Asian carp

[WTM]

Thanks for the reply Guys.

It's hard for me being a newcomer basically to Ky Lake then run into a year like this makes it even tougher lol

But I'll still be after them every chance I get.

WTM that's a good point about the cold weather killing off the shad, I'd say that is most likely what has happened.

There doesn't seem to be a shad shortage upstream of us.

I saw a pic where Richard Simms was showing a yellowtail minnow and Zach Markus was catching smallmouth bass below one of the dams in an area known to have big shad runs as well as bedding activity.

But the weather was a lot different in those areas than what we expierienced here last Winter.

yep, i told another tndeer member the same thing in a pm question he had about the shad spawn north of us. i imagine that in the larger bays there was enough warmer water for them to survive. we will see how well the shad recovered in this fall's trapnet studies.

 

[bluball]

Bad news guys. They ruined our MS River fisheries in short order.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Man, you ain't kidding! I remember bass fishing all river chutes around Memphis before the asian carp hit. What i'd give to get days and some of those chutes back the way it used to be!

When the carp first started there , did y'all see a decline in bait fish?

not really. the shad decline has more to do with shad kills the last 2 winters at least on KY lake. last fall's trapnet study showed above average shad numbers, but when the bays froze over and the water temps dropped into the 30's it kills the shad in large numbers. how else can you go from above average numbers to hardly any shad in a couple of months? contrary to some theories, the carp arent eating the shad lol. the good thing about a shad kill is that the next spring spawn, their populations will explode. some of the elite anglers where fishing the shad spawn.

the same type of thinking goes into the lower numbers of LMB this year. its a spawn problem, nothing else. paul rister even told us what to expect on north KY lake and yet anglers still dont believe. the elite anglers caught the exact numbers and size of bass that he predicted last fall. the exceptional spawn year fish of 2008 are pretty much done. the above average fish that are left are the ones in the 5-7 lb range.

same goes for crappie. why do you think i asked you if that big crappie you snagged was a black or white crappie? the same reason i asked Mr. Simms what percentage of his haul were black crappie. why did his biologist friend ask him the same question? it has to do with the dynamics of the lake, water clarity and the spawn rates linked to both. blacks and whites are 2 different fish in the tactics we use to catch them. like Paul said, if crappie anglers arent willing to change tactics then they will get left behind.

then you have perception. for example, during a good spawn year any angler with a rod can catch descent bass and crappie and they get into the thinking that they are above average anglers. then when a bad spawn year rolls around they think since they are above average anglers then there must be something that is causing it. except they never think of their average or below average angling skills. thats why i said this year will seperate the amateurs from the pros, and it has so far.

i fear for KY lake in the long term, but all of these seasonal changes arent due to the carp problem, yet. it amazes me that hard core anglers dont take the time to learn these seasonal patterns and do a little reading into the trapnet studies. it might make them better fishermen. was it einstein that said that doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, is the definition of insanity?

I never heard of a shad kill after everything froze,not from anyone i know atleast.I was on the lake when it was thawing out alot,had to use main river ramps to get on lake.I never saw any either,wonder why.I did catch a 14in crappie the other day that had a big shad half way swallowed though.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[bluball]

Bad news guys. They ruined our MS River fisheries in short order.

Man, you ain't kidding! I remember bass fishing all river chutes around Memphis before the asian carp hit. What i'd give to get days and some of those chutes back the way it used to be!

when the carp first started there , did y'all see a decline in bait fish?

Not when they first started. It started becoming noticeable several years down the road. I quit fishing the river chutes about 2004-2005 and haven't been back since. I've read reports and talked to several that have reported the bass were making a come back alone, so I assume the bait fish are as well. I plan on making a few trips here soon to see how it is this year.

I don't know what is going on, but it seems the asian carp aren't as bad in some areas as they once where.

From I-40 bridge to parislanding 79 bridge the carp have tripled in the last 4yrs.Ask any good bass angler,they will confirm its terrible.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[WTM]

lol, most of the winter killed shad will sink to the bottom unless they get trapped in the shallow creeks which is kind of rare in mid winter. the gulls at jville and 3 mile slough where going nuts for a day or 2 after the first thaw. there were huge shad kills on south at pickwick, wilson, guntersville and on the chick and watts bar.

