Grass carp out of the pond.

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squirrelhunter

squirrelhunter

Tree rat eradicater
Neighbor
Joined
Nov 26, 2017
Messages
2,054
Location
Portland,Indiana
I caught this 12 lb 32" long grass carp out of our pond today on a green night crawler. I hooked into something else big later that I think was another 1 but I never got it up to see it so I'm not sure,it was either a carp or a channel.

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I also picked up this bow for $25. I'm going to put a reel on it and bow fish for some more of the carp. I'm wanting to put some plants in the pond so the fish will have some cover and I'm afraid the grass carp will eat them. I might leave a couple in there not sure but there should still be 5 in there.

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I was gonna put a few grass carp in my pond, 20 years ago,

But never did,

The guy that dug my pond ( 20 ft deep), said , if he cut it deep all the way around, not much shallows,
I wouldn't need them, so I never did, and I have no growth in the pond ,
Only on the high banks.

Thats a big carp.
They will eat your Bluegill.



Jim
 
phideaux said:
I was gonna put a few grass carp in my pond, 20 years ago,

But never did,

The guy that dug my pond ( 20 ft deep), said , if he cut it deep all the way around, not much shallows,
I wouldn't need them, so I never did, and I have no growth in the pond ,
Only on the high banks.

Thats a big carp.
They will eat your Bluegill.



Jim
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From what I hear they're completely vegetarian but wouldn't swear to it. I know the largemouth,stripers and channel do so what's 1 more kind,the pond is over flowing with bluegill and redears anyway ;). See,herbivore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_carp
I think the only reason I caught it on a night crawler was because it was a green might crawler and it probably thought it was grass. I had 1 that died a few years ago break my landing net trying to get it out of the pond.
 
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I have 3 in my pond (I put them there), they can't reproduce in ponds so they won't take over. I seen one yesterday, it was about 3 feet long and fat! I have a problem with lilly pads, I need more of these things because 3 just ain't doing it!
 
phideaux said:
I had heard that they only eat weeds also,

But I have heard of guys catchin them,
Maybe they use weed for bait.:dunno::D



Jim
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Some people use corn or dough balls with grass mixed in. My insurance guy has caught them on thin black and green crappie jigs. Last year Anna was using a piece of 1 of her jigs that was black and green and hooked into 1,she got it up to the bank but we didn't have a landing net and when I grabbed the line,big mistake,it took off and broke the line. Another way I hear is to through a bunch of tore up bread into the pond and once they start eating it drop a line with bread on the hook into the middle. I've tried all those methods and haven't had any luck,I was just fishing for channel and bluegill and caught him instead. The easiest way is bow fishing,which I'm working on getting the rest of the stuff.
 
Well I got the bow fishing kit yesterday,it came with the line,spool and arrow. It says on the package "ready to shoot",the only problem is the arrow didn't have a nock on it,how are you suppose to shoot it without a nock,that would be extremely difficult wouldn't it? :confused: Portland doesn't have much in sporting good stores,1 private shop that sells fishing,trapping and hunting stuff,but mainly used guns and poles and ammo and fishing supplies but nothing in archery other than the bow and it was used. We also have a gun shop but nothing for archery other than crossbow. We do have a Walmart and even though they sell all sorts of archery equipment,no nocks. I was about to give up but figured I'd see if True Value had anything,I know they have ammo and sometimes sell fishing and trapping supplies but again no. I asked 1 of the guys working there if there was any archery shops close buy since I thought and he thought too,that all the ones around here had closed up shop. The nearest 1 he could think of was like an hour away and that wouldn't work,it cost more in gas than ordering them online. He said that the guy that once ran Boundary Archery might still have 1 laying around so I called him. Ends up he's still in business just is only open from 4-8 PM and works a regular job during the day. His shop is just part time and has always been in business since he started back in the 70s. I asked him about it and he just said there wasn't any reason to close. It cost me a whopping $1.00,and he even put it on the arrow :lil guy:can't beat that.
 
We put sterile grass carp in our 4 acre spring-fed lake about every five years to help keep the lake clean. They last about three years at the most because we have a small group of Bald Eagles living in a larger lake about a half mile away and they come over here for lunch. We keep an active Sterile Grass Carp permit so we can add them as we need them (you have to be permitted in Texas for Grass Carp and they have to be Sterile Grass Carp).

Plan B moved to Plan A - annual purchase of Tilapia each spring. They do a great job cleaning out the filamentous algae and we get several months of their housekeeping skills until the weather turns cold. They spawn and spawn. We usually buy ten pounds per acre foot and allocate half for the Great Blue Heron pair that live in one of the trees near our lake and half to (hopefully) keep the lake clean-ish. We started getting the black Tilapia to give them a fighting chance against the Herons. The light colored ones could be more easily seen in the water and the Herons didn't have to work very hard to get breakfast.

