Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Grass Carp Timing

Pond in NE TExas - near Paris. 2 acres, new pond, had substantial Baby Pondweed this year, resulted in it being - noo-fishable.

I have obtained my grass carp permit.

Should I go ahead and buy them and put them in the winter. My baby pond weed has turned brown, but not decaying yet.

Will the baby pondweed die back over the winter here in NE texas

thanks

IMO it is best to buy the grass carp in spring when the waters are warming up, weeds are just starting new growth, and grass carp who like warm water can begin feeding right away toward controlling the new weed growths.

Stocking late fall or now has cooling waters, declining weed availability and it is less likely for grass carp to feed and start growing and put on body fat. Late season stocking requires the grass carp to avoid several months of predation threat from big hungry bass. Which option makes the most common sense?

Thanks - makes sense - didn't know if the GC would start eating on the dead/dying weed

TY

David

Be careful on how many you stock - I stocked 5 in a half acre pond that had lots of weeds. Lost 3 to osprey and saw little weed reduction -- so stocked another 5 the next year and lost 2 to osprey - so I now have 5 ........... and all of the sudden I have no weeds in the pond .... nada .... zero. I have posted in another area that I am now concerned what effect this is having on the food chain and fish in the pond.

I like to put them in the spring as as opposed to summer or fall to at least I get some use out of them if I have a winter kill as I have had in the past.

DB, my personal experience mirrors Bill's advice. My 10-12" GC, which were stocked in early May, doubled in size by late fall.

I'm sure some of the 50 GC I stocked were victims of predation, but the numbers were probably way lower than if they had been stocked in fall or winter when their metabolism slows down, as does their growth.

It seems that the larger they get, the less they eat. Is that true? Mine are 18 to 20 inches long after a few seasons. They don't seem to be as motivated to eat as they once were.

I'm thinking of trading them in for younger models in the spring.

Thoughts?

Any chance they just found something else to eat? I've read in a couple of threads where guys were feeding pellets and the GC figured out they could just hang out at the feeder and eat pellets.

Hobart, grass carp do slow on eating once they reach a size that nothing in the pond is large enough to bother them. They will then begin to lazily cruise and browse selectively. Seems the best way to manage GC is after the 3rd year, remove and replace the largest 1/3 of the original stocking and another 1/3 of the largest ones each or every other year after that...