I have a problem with carp in my lake built in 2012, (60+ acres). Did not put them in must have come down stream from one of the 20 ponds above my lake. There is probably no way to keep them out, so is there some way to control them. Was thinking of HSB, walleye or Yellow catfish or maybe bluecats. If I would put in large amounts of predators would they keep them under control. Have tried to get bass established but did not have much luck. What carp I can see are in the 5 to 20 lbs range. Have removed some with bow but no where near enough.

There is a drain for the lake but do not know if the state will let me open it to drain any water out, ( took three months to drain it last time it was drained). I would hate to go to all the trouble to drain it and then just end up back to where I am now. What I was hoping for was a pond with 2 to 5 lb bass, 1 lb blue gill and crappie and some larger cats to fish for when all you want to do is sit down with a drink and relax.
I can see down 3 feet and there is lots of moss already this year. Spring fed and it stays at full pool 10 months out of the year and only drops a foot in July and August. It also can hold back another 15 feet of water on large rains but drops back down in 7 to 10 days.

Nehunter, perhaps you could hold mini-fishing/bowhunting carp tournaments on your BOW.

Or, if the state allows, commercial carp fishermen might do a number on them.

Blue cats and flatheads would indeed eat carp, but they'd also chow down on your BG and LMB.

I have talked to some people and they told me you need to go bow hunting for them at night. But they did not know if that was anytime or just during the spawn.

You might try trot lines to thin the herd. I'd bait it with size 8 trebles with a good dough ball recipe and run the lines parallel to the shore 2 to 6 feet of water....go heavy on the line. They are incredibly strong. Hybrid Blue Cats might be an option for full time carp anglers to help keep recruitment down.

I'm in Nebraska and have a similar problem, but don't have near the water clarity you have. I've tried everything from a 100' seine, to trap nets to now I'm attempting a heavy stocking of blue cats. They aren't big enough yet to make a difference but will update as time progresses. I can speak from experience in a smaller pond that wipers won't impact them as much as you'd like.

Interestingly I ran across a thread here several years ago where a guy was attempting to use redears to control carp reproduction. I tried to contact him to get results of his strategy to no avail. So not sure if it had an impact or not. But Shorty and I had a conversation about this recently and he thinks there may be some validity to the strategy. Maybe he will stick his nose in this thread and give his thoughts.

Flatheads 15 pounds and up should control them. Your lake is big enough that flatheads should not take over. You could get on the Catfish1.com forum and ask for some in your area. Most of those guys catch and release the big ones. You might get some help unless yours is a pay lake.

If the water clarity allows bowfishing at night, that is what I would do, every night that the weather conditions allowed. Common carp come to the shallow areas to sleep at night, so they are relatively easy pickings.

The problem with putting predator fish in the pond that can eat large common carp is that they don't listen very will when you tell them to eat only carp. If a bass that they can eat is nearby, and they are hungry, they will eat it.

Well said Scott!

IMO Although FHC and/or BC can grow to a size to eat 10 pound+ carp, I would worry they take over and as apex predator and eat the desired fish. IMO, the best you can do is stock appropriate predators to limit recruitment of the carp. By appropriate, I mean predators that frequent the same depth and area of the lake as the carp. For example, HSB are known to prefer open water so they will probably rarely encounter carp and would not be an effective carp predator.

Large carp would then need to be left to either die of old age or be removed by angling, shooting, etc.

Just my 1 cent...

I recall that some years ago I joined some Fish and Game group for a netting expedition on Utah Lake. We were setting and checking gill nets. Our most common fish by far, maybe 50 to 1, were 3 to 10 pound common carp.

I'm thinking gill nets set in the correct habitat could catch many of your larger carp. If the net openings were large enough, you might only catch an occasional desirable fish. If I recall correctly, checking many nets would yield a boat load of carp and 2 or 3 walleyes. The lake had many walleyes, so we were avoiding catching them somehow.

You could address the smaller carp some other way, as suggested above.

Any idea what condition is preventing Large Mouth Bass from establishing??? I presume you want/tried stocking Northern strain Black Bass....? This is the first time I've read about any failure for LMB to establish....

I am not sure what is happening to the bass I put(500) 3 inch northern bass in 2013 then another 500 in 2014. With large rains I have a lot of water go out the spillway, they may have gone with the water. I also have 40 or more cormorants that stay around the lake. It has a lot of trees in the water that may use up the DO in the winter, I have only seen a few dead fish in the spring of 2014 and they were bullheads. The lake also has a large population of green sun fish that may have eaten the 3 inch bass. My next try to get bass will be adding 10 to 16 inch bass from another pond that is bass heavy.
This lake is not open to the public, but I let anyone in that asks. I maybe wrong but a lake needs to be fished or it will get over populated. Would be nice if they would not leave their drink bottles laying on the ground.