On a separate note about the Blue Herons. We have gophers. We'll watch the Heron walk the hay meadow with very slow precise movements, stalk and snatch an unsuspecting gopher, toss it in the air, and swallow it. I used to think they only ate fish.
 
Country Living said:
We put sterile grass carp in our 4 acre spring-fed lake about every five years to help keep the lake clean. They last about three years at the most because we have a small group of Bald Eagles living in a larger lake about a half mile away and they come over here for lunch. We keep an active Sterile Grass Carp permit so we can add them as we need them (you have to be permitted in Texas for Grass Carp and they have to be Sterile Grass Carp).

Plan B moved to Plan A - annual purchase of Tilapia each spring. They do a great job cleaning out the filamentous algae and we get several months of their housekeeping skills until the weather turns cold. They spawn and spawn. We usually buy ten pounds per acre foot and allocate half for the Great Blue Heron pair that live in one of the trees near our lake and half to (hopefully) keep the lake clean-ish. We started getting the black Tilapia to give them a fighting chance against the Herons. The light colored ones could be more easily seen in the water and the Herons didn't have to work very hard to get breakfast.

On a separate note about the Blue Herons. We have gophers. We'll watch the Heron walk the hay meadow with very slow precise movements, stalk and snatch an unsuspecting gopher, toss it in the air, and swallow it. I used to think they only ate fish.
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Our grass carp have to be sterile too and the business we buy them from has to have the permit and verify the pond/lake they are putting them in isn't in anyway connected to public waterways like ditches,creeks,rivers or springs.
 
Country Living said:
We put sterile grass carp in our 4 acre spring-fed lake about every five years to help keep the lake clean. They last about three years at the most because we have a small group of Bald Eagles living in a larger lake about a half mile away and they come over here for lunch. We keep an active Sterile Grass Carp permit so we can add them as we need them (you have to be permitted in Texas for Grass Carp and they have to be Sterile Grass Carp).

Plan B moved to Plan A - annual purchase of Tilapia each spring. They do a great job cleaning out the filamentous algae and we get several months of their housekeeping skills until the weather turns cold. They spawn and spawn. We usually buy ten pounds per acre foot and allocate half for the Great Blue Heron pair that live in one of the trees near our lake and half to (hopefully) keep the lake clean-ish. We started getting the black Tilapia to give them a fighting chance against the Herons. The light colored ones could be more easily seen in the water and the Herons didn't have to work very hard to get breakfast.

On a separate note about the Blue Herons. We have gophers. We'll watch the Heron walk the hay meadow with very slow precise movements, stalk and snatch an unsuspecting gopher, toss it in the air, and swallow it. I used to think they only ate fish.
Click to expand...
That explains why they are out here. We have almost no surface water but they are always out in the farm fields.
 
Got out to my local county park with my daughter this weekend. There is a lake there, 151 acres with 41 foot max depth. It is full of green sunfish, bluegill, crappie, and channel cats. There are some bass and a few walleye too. Since I don't have a boat, we're limited to chasing the panfish from shore. I got into a school of 7 to 9 inch crappie that moved into casting range. I got 5 in 10 minutes, then they were gone. My daughter just likes to catch anything, so she was content with the little sunfish in 3 feet of water. All in all it was a good first day on the lake, didn't catch a lot, but didn't get skunked either...
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Country Living said:
We put sterile grass carp in our 4 acre spring-fed lake about every five years to help keep the lake clean. They last about three years at the most because we have a small group of Bald Eagles living in a larger lake about a half mile away and they come over here for lunch. We keep an active Sterile Grass Carp permit so we can add them as we need them (you have to be permitted in Texas for Grass Carp and they have to be Sterile Grass Carp).

Plan B moved to Plan A - annual purchase of Tilapia each spring. They do a great job cleaning out the filamentous algae and we get several months of their housekeeping skills until the weather turns cold. They spawn and spawn. We usually buy ten pounds per acre foot and allocate half for the Great Blue Heron pair that live in one of the trees near our lake and half to (hopefully) keep the lake clean-ish. We started getting the black Tilapia to give them a fighting chance against the Herons. The light colored ones could be more easily seen in the water and the Herons didn't have to work very hard to get breakfast.

On a separate note about the Blue Herons. We have gophers. We'll watch the Heron walk the hay meadow with very slow precise movements, stalk and snatch an unsuspecting gopher, toss it in the air, and swallow it. I used to think they only ate fish.
Click to expand...


Interesting, Tilapia are also eatable so shtf you'll have fish too.:thumbs:
 
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