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Much has been written on this site and in local newspapers regarding Utah Lake. Thousands of carp were rounded up, netted, and hauled off earlier this year as a resulf of the carp spawn up the Provo River, and now we read in The Daily Herald (see cat_man's post on Utah Lake and carp) about a study the DWR is conducting to see how many carp actually call Utah Lake home.
Wouldn't it be nice if Utah Lake could be cleaned up, starting with the removal of all of the carp? I know this seems like an impossible task, but with Geneva no longer dumping crud into the lake and with the DWR addressing the negative impact the carp have on the lake, I actually wonder if something couldn't be done to clean this important body of water? After reading the story in The Herald, it seems like the carp do a lot of damage to lake by eating vegatation and stirring up the bottom.
I wonder why the DWR doesn't do a marketing blitz to encourage anglers to target the carp and remove them from the lake? Just think of the bass fishery that Utah Lake could become if more vegatation/cover were allowed to grow and the water was clearer as a result of the carp being removed? Something to think about.
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I agree. Although they have tried to encourage people to harvest carp, it's like pulling teeth. Do you want to eat carp? I sure don't. And it's still technically illegal to just dump them on the bank even though they are nongame fish. I really don't think anglers can put a dent in the carp no matter how hard they try. Commercial fishing or something similar would need to be done I think to significantly reduce their numbers. People target the white bass and keep a ton all the time (there's no limit on them) and they still overpopulate the lake. Hopefully this study will provide information on how we can reduce their numbers.
Another question I have is, what happens when carp numbers drop significantly? Carp minnows are the main forage fish for most predators in Utah Lake, including walleye, white bass, and catfish. At least until they grow too big to be eaten. (They're small enough to eat for only a few months after hatching, they really grow fast). After that they're useless and in fact damaging. So once they're low in number, what are the predators going to eat? I wonder if the renewed vegetation will provide more habitat for bluegill and crappie and they would become the main forage? These are all things I've been thinking about lately.
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I have thought the same thing about carp in lakes like willard and utah lake. But I have never been able to find anything about it. It could be like the lake trout and perch in fish lake, where they don't like them, but I don't know.
It would be nice to some kind of statistics about it.
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When I went to the June sucker open house, I read a study that explored all of the different options regarding the carp. The only solution that seemed practical and not cost prohibitive to the authors was "intensive commercial fishing". The problem with that was that a market was not currently available for that much carp. The study was skeptical that rod and reel and bow fishing could have any effect at all.
With regards to carp as forage, It appears that it wouldn't be too much of a problem. I believe it was Tube Dude (I apologize if it wasn't) that posted that the main white bass forage for much of the year in Utah Lake was baby white bass. Walleyes will eat mudcats, wb, chubs, carp, and other minnows. Catfish will eat anything as is well known. Mr. Keleher, the project biologist (and NOT a DWR employee, but working for the water district with help from USFWS) envisions a time if the sucker recovery succeeds, where June suckers themselves are a forage for trout and whatever else is around. Wouldn't that be ironic?
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Many of the dough baits you see claim they have some amount of fish meat in them. We just need someone to come into town and harvest carp meat for those baits. 
I know there are also a lot of fish foods out there that have "fish meal" in them. Some are made in Utah Valley. Don't know what they use for that, though. They should be given some incentive for taking some of these carp for their business.
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There already is one commercial fishing business that operates on Utah Lake out of a small piece of land just south of the Provo Utah Lake State Park. They send a big barge like boat out and commercially harvest the carp. They have been doing it for many years now. I'm not sure exactly where it goes, but I heard from someone 2nd hand that had talked to the owner of this company and they said it is sold back east to some frozen fish stick company similar to Van De Kamps, but I can't remember the exact brand name. It was a well known one, however. Think about that the next time you buy those frozen fish sticks for the kids! lol
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You ever here of Fish Emulsion fertilizer. It's an organic fertilizer made of ground up fish. Seems like carp would be perfect for such a task. And with the increase in customers wanting organically grown vegies, seems like there would be a great market for the fertilizer with growers. I say break out the commercial fishing nets, grind 'em up, and market the sludge as an organic fertilizer.
