Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Fly Fishing & Other Fish Species ID Pic & Carp Thoughts

Hello All. I have missed this forum & I am glad to be back.
I have one fish ID picture. It seems to be a shiner, which I think is good
for my small pond. The second pic is a carp - just thought the site needed one more carp pic.






































I was angling for baitfish (BG) and this carp (about 12") took the bait - had no idea they were in the pond. The pond was first stocked with CC and BG. Last spring some LMB were added (though some were already in the pond) and some FHM, which are all gone.
The pond is now about 4 years old, created from new & filled by runoff from pasture - NOT other
ponds/streams/creeks/rivers/etc. So it was surprising to find this guy. I remember as a youngster
that carp are 'trash-fish', and I was a bit worried to see him. After some looking around it seems like
he might not be too bad of a thing for the small pond (1-1/2 ac). Any ID's and opinions on the carp?
Thanks yall.

First picture is a golden shiner.

Second picture looks like a common carp. Is that a whisker in the corner of his mouth?

Yup, first pic is definitely a golden shiner.

The second is a common carp for sure if that is in fact a barbel, which is looks to be. The most likely way the carp ended up in your pond was through stock contamination. Carp may have been mixed in with your GSH, BG, or others. If your ponds is fished with live bait, and some one emptied their bait bucket into your pond at the end of a day of fishing, that is another likely way. Last, small carp can travel long distances from one BOW to another in high water events... Just hope it was one fluke carp who road in with a stocking and he's the lone one. However, if he's 12" and your pond was stocked 4 years ago, that is unlikely and you most likely have a reproducing population of common carp. Consider setting some traps baited with bread to see what you catch... If you end up with a bunch of GSH, things are most likely not too bad. But if you end up with a pile of 2-6" common carp, you may need to do some serious work. Common minnow traps with 1" openings will only allow very small carp in. I like using bigger traps with larger openings. However, these can be hard to find as they are usually illegal to use in public water where most people do their trapping.

I have to assume he was dumped as bait by someone, or carried by something. There is no other connection to any other BOW, even when flooding. Same is true of the shinner, we have not stocked them.

Why hope it is a fluke? what are issues with carp in a small pond?

I have no experience with Carp in ponds, but in larger BOWs that lack ample apex predators that forage on carp [LMB, FC, ect.] they can overpopulate, cause turbidity issues due to rooting for vegetation, and can devastate aquatic vegetation.

IMO your LMB should hammer most of the YOY carp IF you indeed have a reproducing population, and you can try to manage the adult population by angling [crawlers, sweet corn, dough baits fished on bottom], archery/shooting, or trapping [ask Travis/forum for advice on trapping]. You should be able to witness them spawning in the shallows of your pond soon. Get an elevated vantage point, good polarized sunglasses, and scan the shallows during spawn time for your area [check on water temps for Carp spawn I think it's high 60s low 70s]. If you see torpedos cruising the shallows in groups...you likely have carp.

Your BOW is of the size I think you should be able to manage them. I would recommend continuing to fish for them with bread balls/crawlers/etc. and see how many more you catch. Hope this helps...I think you can manage this.

Most likely a bait bucket release or stock contamination gave you the GSH and the carp. Early in a pond's life before the bass get established or are even stocked, just a few of most any species can easily take hold. Once the bass are established, this becomes more unlikely.

Anyone else having issues seeing the pics?

No

Me either

Can see them fine and agree with the comments.

Will northern pike in our 50 acre lake eat common carp? We have carp in a growing number for the last 4 or 5 years. How about waleye?

Yes, northern pike and walleye will eat common carp. Just about every does eat the little ones. The problem is common carp growth rates are extremely fast meaning that carp outgrow the mouth size of walleye within a year and NO within a couple years, unless you have some massive NP which won't happen for a number of years. Unlikely they will control common carp, but they would help. However, they'll also chow down on your YP and other fish you may not want them eating...

CJBS2003 is right. Northern pike will eat carps but only the little ones. Even a large pike won't help you. And don't forget that such pike won't eat only carps but all other possible fish. And they eat much...

By the way, maybe that's the only carp you have got in there and there is no possibility for them to breed?