Do you love big bluegill?

Carp

I have a 5 acre pond, should I be worried about common carp effecting the fishery? I have seen carp of all sizes so it seems that they are reproducing successfully. What can they do to a pond and what is the most effective way of getting rid of them? If they can't be removed, how can I minimize the damage they are doing. Any tips would be extremely helpful!

-Thanks

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Johnny wilkins on February 24, 2011 at 10:03pm

I don't recommend the poison and starting over.

10" bluegills in good supply with some bass??!!! That is a dream pond.

A couple of factors here:

1. Is there any type of feeder creek or overflow in Spring floods that connect to this pond?

2. Do you have a lot of ducks or geese that frequent here?

3. Do other people use this pond a lot?

These are all ways that carp get into ponds. If you poison it and you have any of the above, you will have carp once again. However they got in there in the first place, they shall return. It only takes one to create 1,000s.

I would suggest managing your Apex Predator. Focus on the bass and you will control the new fry. Catch-and-Release only for the bigger bass. Bigger bass will clean out the newly spawned carp fry like oyster crackers.

Since this pond is only 2 hours from me - I would also offer my services. If you want me to come remove a big bag of carp from your pond to get the thing in balance - we can work out some fees for expenses.

Maybe we could arrange a seminar nearby to pay for some of it. I would love to film a bluegill video and 10" gills - 10" gills?!!!

I am going nuts now for 10" gills.

I am serious about the carp service - get in touch with me to discuss and we can pull them prior to the Spring spawns with a little work.

Permalink Reply by David, aka, "McScruff" on February 24, 2011 at 10:45pm

Heck Id like to come and just catch carp! A day hauling cyprinids out of the water beats a day at work.

Permalink Reply by Johnny wilkins on February 25, 2011 at 7:23pm

Does anyone within a 5- 7 hour drive of Chicago have a small pond with a carp population - I am completely serious that I will go to your pond and improve conditions in a couple of days - in season. This will be a combination trip.

You can have a group lesson on bluegill fishing and we can take a crack at bagging up some of those breeder carp this Spring & Summer.

If you are a pond owner and you love bluegill fishing, I will make the trip, improve your pond and we will have lesson or two in fishing for gills & carp.

My best results in gill fishing were in competitions. My favorite was the first day of the US Open back in 2000 when I lead the entire field of 54 anglers, several from England, Poland, Africa with a 19.75 lb. bag of bluegills beating the toughest section of anglers and having top weight in 1st place - I was new to the competition scene and really enjoyed that day.

Does this interest anyone? I would make the combination sessions a reasonable rate and the results you can share here as well as tell people if the lesson was a good one.

Permalink Reply by Jim Gronaw on August 19, 2011 at 4:16pm

I think Johnny Wilkins may have a good idea in that a good carp angler can likely remove a high percentage of carp from a small pond like yours. Over time, perhaps all of them. It would be a shame to eliminate all those 10 inch gills.

Let me know what you decide on.

Permalink Reply by Johnny wilkins on August 20, 2011 at 12:30am

YES-

They will regret it when the pond just doesn't ever get back to what it used to be...

I haven't been to Lincoln Park Lagoon all year after the zoo poisoned approximately 3 tons of fish. The last time I went, the fish were microscopic and I couldn't catch one gill compared to catching 40 lb. of fish on a bad day. Don't poison at all costs. _Net, divide, selective harvest - [ catch & release only on your bass! ] and improve your fishery through keeping predators in that water.