 

[bluball]

This fish must not have ate them,they are thin.Usually fish are harder to catch after a kill,bite wasnt affected after thaw out.I know some commercial fishermen who have said there was a lack of shad before the freeze.I truthfully am not sure,but do know the bite is usually affected after a winter kill.

lol, most of the winter killed shad will sink to the bottom unless they get trapped in the shallow creeks which is kind of rare in mid winter. the gulls at jville and 3 mile slough where going nuts for a day or 2 after the first thaw. there were huge shad kills on south at pickwick, wilson, guntersville and on the chick and watts bar.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[Snowwolfe]

I watched several shows on the food network about Asian carp. In every show they talk about how delicious they are to eat.
Anyone have any first hand experience eating them?

 

[RUGER]

I watched several shows on the food network about Asian carp. In every show they talk about how delicious they are to eat.
Anyone have any first hand experience eating them?

scn said he was at a seminar one time before he retired and they cooked them and he said they were delicious.
I am pretty sure they were the silver though, don't think it was the big head.

I went to Reelfoot a couple years ago with the sole purpose of snagging a couple and dressing them.
From what I was told they spoil much faster than fish we are used to dealing with so I carried a cooler and a couple bags of ice.
My plan was to snag a couple, gut them then pack them in ice immediately then come home and cut them up.
I have snagged them at the spillway till I was literally tired of reeling them in.
That day I managed 2 big heads and that was IT. LOL

Don't rekon I have been back since.

I do know one day we were down there and were literally getting one on every single cast.
There was a little dude down there, he was "asain" is all I know, no clue where he was from and he didn't speak a lick of English but we gave him every fish we got in.
LOL he had them in the trunk and back seat of his car.
You literally couldn't pack another one in the trunk and his back seat was pretty full. It was about 105 degrees that day.
I can't remember what county his plates were from but I do remember it was a pretty long haul from where we were at. I can't even begin to imagine what that car smelled like when he got home. :shock:

 

[woodyard]

I watched several shows on the food network about Asian carp. In every show they talk about how delicious they are to eat.
Anyone have any first hand experience eating them?

scn said he was at a seminar one time before he retired and they cooked them and he said they were delicious.
I am pretty sure they were the silver though, don't think it was the big head.

I went to Reelfoot a couple years ago with the sole purpose of snagging a couple and dressing them.
From what I was told they spoil much faster than fish we are used to dealing with so I carried a cooler and a couple bags of ice.
My plan was to snag a couple, gut them then pack them in ice immediately then come home and cut them up.
I have snagged them at the spillway till I was literally tired of reeling them in.
That day I managed 2 big heads and that was IT. LOL

Don't rekon I have been back since.

I do know one day we were down there and were literally getting one on every single cast.
There was a little dude down there, he was "asain" is all I know, no clue where he was from and he didn't speak a lick of English but we gave him every fish we got in.
LOL he had them in the trunk and back seat of his car.
You literally couldn't pack another one in the trunk and his back seat was pretty full. It was about 105 degrees that day.
I can't remember what county his plates were from but I do remember it was a pretty long haul from where we were at. I can't even begin to imagine what that car smelled like when he got home. :shock:

That car probably smelled about like the mailbox I tried to deliver to one Monday in July or August one year. Some of the employees( Mexicans) decided to go fishing and give the boss a mess of fish on a Sat or Sun. They put them in their mailbox and I about puked and died when I opened it. Boy was that rough! :lol:

 

[RUGER]

Oh my, I can only imagine woodyard!!! :shock:

 

[Headhunter]

You can say it is winter kill all you want, what does not make sense is before Asian Carp, there were some terrible cold winters in the 1980's and early 1990's, but when you went to KY lake, especially late July, August there were GIANT schools of shad, even with huge winter kill. Those schools have not been seen by anyone I know in the last few years.

 

[ruger7mag]

I watched several shows on the food network about Asian carp. In every show they talk about how delicious they are to eat.
Anyone have any first hand experience eating them?

Yes we have ate a lot of them. They are good, really good. I would put it up there with crappie on how good it is. The problem is they need to weigh at least 15 pounds to make it worth cleaning them. We'll go to the dam and shoot several big ones just for the freezers. Also, grass carp are good, not quiet as good as the silvers though. They are easier to clean and have a lot of meat on them though.

