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Ask OB: Grass Carp at fish feeders, am I going crazy?
Posted on 4/14/19 at 2:46 pm
Posted on 4/14/19 at 2:46 pm
Do grass carp at a fish feeder affect the feeding habits of bream at the feeder? I know for sure they eat a majority of the food, but will bream be more subdued if carp are around?
Reason I ask is that is because we've started feeding in one of our ponds that was stocked in way too many grass carp, imo. In fact, I like fishing, not looking at water without grass, so I couldn't care less if they were there. (I've also heard they can destroy bream/bass beds with their feeding habits).
Anyhow, I was fishing under the feeder 2 days ago to see if 2 years of feeding have started to grow the bream. It has not; however the grass carp are growing like weeds. Very little bream activity at the feeder too.
One time when I had a small bream on, I saw a wake chasing it and thought, "Oh, big bass, I'll play it for a minute at the surface and see if Mobey's Dick will swallow it so he can take my panfishing chit away from me and ruin my day."
Not long after playing the bream, a huge fish came up and butted the bream out of the way chasing it away from the surface. I swear that this huge fish looked to be a grass carp...
Could the carp be territorial over their food? Surely he didn't want to eat the bream, and if not, do carp affect bream at feeders?
Reason I ask is that is because we've started feeding in one of our ponds that was stocked in way too many grass carp, imo. In fact, I like fishing, not looking at water without grass, so I couldn't care less if they were there. (I've also heard they can destroy bream/bass beds with their feeding habits).
Anyhow, I was fishing under the feeder 2 days ago to see if 2 years of feeding have started to grow the bream. It has not; however the grass carp are growing like weeds. Very little bream activity at the feeder too.
One time when I had a small bream on, I saw a wake chasing it and thought, "Oh, big bass, I'll play it for a minute at the surface and see if Mobey's Dick will swallow it so he can take my panfishing chit away from me and ruin my day."
Not long after playing the bream, a huge fish came up and butted the bream out of the way chasing it away from the surface. I swear that this huge fish looked to be a grass carp...
Could the carp be territorial over their food? Surely he didn't want to eat the bream, and if not, do carp affect bream at feeders?
4
Posted on 4/14/19 at 7:35 pm to Bigbee Hills
Have y’all been taking enough bream out? That might be why they aren’t getting bigger.
My son thinks catching carp on the fly rod is great fun. He has a fly made of cork that looks a lot like a food pellet.
My son thinks catching carp on the fly rod is great fun. He has a fly made of cork that looks a lot like a food pellet.
Posted on 4/15/19 at 9:51 am to Bigbee Hills
Grass carp will certainly eat formulated feed if made available to them after depleting a pond of submerged vegetation. I’ve seen them go to the levee with half their body out of the water to eat grass growing on the levee in a vegetated-depleted pond.
I don’t know the answer as to whether grass carp can suppress/subdue bream in competition for food, but in general the larger animal usually wins out over the smaller one.
You might want to try to remove some grass carp since you say they are overstocked. And as the other poster states, your bream population may be overpopulated. Small recreational pond owners almost always tend to under-harvest the bream population. Never return a bream to a pond once caught, regardless of the size.
I don’t know the answer as to whether grass carp can suppress/subdue bream in competition for food, but in general the larger animal usually wins out over the smaller one.
You might want to try to remove some grass carp since you say they are overstocked. And as the other poster states, your bream population may be overpopulated. Small recreational pond owners almost always tend to under-harvest the bream population. Never return a bream to a pond once caught, regardless of the size.
Posted on 4/15/19 at 10:13 am to Bigbee Hills
Sounds like its time to get the bowfishing bow out.
Posted on 4/15/19 at 12:11 pm to Bigbee Hills
Grass carp are a “controversial” subject in pond management, in so much as something that’s supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable can be controversial. I personally will never stock them in any pond I own or have input in, after seeing what they do first hand. Have read many accounts that they will consume feed, and that they learn quickly what it is. All ponds have a certain lbs of fish biomass they can support, depending on a few variables, and carp count. I have nothing but anecdotal evidence to back it up but in my opinion yes the carp are going to suppress your bream growth rates both directly and indirectly by competing with them for feed and space, and by removing forage cover. I think they are a tool that can be used to achieve certain goals, but those goals are usually aesthetics and lower maintenance of aquatic vegetation, not growing numbers or trophy quality of desired species. Just my $.02, many people are very happy with carp in their ponds/lakes.
