**There are a couple of articles in the Utah section of todays SLC Tribune. CARP REMOVAL tells about an Orem company that has contracted to remove carp from Utah Lake…for FREE. **
STREAM RELOCATION details how Hobble Creek is going to be relocated and more water allocated to help the June suckers with more spawning beds. Seems like the new Frontrunner tracks would have a negative impact if installed as planned, so they are joining forces with other agencies to make things better. Yay for the Junies.
The offer to remove the carp from Utah Lake for free is an offer that cannot be ignored. However, will they do it without damaging the walleye, bass, white bass, etc. They say they will remove any suckers found in their nets, but what about the other fish?
I was going to post up with the same question as to how they are going yo do this while minimizing damage to the game fish. I understand they will be dragging a 200 yd. long net. Seems lke a lot of hands on after dragging the net. [:/]
Leaky and the Sparkinator
They’ve got a lot of work ahead of them. I wonder if 1 million pounds a year are removed.. over a 6 year period.. how big of a noticable dent it will acutally make on the population…
How many pounds of growth per year do the carps do them selves post spawn and hatch I wonder if they have an estimate on that.
Still, that’s a lot of fish. The article I read that came across the AP wire said, they are not sure still what they are going to do with all the fish. But they said that they don’t want to “Waste” a food source.. by putting it in a landfill somewhere..
Seems like if nothing else, they could provide some serious fertility to some otherwise loamy lake dirt fields out in the area there of Utah lake. That’s an option..
I’d like to see the tractor they would use to till those carp into the soil. Plus, the tractor that they use to spread the carp evenly out on the soil prior to tilling them in. I have visions in my head of the “Turd Flingers” that I have seen in the past.. but this time it would be a 10 lb carp spinning in the air..
My suspicions are that the Junie huggers are so happy to have someone eradicating carpkind that they really don’t care much about “collateral damage” among the other species.
In reality, heavy duty carp netting has been going on in Utah Lake for decades without significant damage to the “sports species”. It is impossible to avoid some mortality, but there is probably not enough to create a serious concern among anglers. I have watched the Loy family carp seining operations at work, and have observed that it is a fairly simple process to toss back the walleyes, whities, largemouth and catfish…and they usually do that. I am sure that DWR will insist that a serious effort be made by the “carpinators” to release all non-carp species caught up in the nets. Most of them are pretty tough and can withstand some handling. Not like wimpy troutskis.
Remove any suckers found in their nets? The last ten June suckers remaining in Utah Lake probably have a secret den in some remote part of the lake where they lock the doors, party down and play cards until the next spawning session. I would be willing to bet that the netting operation in midlake does not catch many…IF ANY…June suckers.
The biggest problem that the Cross’s are going to deal with ( Cross International is the Company that is doing the removal) will be what to do with them. The PCB contamination that was identified several years ago will put a real monkey wrench in the works.
The Loy’s ran into competition from China, which could raise the fish and ship to the Western US cheaper than the Loy’s could from Utah. Coupled with the PCB scare, it really dried up their market.
My guess is that they will find some way to process the fish into protein meal that can be used in pet food and/or fertilizer. The heat used in the process would render the PCB’s inert and safe.
My hat is off to the Cross’ and their effort to improve Utah Lake.
The incidental catch of game fish will be handled the same way the Loy’s did I would guess. White Bass have no limit, so they could keep them, the rest have to be returned to the lake unharmed.
Wow, I am very surprised they will be trying carp removal for free. But thanks to them. I wonder how they are going to work with the DWR and share what they catch in the nets and such details. So it seems to me that there are two great things about the plan. Kill carp and also get “free” net studies. All fisherman in Utah should definitely be thankful.
Remove any suckers found in their nets? The last ten June suckers remaining in Utah Lake probably have a secret den in some remote part of the lake where they lock the doors, party down and play cards until the next spawning session. I would be willing to bet that the netting operation in midlake does not catch many…IF ANY…June suckers.
Also they smoke Camel cigarettes. Believe it or not.
Its very very easy for those remaining ten June Suckers to smoke on the surface of a lake; especially when the wind is blowing. And those June Suckers are very well adapted to being able to smoke during a windy day, they know the"the-hide-behind-the-wave-and-smoke-technique" very well.
In fact I have seen one Junie actually spit out the cigarette ten feet into the air(because of course the cigarette would burn out if the fish swam under) and then as I turned around it would skillfully catch it in its mouth—and start smoking it again!
I’ve seen Carp playing strip poker…[:p] Oh…and about those Pelicans giving me the birdie…[crazy]…one time a muskrat asked me for a divorce, was it crazy or what?
Oh and in Arizona a coyote once found my lost wristwatch for me..nice coyote.[:p]
**“**I’ve seen Carp playing strip poker…[:p] Oh…and about those Pelicans giving me the birdie…[crazy]…one time a muskrat asked me for a divorce, was it crazy or what?
Oh and in Arizona a coyote once found my lost wristwatch for me..nice coyote.”
Hey, I once dropped my wallet overboard and watched it quickly sink out of sight. Imagine my surprise when I noticed a commotion on the surface a short time later and saw that it was a group of carp playing with my wallet. They were actually bumping it back and forth to each other with their noses. I eased in slowly and while they were thus distracted I scooped it away from them with my long handled landing net.
First time I ever observed carp to carp walleting.
Nope. Everybody knows that carp are primarily herbivorous. They just mistook all the “green” in my wallet as edible vegetation and were doing their customary rooting to dislodge it. That might be where we get the term “root of all evil”.
Just a theory mind you. Carp are not known for taking credit cards.
TubeDude here is a true story at Utah Lake—a funny one.
At the American Fork boat harbor when the lake was flooded back in '85. The trees had this red colored “algae”—whatever it was—at the bottom of the trees! Whatever it was but you could here the carp sucking at the bottom of the trees! No joke! You could here a very loud “kissing smooch sound” coming from where the trees were. It sounded like the trees were gonna fall down, serious. I was wondering at that time just what the heck was that noise. I went over to the tall cottonwood trees and there they were carp sucking, and very loud you could hear it about from 50 feet away. Don’t know what was at the bottom of the trees I guess it was the red colored algae. Quite a kissing sound and a loud one at that.
**There are a couple of articles in the Utah section of todays SLC Tribune. CARP REMOVAL tells about an Orem company that has contracted to remove carp from Utah Lake…for FREE. **