I'm not joking at all about any of what I just wrote.

 

[Smo]

I was back down in NW Alabama yesterday and stopped in at the bait store by McFarland Park.

There were a couple Guys talking with the Guy behind the counter about a local bass tournament.

While I was checking out I overheard them talking about a couple large fish caught during the tournament downstream near Waterloo.

The Guy behind the counter mentioned that he had heard the fish were chasing shad in the Waterloo area and people were catching some good fish there.

I ask about the bait fish population in the area just below Wilson Dam and they all said the population of Gizzard and Thread Fin both were doing good in that portion of the river Pickwick Lake... FWIW :tu:

 

[WTM]

lol i keep hearing about thin and malnourished bass and crappie, but yet all of the pics i have seen of bass tourney fish and post spawn crappie pics from doug wynn, kickin bass, etc. this week appears to be in good shape. the few fish ive caught this year were in pretty good shape as well. these are fish from the north section where the carp problem is supposedly worse.

 

[bluball]

lol i keep hearing about thin and malnourished bass and crappie, but yet all of the pics i have seen of bass tourney fish and post spawn crappie pics from doug wynn, kickin bass, etc. this week appears to be in good shape. the few fish ive caught this year were in pretty good shape as well. these are fish from the north section where the carp problem is supposedly worse.

Doug Wynn is a good friend,he will tell you they are thin on ky lake.He was also tell you there is better fish at barkley right now.We fished the american crappie trail tourny sat and all the local guys will tell you the same,crappie arnt growing for some reason.At the seminar on thursday ronnie capps said the ph level on ky lake is way off and that may be whats causing it,duno.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[WTM]

lol i keep hearing about thin and malnourished bass and crappie, but yet all of the pics i have seen of bass tourney fish and post spawn crappie pics from doug wynn, kickin bass, etc. this week appears to be in good shape. the few fish ive caught this year were in pretty good shape as well. these are fish from the north section where the carp problem is supposedly worse.

Doug Wynn is a good friend,he will tell you they are thin on ky lake.He was also tell you there is better fish at barkley right now.We fished the american crappie trail tourny sat and all the local guys will tell you the same,crappie arnt growing for some reason.At the seminar on thursday ronnie capps said the ph level on ky lake is way off and that may be whats causing it,duno.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

yeah i read his report a couple of weeks ago where he went to barkley, first time in a while, and said the fishing was better there. barkley is more stained and the whites do really well there. out of all the reports, mcadams was the only report that mentioned malnourished crappie and bass. it seems like his reports are right the opposite from the other guides.

as far as capps saying something about PH being way off, i have no idea what he is talking about. i pulled the last 13 records for PH and turbidity and havent seen any huge swings in PH but the turbidity has been lower through the years
. some folks monitor the thermocline and PH cline to find the depth the fish are at but KY lake basically has no thermocline so the PH is not going to change all that much.

http://www.murraystate.edu/qacd/cos/hbs/WQResults.cfm

 

[NumberOne]

lol i keep hearing about thin and malnourished bass and crappie, but yet all of the pics i have seen of bass tourney fish and post spawn crappie pics from doug wynn, kickin bass, etc. this week appears to be in good shape. the few fish ive caught this year were in pretty good shape as well. these are fish from the north section where the carp problem is supposedly worse.

I would agree with this. I may not catch many, but the fish I have caught have been healthy (even post spawn fish). With the lack of bait fish I have seen, it has been a welcomed surprise.

 

[bluball]

lol i keep hearing about thin and malnourished bass and crappie, but yet all of the pics i have seen of bass tourney fish and post spawn crappie pics from doug wynn, kickin bass, etc. this week appears to be in good shape. the few fish ive caught this year were in pretty good shape as well. these are fish from the north section where the carp problem is supposedly worse.

