Tailing fish( Carp)

[Geenomad]

Some idiot introduced them to Tasmania and there has been a 15 year project to eliminate them from those waters and that project is in its final stages.

Hi Peter
Agree with everything you said about carp. I've even shot some with a .22 in a backwater of the Darling River. Back when it flowed occasionally.

A post script on the Lake Sorell/Crescent introduction/defilement in Tassie. Think the elimination project is up to year 20 now and fingers are crossed some parts of Sorell might reopen to fishing next year. Some time ago talking with a well known Inland Fisheries officer I (half) jokingly offered to pull the lever if they ever got the offenders up on the gantry. He said thanks but I would have to wait in line and it was a very long line.

Cheers
Mark

[Paul Arden]

Invasive species are always a problem. The only one that seems to get away with it is trout.

[Morsie]

Mark there's a really fascinating documentary being shot by Tassy fisheries (filmed and edited by Brad Harris) on the carp eradication program. I was recently down there and spent some time with the fisheries guys including Chris Bassano and heard some pretty amazing tales about this project. They know where they came from (Canberra) and who actually brought them down (to use as livebait for the BIG trout in those 2 lakes Crescent and Sorrel).

On most dams the carp are cleaned up overnight by feral pigs, goannas, foxes, wild dogs, crows, pelicans, and anything else that wants to get in on the action.

[Michal Duzynski]

  I love fly fishing and I love fly casting, and for me fly fishing for carp is a kind of cheap escape from immaginary SWFF, but on the end of the day who cares- fishing is fishing- and that is all what matters.
  Honestly, I am not lucky and wealthy enough to go once a year to beautyfull blue lagoons to chase tropical fish, and I dont live in a nice rocky montains valley with crystal clear streams running through, full of dbl digit size trout in it.
   I have to deal with what I have and be happy with it- and lucky for me there is an invasive species like carp in my local waters.
   They are fun to catch, casting to them is even more fun, and on the end of the day you do some good for australian waters by removing them from it.
  No cost, good for the enviroment, super fun- everybody happy- what else ha ha...
Today it was Super cool.
First cast and 80cm on the bank. Not sure how heavy, but it was fat and felt heavy. Squirmy wormy did a job.
Tomorrow next one . Very cool.
Cheers
Mike

[Morsie]

Good stuff Michael, some fat fish there.

[Michal Duzynski]

Cheers Morsie.
They did not cooperate today. Might give them a rest for 2 weeks as Im busy anyway.
Cheers mike

[Michal Duzynski]

Lucky I have my gumboots. I go through some nasty bushes in order to get to casting position- who knows whats there
Today this snake was dead( pity) under a car parked behind mine.
Ciao
Mike

[Geenomad]

Mark there's a really fascinating documentary being shot by Tassy fisheries (filmed and edited by Brad Harris) on the carp eradication program. I was recently down there and spent some time with the fisheries guys including Chris Bassano and heard some pretty amazing tales about this project. They know where they came from (Canberra) and who actually brought them down (to use as livebait for the BIG trout in those 2 lakes Crescent and Sorrel).

Thanks Peter. Will keep an eye out for the doco. I realise they didn't have much choice and that the feds kicked in for some of the costs but still, I really take my hat off to their persistence. Will be a treat to fish Sorell again, especially when the marshes reopen.

Carp from Canberra eh? Has an unmistakeable ring of truth to it. Eff me.

Cheers
Mark

[Nick]

Mark there's a really fascinating documentary being shot by Tassy fisheries (filmed and edited by Brad Harris) on the carp eradication program. I was recently down there and spent some time with the fisheries guys including Chris Bassano and heard some pretty amazing tales about this project. They know where they came from (Canberra) and who actually brought them down (to use as livebait for the BIG trout in those 2 lakes Crescent and Sorrel).

On most dams the carp are cleaned up overnight by feral pigs, goannas, foxes, wild dogs, crows, pelicans, and anything else that wants to get in on the action.

Hope I can watch that from the US.

Here the carp are everywhere, but the authorities seem to have a blind spot about the damage they do. Huge areas of the Columbia River are infested with them, and they churn up the mud, which makes those areas no good for juvenile salmon. They spend billions on salmon recovery, so you’d think someone would be working on the carp problem, but all I ever get is a shrug of the shoulders, and “we aren’t working on that”.

[Morsie]

Nick these carp were in a couple of linked waterways at altitude where the cold water affected their breeding, so numbers never really took off. I would say there's zero chance of them being eradicated from the Columbia river. We have isolated a carp herpes virus that all tests so far shows only affects carp, but there are other issues (like the temperature range its effective in, and the clean-up) and also someone sticking their neck out to release it, because in these cases there always seems to be some sort of unintended consequences. Its forecast to kill 70% of the population and the remainer will then of course have immunity........If only they were decently edible, because as a sport fish they're pretty bloody good. And we actually have some scientists who say they don't muddy the water, I don't know what drugs they're on in the lab, but they're certainly detached from reality.