Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Stocking Grass Carp along with feed trained LMB

My question is this: If I stock grass carp for coontail and sago pondweed control at the same time that i stock feed trained LMB are the grass carp going to be eating the pellets from my feeder along with the LMB rather than eating the nuisance plants that i want them to get rid of?

Any opinions or experience with this combo? I am assuming the GC I buy from any hatchery will also be basically feed trained.

Thanks. BM61

While the GC might eat some pellets, they, just like the LMB will eat other things when they are right in front of them. To discourage the GC from eating pellets, fish for them when they are eating pellets using Stubby Steves. They remember the hook in the pellet and tend to shy away from pellets for the rest of the year. If they do go back to eating pellets, refresh their memory.

I have a bit of a issue with this from time to time. My GC will eat some food at the feeder but I have some many fish eating around it they don't get to much if they are there. Like Esshup said they will eat both.... I am not sure how much GC like coontail though?? They like my American pond weed and will eat my Chara... Coontail I have no idea....

RC

My GC have behaved quite differently than Scott's. 3 summers ago I added 5 GC about 10" long. I was feeding trout at the time. Pond was choked with Elodea.
The GC scarfed pellets and grew like mad. They are now 30". I tried to dissuade them as Scott suggests by catching them on pellets with hook attached. I was able to catch and release only 3 of the 5.
Now, as I have no trout this year, I'm only hand feeding a couple times per week for recreation. The GC come right up close and hoover in the pellets. I can drop a pellet with very small light weight dry fly hook into their midst. They will examine and veer away from that combo. They don't avoid any of the rest of the pellets though.
They certainly have what appears to be great eyesight and are wary of floating fish food with even the smallest of hooks and gossamer line attached.
Here's the good part. Elodea, although still very abundant, is no longer a problem for fishing anymore. The GC have "got with the program" and have opened up 90% of the water so I can
at least cast artificials.
When it is time to remove the carp, I'll shoot 'em.

My GC were also like 4Corners'. They were hogs at feeding time. I caught them on hook and line, and I even shot them with .22 birdshot. Nothing stopped them until I shot and killed one with a regular .22 lr. I should point out it's safe to do so at my pond. The others never returned after that. My pond turned over last fall, and they died. They won't be replaced. They are intelligent and can be amusing though.

A couple days ago I caught the first glimpse of my two grass carp that were stocked in my old pond three years ago. Named them Moby and Dick because they looked like whales among the other fish feeding. Probably 2.5 feet long.

Don't think they actually have perfected eating pellets yet because they would cruise back and forth among the other fish but never saw them coming to the surface to get a floating pellet. Hope they stay that way. Plenty of primrose for them to eat.

Dang so now you all have me worried, my pond (3/4 acre) is new and has no vegetation to speak off. I wonder if I should hold off stocking them and wait until I have a problem? The original pond was only 1/3 acre but I had it for 2 years and never had any problems with vegetation.

I only planned on stocking GC because a local biologist recommended putting them in early for prevention.

To me, putting them in before there is a problem (or the start of a problem) is like taking cold medicine when you don't have a cold.....

Thanks Esshup, that is what my original take was on it. But then when my local biologist told me to it would be a good move and I had a few other folks say the same it had me wondering.

So you say leave them out until I see a problem? I also worried about putting them in early as I am just now starting to have grass in along the water line as well as the 4 Pickerelweed I just planted.

It was suggested to me to add a few GC with the first fish stocking. I wanted some vegetables (grass and such) in the pond, heck, I even spent quite bit of money to get the right ones growing. And so I did not add any GC. Now all most two yrs later and I still have no veggies in the pond. The crawfish I added to the pond took out the vegies. if I would have added the GC back then, they would have starved or the Wr would be pretty poor i'm thinking.

Tracy

Ask those people who are saying to put them in a specific, pointed question - "Why do you recommend putting them in before any weeds are there and not wait until I get some weeds established to see if the weeds would be a problem first?" Sit back and pay close attention to their answer.

Can someone answer the GC / coontail question? I have a major coontail problem and am trying several different solutions with little success (e.g. aquatic herbicides, GC, etc...). My current crop of GC are small and may not be mature enough to make a difference with the coontail. What should my expectations be with GC helping to control the coontail?

PM FireisHot. He's been spraying coontail for going on 2 years and introduced a bunch of Triploid Grass Carp. He is just now thinking he's getting ahead of the coontail.