Doug Wynn is a good friend,he will tell you they are thin on ky lake.He was also tell you there is better fish at barkley right now.We fished the american crappie trail tourny sat and all the local guys will tell you the same,crappie arnt growing for some reason.At the seminar on thursday ronnie capps said the ph level on ky lake is way off and that may be whats causing it,duno.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

yeah i read his report a couple of weeks ago where he went to barkley, first time in a while, and said the fishing was better there. barkley is more stained and the whites do really well there. out of all the reports, mcadams was the only report that mentioned malnourished crappie and bass. it seems like his reports are right the opposite from the other guides.

as far as capps saying something about PH being way off, i have no idea what he is talking about. i pulled the last 13 records for PH and turbidity and havent seen any huge swings in PH but the turbidity has been lower through the years
. some folks monitor the thermocline and PH cline to find the depth the fish are at but KY lake basically has no thermocline so the PH is not going to change all that much.

http://www.murraystate.edu/qacd/cos/hbs/WQResults.cfm

Im just telling what ronnie capps said thursday at the seminar.He works for twra and said recent ph levels were way off,said they couldnt figure out why.Heres a link from doug wynn talking about poor fish on crappie.com.At the time of his posting i thought different,i was catching some decent fish with some thin mixed in.When i say thin im talking about a 10in fish not really worth keeping to clean.Reminds me of a 10in fish caught a pinoak,i took some home one time and when i cleaned them i wondered why i even kept any,[emoji23]

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[bluball]

Forgot link to what doug wynn thinks,supposed to be working[emoji23]


http://crappie.com/crappie/showthread.php?t=371377

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[bluball]

lol i keep hearing about thin and malnourished bass and crappie, but yet all of the pics i have seen of bass tourney fish and post spawn crappie pics from doug wynn, kickin bass, etc. this week appears to be in good shape. the few fish ive caught this year were in pretty good shape as well. these are fish from the north section where the carp problem is supposedly worse.

Doug Wynn is a good friend,he will tell you they are thin on ky lake.He was also tell you there is better fish at barkley right now.We fished the american crappie trail tourny sat and all the local guys will tell you the same,crappie arnt growing for some reason.At the seminar on thursday ronnie capps said the ph level on ky lake is way off and that may be whats causing it,duno.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

yeah i read his report a couple of weeks ago where he went to barkley, first time in a while, and said the fishing was better there. barkley is more stained and the whites do really well there. out of all the reports, mcadams was the only report that mentioned malnourished crappie and bass. it seems like his reports are right the opposite from the other guides.

as far as capps saying something about PH being way off, i have no idea what he is talking about. i pulled the last 13 records for PH and turbidity and havent seen any huge swings in PH but the turbidity has been lower through the years
. some folks monitor the thermocline and PH cline to find the depth the fish are at but KY lake basically has no thermocline so the PH is not going to change all that much.

http://www.murraystate.edu/qacd/cos/hbs/WQResults.cfm

Wtm,im gonna copy link and try to tag him on facebook and see what he says.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

 

[bluball]

lol i keep hearing about thin and malnourished bass and crappie, but yet all of the pics i have seen of bass tourney fish and post spawn crappie pics from doug wynn, kickin bass, etc. this week appears to be in good shape. the few fish ive caught this year were in pretty good shape as well. these are fish from the north section where the carp problem is supposedly worse.

Doug Wynn is a good friend,he will tell you they are thin on ky lake.He was also tell you there is better fish at barkley right now.We fished the american crappie trail tourny sat and all the local guys will tell you the same,crappie arnt growing for some reason.At the seminar on thursday ronnie capps said the ph level on ky lake is way off and that may be whats causing it,duno.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

yeah i read his report a couple of weeks ago where he went to barkley, first time in a while, and said the fishing was better there. barkley is more stained and the whites do really well there. out of all the reports, mcadams was the only report that mentioned malnourished crappie and bass. it seems like his reports are right the opposite from the other guides.

as far as capps saying something about PH being way off, i have no idea what he is talking about. i pulled the last 13 records for PH and turbidity and havent seen any huge swings in PH but the turbidity has been lower through the years
. some folks monitor the thermocline and PH cline to find the depth the fish are at but KY lake basically has no thermocline so the PH is not going to change all that much.

http://www.murraystate.edu/qacd/cos/hbs/WQResults.cfm

This is what ronnie said on facebook when i asked

At I 40 near Cuba it ran 8.4 on the surface west channel bank on Thursday

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk