refuge produced just three small bass. But I did get an interesting photo of a mink with a catfish, which I posted earlier at Activist Angler.

Walter is extremely knowledgeable about this wild and beautiful place, and I really enjoyed seeing it. He also runs a duck hunting guide service.

All of these oak trees were moved from forest to farmland to create new waterfowl habitat. Large machinery at the right of photo will give you an idea of the size of the trees. Photo by Robert Montgomery

One of the real highlights of the trip was staying at Delta Conference Center (DCC), a first-class facility for shooting, duck hunting, and, eventually, fishing. It includes a 22-acre lake designed by Bill Dance. Unfortunately, the fishery was still filling with water when I was there, so I didn't fish it.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the DCC is doing remarkable things to create new waterfowl habitat on old farmland, including moving oak trees up to 90 feet tall and weighing in excess of 350,000 pounds.