Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Where are my grass carp

Stock my lake with CC LMB BG and 11 12in grass carp 5 months ago. We had a big rain and I lost a couple of fish over the spillway. I feed everyday and the fish go crazy and are getting big.
My questions is I've never seen the grasscarp. At feeding time or around the edge. Is there and way to find out if they are still there or not.

If you lost fish over the spillway, chances are you lost a large number if not all of your grass carp as well. Grass carp are naturally river species and are drawn to current... They were probably the fist fish to seek the current and head on down stream.

Hey Urup

As CJ says it is possible you lost them but chin up. Not sure how big your pond is mine is 1 acre and I have 7 GC. Some of which I have had for 2 plus years. I just saw 1 last weekend. First time ever and I can see 4 feet into the water. So don't be to discouraged yet!

Moderators, looks like some unauthorized advertising going on...

Yeah, I'd say you're right on that one, T!

Speaking genuinely about grass carp, I bought 3 from Rex last year and added them in October. All were probably around 11 - 12 inches. I also added 100 RES and an assortment of nice sized BG from Esshup and a few LMB, YP (both from Sunil's pond), and HSB (from Rex). Haven't really watched for any of them and probably couldn't distinguish them even if I saw them.

BUT . . . this was really cool. We were at the farm on Monday and the water was pretty clear while we were feeding. We noticed some pretty bulky fish that we first thought were a couple of big LMB (big for our pond) swimming around and eating a pellet here and there. As we got to watching them more closely, we realized it was the GC and, my how they've grown! These fish are probably pretty easily pushing 15" or so and have developed really healthy looking bodies. It was cool to see them and see that they've done so well in the past eight months.

Todd:

The next time you're there feeding, toss out a Stubby Steves on a small hook for the GC. They aren't doing you any favors eating the pellets. We caught 4 or 5 of a dozen that are in a buddy's pond when hand feeding pellets. They got the message, and so did their kin, we haven't seen a GC eating pellets in the past few months.

If GC are becoming a problem, use a shotgun.

I've been meaning to order some SS's but just haven't seemed to slow down long enough to do so. I think I'll do it this weekend now that I have a few days to breathe! I really enjoyed seeing them in there and seeing the growth, but agree they aren't doing their job if they're eating pellets! Need to try breaking them of that habit.

Fortunately, not a problem at this point, but a shotgun would have been easy - like shooting fish in a, uh, er, well, you know what I mean!

didnt ever see them and was wondering if they were still alive. Well today while feeding i did see atleast 1. so maybe they are all still n there

That is good news for you... If there is at least 1, then you may be OK. Good to hear!