More carpin" at UL

[Boatloadakids]

Don't want to over-play this subject but man, I ain't never seen carpin' like it was today. One of those days when you run the risk of shootin' your own foot cuz the carp are so crazy. I shot until my arm was sore today and could still be there shootin' if it hadn't started raining.

Carp are bigger... wonder if the culling by the removal program is leaving more grub for the leftovers?? All of them I shot today were pigs and it was non-stop shooting.

I went back to the south side of the launch channel and the carp were almost up on the bank. Stepped off into the frags on my way out to relieve some bladder pressure. Just got things going when a hen mallard took issue with being peed on and flew up with a roar. Haven't had a flow like that for years.

Carp were active everywhere and I never had to moved more that 10 yards to have non-stop shooting. I lugged 10 carp back to my truck and left just as the rain started. Noticed all of the fields along Spring Creek for a mile up stream had carp thrashing in them.

If you like a good carp shoot now is the time.

BLK
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]A case of shameless carp-spotting if I ever seed one.

The image of you "sprinkling" a mama duck quacked me up. Had a few of those sudden departures my own self. Pheasants are about as bad.

With all that carp meat maybe you don't need any of my chubzillas?
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[Anglinarcher]

[quote Boatloadakids]

Carp are bigger... wonder if the culling by the removal program is leaving more grub for the leftovers??

BLK[/quote]

Yes, a body of water has only so much "biomass". Consider it a total weight of fish/bugs/etc., in the water.

The theory says you can have a lot of little fish, a few big fish, or a medium amount of medium fish.

That is why trying to remove the carp is so necessary, and hard. They are trying to tip the scales to desirable fish and not allot so much of the biomass on carp.
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[MSM1970]

Its a good thing you where already going or you would have had to get in the water to wash it off, [laugh][laugh]
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[Boatloadakids]

TD -- I don't want to even see another carp for.... well, a few days anyway. Spent all afternoon filleting, cubing, bagging, and freezing what seemed like a truck load of carp. Given my druthers, I'd take fresh carp but fresh carp is not always available. Frozen carp works just fine if they are bagged without air in the bag. (Thanks)

Lots of cat bait now but I'll still relieve you of some of your 'chubzillas." Some of the sows I cut up today had egg sacs in them the size of small footballs. Kinda makes me wonder if they will ever get the carp to "the tipping point" when I see thousands of eggs in every female. The carp sure seem to be bigger so maybe the removal thing is working. I don't understand a lot of the removal program goals but I wish them well while I wear my arm out shooting them.

MSM-- I didn't bother that mallard much -- it ran right off her back.[] She did give me a start though when she came up right under my feet. About a dozen eggs in her nest and I noticed she circled me and came right back to them. There was a lone Canadian goose giving me the evil eye and I suspect his other half has a nest in there somewhere... sure not looking for any kind of altercation with them.

Anyhow, good day and now I'm ready to get after the cats.

I'm ready for the best to come.

BLK
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[flygoddess]

I so need to get out there! Fly Tying this weekend but free next week...whos in for some CarpAGE.?
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]When they first started the carp removal program I was one of the biggest skeptics. After all, the Loys have been extracting tons of carp from Utah Lake every year...for decades. They used to sell truckloads to the mink farms...and to ethnic fish markets in major cities around the country.

I was doubtful that they could remove enough extra each year to make a serious dent in the carpulation. Seems I was wrong. There are still far too many carp in the lake, but the numbers are definitely down. And, as you have observed, average size has increased.

Not sure how much further they have to go to reach the "tipping point"...where predators can keep the yearly spawn output down to a level where the total numbers remain low. There are a lot of hungry mouths in Utah Lake but most of them seem to prefer baby white bass and other morsels to the carp. But not all. And during years when the white bass have a poor spawn I'm sure more carplets get munched by predators.

One of the major obstacles, as you pointed out, is that every spawning mama carp spews millions of eggs. So every one that survives to spawn replaces a large number of the ones removed each year.

[inline "COUNT THE EGGS.jpg"]
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[Piscophilic]

Thanks for all the work! You are certainly doing your part to thin the herd.

I used to do a lot of archery, even a little competition shooting. Since they redid my shoulder, I haven't been brave enough to try it again. I guess I'll just have to catch them on a hook[]
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[a_bow_nut]

Spear gun.
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[Piscophilic]

LOVE IT! I need another toy[]
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