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I've talked with the netters and they said that the carp were strictly for human consumption. Some are sold whole but most are processed and yep, sure enough are made into fish sticks, burgers, patties, etc. They say that ALL major commercial brands use it, especially Kraft. Removing carp won't have an effect on Utah Lake's forage base since everything feeds only primarily on white bass babies. By the way, I can seem to locate Utcatman's post about the netting study. Help!
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I SAY OPEN UP COMMERICAL FISHING OF CARP ON UTAH LAKE. YES IT WILL MESS UP OTHER FISH BUT IT SURE WOULD GET RID OF THE CARP FAST.ALSO ALLOW US TO NET THEM THAT WOULD BE A BLAST
JUST A THOUGHT I MAYBE WRONG I DO TEND TO THINK OFF TO THE LEFT OF CENTER
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If the ultimate goal is to clean up the lake, then what about diking a dredging? I know it would be expensive, but why not take 25 years and use some federal funds to dike off sections (maybe 1 mile by 1 mile), then poision that section, do as much cleaning as they can. When each new section is ready, you just break the dike between it and the clean section that was taken care of before it.
I know this would be very expensive and very time consuming, but I bet it would work. If anything, it would employ a lot of people for an extended period of time.
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The commercial fishing is done by a man named Bill Loy and his father did it before him, I believe they've been harvesting carp for over 40 years. They go out twice a day to set nets and bring in the "catch" it's quite a site to behold.
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The only problem I see with the dike plan is it will take a long time, and one day we will get the winter of all winters and things will start flooding.
I know its hard to remember those times right now but they will come again and by by dikes if there up.
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Yea, KRAFT is the company I was thinking of that I'd heard buys the carp! Yum Yum!!
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carp make great fertilizer the year that my sister burried one in the garden and then planted giant pumpkin was the year they grew a 150lb one
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I personally dont think Carp alone have a lot to do with the stained water condition of Utah Lake.
I believe the problem is far more Geological rather than Biological.
The far greater problem is (as I see it) that its a very large very shallow basin lake with long shallow sloping shorelines being feed by many inlets yet only one outlet, a pump house near Lehi. This basically mean, all sediment witch flows in, stays in. Add in the fact that nearly the entire shoreline is (if I'm not mistaken) limestone, add the constant grinding effects of the wind and waves to a limestone shoreline and you get whitish stained water. Now remove say 25% of the water depth due to drought and you get a even great concentration of murky. Then toss in its huge evaporation factor due to the fact its large, shallow, and wide open to winds so it warms up guickly. Mix in few breezy days each week along with a couple big blows so that the flour (opps, I meant limestone dust) doesnt have a chance to settle out of the water collum, and, you end up with Utah Lake.
But hey, thats merely my opionion
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Cleaning up Utah Lake may be expensive, but consider the revenue the lake would generate if it were a clear lake, with considerable more vegetation, and a ton of lunker bass just waiting to be caught.
I would think that with all of the people coming here to a better Utah Lake to fish, the cities and businesses surrounding the lake would certainly reap the benefits.
Just think of what Utah Lake would be like if it were a much larger version of, say, Pelican Lake. Sweet!!!!!!!!!
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Rooted vegetation would and used to keep down all the sediment. Carp ate all that vegetation and, hence, natural forces now are able to kick it up.
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You guys probably wont believe me. But Utah Lake use to hold a very large population of Bonneville Cuttthroat Trout. Way back in the early days.. We're talkin Pioneer days. And Even Before that. History portrays The Spanish and Indians Catcing fish with red marks on the throats of trout. It used to be a trout fishery. But not anymore!
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If I'm correct, only certain types of vegetation can withstand limestone. I would be rather interested in knowing witch types aquatic vegetation could thrive in Utah lake other than what exists now.
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In historic times, the vegetation that was present in the shallows of Utah lake were aquatic grasses. They are shallow rooted, and thrived in the shallow sediment, which is rich in nutrients and not affected by the limestone base. These grasses were where the sucker fry and minnows lived. (the trout too) The goal of the sucker recovery program is to try and return a portion of the lake to that condition. Quentupuni is correct that the grass roots held the sediment in place and minimized churning of the bottom into a milkshake as now happens. Removal of the carp is required to allow the grass to return as has been noted here. The proposals to place a dike in the lake also stem from this in that some biologists feel that carp removal in the entire lake is impossible, but a portion of the lake may be able to be controlled.
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