Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking need help/ideas

I honestly think draining the lake is the only way to cure this. Controlling that large a number of carp is almost impossible.

There is a lake where I work that has no natural reproduction of musky but is maintained by stocking 6"-8" fingerling at 1 per 2 acres, every year. The lake has some excellent musky fishing and many bass in the 4 to 6 pound range...

Here's a link to a webpage for a muskie association in Washington state - halfway down the page it mentions that the Washington state department of fish and wildlife has stocked muskies several times to control rough fish, including one specific instance mentioned for carp (probably more than one instance was carp, but they specify one):

http://www.nwtigermuskies.com/faq.html

So again, what is the water source for the lake?

well it sounds like i am out of luck. i dont have much $. to spend on the pond,maybe $500 a year if i am lucky. there are blue gill and green sunfish in the pond,maybe i can try to stock a handful of lunker bass?

What is the water source?

its an old swamp fed by springs and a stream,,there are no carp in the stream,the carp wear put in it by man years ago.

I think I would start getting all of the predators in there that I could catch. They ought to at least start eating the smaller carp.

Lacking $, like most of us, I think I would start having all of the fishing derbies that I could.

Okay, a couple more ideas, Scott. (The thought of a 200-acre lake that can't be fixed is just more than my fishing brain can handle, so I'm pulling for you to get it fixed.) Neither of these may be the direction you want to go, but I'll throw them out:

1) What about contacting your state game and fish agency and telling them they can open up the lake to public fishing if they'll get it corrected? There are four lakes in my home county from twenty-something acres to over a hundred, that used to be owned by a chemical company but were turned over to TWRA several years ago to open to the public. There's a bait shop on the property now, and rental boats on each lake; people pay $5 to fish for a day. The lakes are never crowded. I looked online and RI's state game and fish agency has a program called "public/private partnership" and looks to be actively looking for more properties, though I don't know if that's just properties they can acquire (don't sell your lake!). They already have private individuals running some of their fishing properties, and they don't seem to have a lot of great properties judging from the ones they list as ones they want to develop, so perhaps they would consider leaving your property private (yours) and just opening it to fishing. Just a thought.

I don't know what fishing pressure is like in RI, or whether that's a direction you even want to consider. But if you did, and the game and fish agency were interested, they would have the resources to right the lake quickly. There's a good chance they would just poison it and start over with a fresh stocking. Within two or three years you'd have a completely new, balanced lake with the species you want.

2) Find a nearby muskie club (nearby may mean a neighboring state) and see if they would be interested in stocking the lake for you in exchange for fishing permission for the members of the club. Here's a link to an online article about a muskie club that spent $10,000 to stock 1,000 7-14" muskie from Minnesota Muskie Farm (which ships all over the U.S.) into a public lake:

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:mf4O...n&ct=clnk&gl=us

Here's a link to a chapter of Muskies Inc. in NY. The organization's website makes it sound like they are really big into bringing muskie to new areas, and it also sounds like they do a lot of stocking; they're closer to you than the other muskie clubs I was able to find (though I only looked for a few minutes):

http://www.muskiesinc.org/Default.asp?area_2=MINC%20Pages/PublicChapter/ChapterInfo&CH=22

One last thought: stock however many muskie fingerlings you can afford each year for the next two years, then start stocking bass. Fingerlings are much cheaper than 12"; the MN hatchery's website is malfunctioning at the moment so I couldn't access their price list, but if I remember correctly you could get 200-400 fingerlings for $500. If even 50 survived, within a year they would make a very noticeable difference in the number of carp in the lake; if you stocked two years running, within four or five years you likely would no longer have a carp problem.

I'll desist now. I hope you find a way to right the lake!

Scott sorry I just saw this thread. We have encountered the same problem with "rough" fish. We were able to contact commercial fishermen in our area and they agreed to gill net rough fish out of the lakes for no cost (they got the fish they caught free). Carp , gar , buffalo , bowfin , and some catfish. We used to have fish drives. Put a gill net out across the lake (nets were maybe 500 ft in length) and start about 400 yards away with several boats banging the boat and dragging a chain and ropes to drive the fish into the net. Then the commercial fishermen would do the rest. They removed many boat loads of unwanted fish. I recall one gar was over 13 ft long.

thanks to all

ewest, a 13' gar? What did it weigh???

No weight. Its head was at the pickup tailgate and its tail on the front bumper.

Hi All. New member who just happened to stumble on this thread.

Carp fishing is a growing sport in the US now. I run several carp fishing message boards and anyone with a carp problem would be welcome to use those boards to meet fishermen who may be willing to help remove unwanted carp. Here in NC we have several hundred "pay ponds" that are stocked with carp, so it may be a chance to locate a few commercial fishermen also.

Naturally, out of respect to this board I will not post links, but if anyone is interested PM me.

It should be noted that in the UK fishermen pay exorbatant fees to fish for carp in lakes such as the one mentioned in this thread. Many of the carp fishermen in the US have UK links and are true sportsman. (not your steriotypical carp fishermen).

I'm sure that a few of these guys could put a hurt on the carp population.


Great site BTW.

T

buster, Welcome to pond boss forum, lots of great info, and some info you might not want to know.
Your right about carp fishing, they interviewed some contestants on the local channel in Watertown, and many had traveled from the UK for the big tournament on the ST. Lawrence.

Thanks for the welcome. I've been here before because I knew there was a wealth of info here about ponds, just never posted.

One of my boards runs a carp fishing tournament series at carp ponds in SC, NC, PA,Ohio and Indy. I'm sure that most of the readers here have never heard of a carp pond, but it is a a huge deal. I know that many of the pond owners could learn a lot from this board.

The other site caters to the Euro style wildwater fishermen. This is an international board and could very likely provide help anywhere in the country for carp removal. I have to admit that most of these fishermen are catch and release oriented, but I'm sure that they could still provide a service. JMHO--If I owned a lare pond that had a carp problem, I would look at selective removal. Get rid of the runts and promote the growth of trophy size fish. That approach helps deal with the overpopulation of carp, but leaves some huge fish that can provide great sport.

BTW--I am not a "carp hugger". I just realize that you can't complete rid a lake of them. If you do they will eventually come back. The best approach for a lake owner might be to control them, but still utilize them.

JMHO
T

Welcome, buster, thanks for posting and for the great ideas.



No one will accuse you of being a carp hugger, and even if they did, you'd still be welcome--we even tolerate our "Green Sunfish Huggers" with patience and understanding.

Welcome Buster! Every year they usually have a carp fishing tournament on the Potomac River in Washington DC. Guys from all over the world come out for it. The techniques and equipment used is nothing short of amazing. They take their fishing more serious than guys fishing in a B.A.S.S tournament! I personally wouldn't want carp in a small pond, but as you said if managed, they certainly can provide some hard tugging fun!

Yolk, I'm with ya on the GSF Huggers----PU!

You guys had better head to the deep woods, wear camo and be real still. Sooner or later, JHAP will return and you will find out what happens to those who tug on Supermans cape and spit into the wind.

DIED, please tell the mechanic to dust off the Deathstar, I can see that I have my work cut out for me.

Give this one time to finish before cutting off his breathing with your mind, will ya?