Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose grass carp

My neighbor had a one acre pond that was just about taken over by pond weed and milfoil. A well meaning neighbor tossed in some small bass and I quickly added bluegill from my forage pond. I recommended grass carp and he stocked 7. I subsequently bought the place. Well, most of the weeds are gone but the pond is now a muddy mess. With neither cows nor rain, I blame the rooting carp. I was going to try some tilapia this year but they can't filter feed on mud. It is an eyesore with no phytoplankton base. We tried to catch them on nightcrawlers but no luck. My wife did catch one eighteen inch bass and a couple of bluegill so it wasn't a total washout. Bluegills no longer come to feed. Does anybody have a great carp recipe that might sucker them in? I saw one this weekend and wished I had brought a shotgun.

Dave,

We have about 17 of these in a 2 acre pond from 2 stockings. I want to get the older ones out and replace them with juveniles. I've heard that banana peels fished about 6 to 8 inches beneath a cork works. Do you have any trees that shed seed or leaves into the pond? If you have cotton woods or crabapples try some of the seeds or blossoms floated on a light line. Ours will take floating feed but I can't get very close without spooking them.

Good luck,

Chip

The Nebraska state record grass carp was caught on a shad rap. So much for convential wisdom.

Chip, no trees directly around it. The water is so muddy that I'm looking for something that is pretty aromatic so they can find it. This is one of the stories that should start out with "Be careful what you wish for".

I caught a 67# grass carp on a firetiger sub-wart. My baitcaster was never the after that.
Try orange soda and corn flakes mixed together into a firm dough. Don't know how well it works on grass carp, but works really well on the common carp.

Sometime back someone posted they were having great success catching their grass carp on small salad type tomatos (grape tomato?)

I caught one, 21 3/4 lbs, 36 1/2 inches on a catawlpa worm on an ultra-light rod with 4 lb test line while fishing for bream. Though I think most people use some type of grain or bread and much heavier tackle. The carp fishermen I have known used a few corn kernels on a hook, around this they molded a handfull of a special mixture (they always kept their recipes secret) usually made of corn meal, grits, or millet with corn syrup as a binder, and often containing strawberry Jello (don't know why but they swore by strawberry). When this hit the water the outer mixture would disolve into the water to act as chum, this drew them to the corn on the hook. Hope this helps.

Good Luck!

A can of corn, just regular corn from the grocery. String the hook full of it. Works great!

dave, i have 12 grass carp in a 1 1/2 acre pond. have caught 3 of them by using a salmon egg fly left over from a trout fishing trip to alaska. throw catfish pellets in the water and cast the fly in the middle of the floating pellets. chose a fly very close in size and color to the pellets. i use an 8 wt rod and 5 feet of 20 lb mon attached to floating line. i suppose they mistake it for the floating catfish pellets.

darrell stringer

Dave good luck catching them but I doubt that is cause of muddy water. I have never seen muddy water from grass carp especially that few. Common carp of course are a diff story. Just wanted to warn that you may have to battle other things b/f you get rid of muddy conditions.

Guys, Thanks for the recipe's and baits.

Greg, I'm at a loss as to what else could cause it. Cows are gone, it hasn't rained, no other fish but bass and bluegill, and it has never before been a problem on this water hole.

Here's what is causing my thinking. I have a backgound in computer programming and managing Information Systems. Anytime something acted differently, we looked at the last change we had made to the programs that affected the system. In 99% of the instances, it was something we had introduced without adequate testing or enough knowledge. I'm looking at the pond environment as a "system" or body that now contains a bug or virus of some kind. Something has changed that is causing stuff from the bottom of the system to suspend. Dirt is heavier than water and I am at a loss to identify anything else. No other neighboring ponds in the area are similarly afflicted.

Dave, first, we share similar backgrounds. Second, and I hate to suggest this, but are you sure bullheads didn't find their way into your pond this Spring ? Finally, how long have your cows been gone ? Could it be possible that their fertilizing effect is related and that element is now missing ?

Eastland, the cows haven't been gone long but they have always been on the place and the water has never muddied. Nor has it ever been weed free until this year. Thats why I credit the grass carp with both activities. I guess bullheads could be possible but they would have to have come this year. I've never seen any indication of them before and I've fished the water since it was new 4 years ago. Doesn't seem like bullheads could have made this type of quick impact.

Georgia, you are right about "carp fishers" keeping their recipe a secret. As a kid my grandfather liked to catch carp.

Secret recipe that drives carps wild is frozen brine shrimp mixed into a very dough like bait. I had a saltwater aquarium at the time and he "stole" my shrimp for his recipe. He caught easily over a hundred pounds of carp in one day.

The carp was so bad even the cats wouldn't eat it. I believe he used most of it for fertilizer after that.