It's highly unlikely that it came up from the creek and the pond was drained from May until October when it was dugout and totally dried. Coming from the minnow hatchery makes the most sense as it would have given it two years to grow to the 16" mark (unless they can grow that much in a year). I would say it would be easier to overlook a carp baby in with the FHM's compared to the HBG, RES, and HSB.
At any rate, I plan to fish a bit more than I normally would to see if there are any more takers, maybe do some throw netting during feeding time, and keep an eye for YOY carp in the bait trap. Surely I didn't overlook very many of them. My biggest concern was them reproducing and apparently grass carp of the diploid variety can reproduce, but only in rivers.
Maybe, all is not lost! There for a minute I was pretty flipped out.