This lake is in NE. Nebraska laws makes it illegal to do anything that works, no trot lines, no gill nets, no traps with an opening larger than an inch. The old timers used to use a tangle trap for carp with 10 to 15 treble hooks hanging down from a wooden basket lid that had corn piled on it. Again not aloud in this state. With that said I should probably look up to see if you can bow hunt with artificial light.

Common carp come to the shallow areas to sleep at night, so they are relatively easy pickings.
Would the bass be in the trees and brush, so they would be harder for the cats to eat, compared to the carp if they are in the open shallow water? Just hoping

Many of those things you can do if you get a permit for 70$ or so.

I would stock as many 6"+ LMB as you can as they will be your primary tool in limiting recruitment of more carp over time. A LMB heavy pond would be ideal with restrictions on harvesting LMB. You will still need to find an effective way of thinning your current crop of adult carp down with some of the methods already mentioned.

Nedoc and I discussed RES as an experimental way of controlling carp the other day which just might work in conjunction with a heavy stocking of LMB. My experience with RES is that they love to eat small fish and they may help in limiting recruitment of young of the year carp. More importantly, RES also share a very similar diet with common carp, carp will eat vegetation but "prefer to scavenge the bottom for insects, crustaceans (including zooplankton), crawfish, and benthic worms". Having some competition for the same food resources carp prefer is likely a good thing.

What kind of permit do I need? A commercial fishing permit or something else from the game and parks. Would the permit be for one year or just for a short time. I would gladly spend $70 dollars to be able to get rid of the carp. Would I be able to have help with the nets or would everyone in the boat need a separate permit?

Regs don't apply to private waters here. Have you checked?

No I have not, but there is water coming out of the lake a lot of the time so I would say the state would say it is not private water.

NEhunter feel free to ping me sometime - I'm also in NE and help manage several fisheries in SE NE. I'm happy to help with some ideas.

Few thoughts: Comorants...need to go. Get depredation permit from state.

In order to qualify for that permit, you'll likely need an aquaculture license, cost of $70 annually.

I strongly suggest controlling access to your fishery.

Your pond/lake is not considered "public" because of flow through...nearly all ponds have flow through, but does not mean they become classified as public. Trot lines, fyke nets, etc. are fine on private water.

I like that gill net solution. If you have guys who want permission to fish, you have access to free labor. They should earn the right to fish, and you also need to implement regs on fishery harvest.

Let's talk sometime, happy to help.

TJ Hudson
tj@hudlandmgmt.com
402.730.4897

I looked up gill nets and there are all kinds of sizes. Has anyone used one for the removal of carp and what size of opening would you use if you would be targeting 16 to 30 inch carp? What area of the lake would you set them in? If you put them in the back waters at 3 feet of water or would you put them in closer to the main part of the lake in 10 feet water? Also if the net does not reach from the ground to the surface will the carp just swim under it? The price brake for the nets is at 100 yards, would be very hard to put a net that long in the trees in the back water. Also I would assume you put the net perpendicular to the bank, so the water depth would go from 2 feet to 15 feet in a 100 yards. That would really bunch up the net in the shallow water and not be on the bottom if you buy a 10 foot net. Would really like some info before I go and spend a lot of money on getting the permits and nets.

I'm gonna be interested to follow this as I have some of the same questions. I purchased a fyke net/trap net from Duluth Net Co. last year and had absolutely incredible customer service with regard to answering technical questions like that. You may wanna call them and find out if they can help with such questions.

Fyke nets are amazing. But, they can work your butt of.

http://www.ifs.tas.gov.au/about-us/publications/carp-management-update-oct-december-2013

Gill nets and trot lines baited with sweet corn using circle hooks looks like a promising combination.

These nets are at a more reasonable price, but I still would like to know what size to order? A 3 inch square net stretches to 6 inches, so would a 15 to 20 lb. carp get far enough into the net to be caught? The nets go to 5 inch square that stretches to 10 inches.I would like the net big enough so any 3 to 4 pound bass would not get caught, when I actually get some bass that size.

I would call the net mfg.'s like was suggested earlier. If you run the nets in 6-8 hour increments, any fish that is caught should be still alive and you can usually get the fish that you want to keep in the lake back into the lake without killing them. Make sure you get a pick or two too. gill net pick