Posted on 4/15/19 at 1:31 pm to TheDrunkenTigah
Good thoughtful post. Grass carp are indeed a controversial subject even among professionals. I will recommend them, although always at a low stocking density, and usually only for the most severe nuisance aquatic weed problems for those without time or money or desire or experience to conduct repeated herbicide applications (and the increased fisk kill risk associated with herbicide use). And. as you appropriately stated, for those who desire or favor the aesthetics of their pond as much or more so than fishing aspects. It’s important that the pond owner know and understand all the pros and cons, and there are indeed cons as exemplified in the OP, of this fish’s effects on weeds and sportfish populations prior to making a decision to use them.
Posted on 4/16/19 at 6:34 am to TheDrunkenTigah
Awesome info guys I shorely appreciate it.
We are working on getting some folks to harvest more fish of all species. To answer your question: there is no doubt in my mind that we are not harvesting enough of ANY species.
We got burned a few years back letting the wrong people in to fish a 12 acre lake we have, and, unbeknownst to us, they were coming in literally every single day and filling two 50 qt coolers full of bream and running the feeders on test runs to chum up the bream. SE Pond management manages the lakes and when they came to shock it after 2 years of this, they said we were "this" close to losing our bream fishery. Two, sometimes three guys overfished bream in a 12 acre lake. Suffice to say we kicked them out and put locks on the feeders. I say all this to make the point that we want to find folks who will go along with the management plan, but also be ethical about it. We have 3 good fishermen right now who help when they get time, but we need more.
I once held the fly fishing state record for grass carp. (what! what!). IIRC, he weighed 34 lbs, but it has been years. Not too many years after I set it, I opened the Sunday paper outdoors section and saw that some son of a bitch had outdone me. It was at that time and in that article that found out grass carp on the fly was the new rage. Hell, we had been doing it for years, and it is fun as frick.
Couple years back at a feeder on another lake I found out that you can take a piece of dubbing just a little darker than your feed pellets and tie up a small fly and wear them out that way. We caught dozens like that and helped thin out the carp.
The pond in question is about 1 acre, but no more. If I had to guess, I'd say that there are no less than 50, maybe 70 carp in that thing.
I floated the idea of whether or not a flathead hadn't somehow gotten in the pond over the years and that was what hit that bream. Whatever it was, it wasn't a bass. Regardless, after reading the info yall have given me, I think we are going to break out the fly rods or call the bowfishing guys and start getting some of those dudes out of there asap.
Thanks again for your knowledge.
We are working on getting some folks to harvest more fish of all species. To answer your question: there is no doubt in my mind that we are not harvesting enough of ANY species.
We got burned a few years back letting the wrong people in to fish a 12 acre lake we have, and, unbeknownst to us, they were coming in literally every single day and filling two 50 qt coolers full of bream and running the feeders on test runs to chum up the bream. SE Pond management manages the lakes and when they came to shock it after 2 years of this, they said we were "this" close to losing our bream fishery. Two, sometimes three guys overfished bream in a 12 acre lake. Suffice to say we kicked them out and put locks on the feeders. I say all this to make the point that we want to find folks who will go along with the management plan, but also be ethical about it. We have 3 good fishermen right now who help when they get time, but we need more.
I once held the fly fishing state record for grass carp. (what! what!). IIRC, he weighed 34 lbs, but it has been years. Not too many years after I set it, I opened the Sunday paper outdoors section and saw that some son of a bitch had outdone me. It was at that time and in that article that found out grass carp on the fly was the new rage. Hell, we had been doing it for years, and it is fun as frick.
Couple years back at a feeder on another lake I found out that you can take a piece of dubbing just a little darker than your feed pellets and tie up a small fly and wear them out that way. We caught dozens like that and helped thin out the carp.
The pond in question is about 1 acre, but no more. If I had to guess, I'd say that there are no less than 50, maybe 70 carp in that thing.
I floated the idea of whether or not a flathead hadn't somehow gotten in the pond over the years and that was what hit that bream. Whatever it was, it wasn't a bass. Regardless, after reading the info yall have given me, I think we are going to break out the fly rods or call the bowfishing guys and start getting some of those dudes out of there asap.
Thanks again for your knowledge.
Posted on 4/16/19 at 8:34 am to Bigbee Hills
I volunteer to come fish it and shoot a few carp.
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