Blood indian

[TROLLER]

Spent a very wet and chilly day yesterday. Only 2 or 3 campers fishing and no one was having any luck.
The big thing was my fish finder was full of fish almost everywhere on the lake and constantly getting small taps while trolling. Carp for sure and they are growing. One old boy on the bank caught 2 both over 30cm so they are growing and producing like crazy.

Spent 5 miserable hours in the rain and not one trout, I think there is so much bait for them in the water now that it has made it very difficult for a lot of fisherman. Stopped by the store on my way out and they said at their June Carp day tourny. one team of 3 caught 243 for a total weight of 280lbs. HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to go back next month and do what I can to catch and kill as many of those buggers as I possibly can.

[pinelakeperch]

I was there during the Labour Day weekend and experienced the same thing. I saw people on shore catching piles of carp, but no trout. I trolled on two occasions for a few hours and never caught a fish. Keep in mind that I have some experience fishing there, and have had 60 trout days in recent years.

Seems like the carp are beginning to affect the trout as predicted

[hillbillyreefer]

What do we use for carp bait? I’ve got some daughters that I’ve almost got hooked on fishing, they don’t care what it is as long as there is something on the other end of the line.

The carp would make excellent fertilizer for the garden.......and cat bait!

[jeprli]

How exactly are they affecting them?

I had lots of good days on stocked lakes, and 3x as many a fishless day....

[pinelakeperch]

Originally Posted by jeprli

How exactly are they affecting them?

I had lots of good days on stocked lakes, and 3x as many a fishless day....

I'm not sure, but it's gone from catching trout non-stop to not seeing anyone catch one for an entire weekend.

[kinwahkly]

I was there also in the spring. Caught all carp. No trout. It's a shame.

[2 Tollers]

We were there at the end of August for a few days. While I caught and released two rainbows I saw numerous carp caught from shore. In speaking with the Park supervisor he said ice fishing they caught two football rainbows that had a number of small carp in their guts (10 and 14). There was one area on the east side that pelicans and cormorants worked picking up very small fish.

The disturbing thing that we saw was the cormorants --- three different fish that cormorants speared in front of our camp that were too large for the bird to lift out of the water, so they shook them off. One was a large tiger trout that a pelican came in and picked up, another looked like a rainbow and again a pelican had dinner and the 3rd I sent my dog to bring in was a very large carp (over 20 cm).

Pelican having the tiger for dinner

[pinelakeperch]

Originally Posted by 2 Tollers

We were there at the end of August for a few days. While I caught and released two rainbows I saw numerous carp caught from shore. In speaking with the Park supervisor he said ice fishing they caught two football rainbows that had a number of small carp in their guts (10 and 14). There was one area on the east side that pelicans and cormorants worked picking up very small fish.

The disturbing thing that we saw was the cormorants --- three different fish that cormorants speared in front of our camp that were too large for the bird to lift out of the water, so they shook them off. One was a large tiger trout that a pelican came in and picked up, another looked like a rainbow and again a pelican had dinner and the 3rd I sent my dog to bring in was a very large carp (over 20 cm).

Pelican having the tiger for dinner

I ice fish there fairly often, and catching a trout with carp in its belly is far from unusual, football or not! Last winter was a little slower than usual, I’m afraid that this winter will be slow. We shall see!

[2 Tollers]

Originally Posted by pinelakeperch

I ice fish there fairly often, and catching a trout with carp in its belly is far from unusual, football or not! Last winter was a little slower than usual, I’m afraid that this winter will be slow. We shall see!

Agreed -- I think the Park Manager was more indicating that the bigger trout may be changing their diet.

The other thing that occurred while we were there is the biologists from Cold Lake were running test nets at various locations in the lake. They were very disappointed in the results for netting on trout.

I am not a fan of cormorants and the numbers on this lake can be very high. Combine this with the carp and there will be an impact on the fishery.

I spoke with several different ethic groups that were targeting the carp and they had no interest in trout. Just based on discussions I am not sure that the carp would ever go away even if the lake was killed and a trout only program re-started.

There was also a researcher from McGill that took a number of small carp (40) away live for lab study.

[goldscud]

Illegal transport and stocking of these carp is out of control. Hopefully someone gets caught and a massive fine sends a message to the harvesting community

[krthegunslinger]

My dugout is full of carp. I fill from the EID irrigation system which comes off the bow river at Bassano. This same system fills all our big lakes Newell , crawling valley, Rolling Hills Reservoir and from there branch out to many other water bodies. They can clone themselves by cross breeding with any other species to make more carp.
I’m afraid it is too late.

[pikergolf]

Alberta stocking program, raising trout for pelican and cormorant food. Cannot believe we cannot cull them, sad state of affairs.

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

alberta stocking program, raising trout for pelican and cormorant food. Cannot believe we cannot cull them, sad state of affairs.

x2, x3, x4!!