Asian Carp

[gterrien]

So fishing the Kent Lake tournament this past Sunday, my partner and I are confident we identified an Asian Carp down by the Buno Rd bridge.  Can anyone else confirm seeing the same on your trips?  I wish we took a picture, but it just never crossed are mind.  Obviously if you see one, we assume there are more.

[detroit1]

Every lake i've ever fished had carp in them. Not sure of their nationality....

[McCarter]

Hey GT, is there any chance it was a Rainbow?  I have seen some big ones hanging around Buno.  just curious.  i dont fish kent as much as i used to.  I havnt even been out there once this year except for a 2 hour shore fishing trip with my wife n daughter.  Someone told me they caught a 40+ muskie out there last year.  could be true!

[djkimmel]

Possible somehow some grass carp got in there. I don't recall them ever putting grass carp in there but they may have or someone may be doing their own 'weed treatment program.'

If you truly believe you spotted a silver or bighead carp you should contact the MDNR and give some details. They also now want grass carp reported too I believe. Report Asian Carp.

Check out www.michigan.gov/asiancarp for more info.

How to identify various carp: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364_18958-248641--,00.html

[gterrien]

Brian, for sure it was not a rainbow.  That was our first thought.  Dan, I looked this up yesteday before posting and it look just like the pictures of an Asian Carp.  Low eyes and weird bucket lower lip.  It was extremely aggressive after my senko.  It was not like any fish I have seen in our waters.  My partner also thought it was an Asian Carp. 

[McCarter]

Scary!

[JL]

Me and my fishing partner Duane were fishing a tournament on Kent last year.  We were big motoring over to an area by Buno Bridge, came into the area a little 'hot' and as we slowed down a white colored fish jumped out of the water at least 8 feet into the air.  We looked at each other and both said "Was that an Asian carp?"

Don't know if was or wasn't, but I have never seen a fish jump that high out of the water.  The fish also seemed to be triggered to jump from the outboard running.

[DDBethke]

That fish we saw jumped clear over our boat I have never seen any inland fish with that kind of power. 

Was it last year or 2 years ago JL?

[djkimmel]

Brian, for sure it was not a rainbow.  That was our first thought.  Dan, I looked this up yesteday before posting and it look just like the pictures of an Asian Carp.  Low eyes and weird bucket lower lip.  It was extremely aggressive after my senko.  It was not like any fish I have seen in our waters.  My partner also thought it was an Asian Carp. 

Right up until you said it was aggressive after your senko I was thinking you really did see an Asian Carp. Asian Carp of the bighead or silver are filter feeders - they feed on tiny, mostly microscopic plants and animals. I don't know a ton about them, but I can't picture them going after any type of lure? Maybe a territorial or spawning behavior? I just haven't heard or read of that type of behavior from the bighead or silver carp.

I would have to ask some biologists if they have heard of that behavior. I know almost nothing about black and large-scale silver carp - the other type of Asian carp that are illegal in Michigan. I have not heard anything about them being in or near Michigan though.

I would urge you to report your sighting and see what comes of it. Since several of you feel you have seen something different, maybe someone has dumped some type of fish into Kent or into feeder waters? It happens a number of times a year around the state. They should investigate it. It could be a potential problem where an early report keeps it from becoming a real problem.

There are a few fish in Michigan that will sometimes jump out of the water but I can't think of any that are very big and look alot like what some of you are describing? Not native anyway.

There are two native species of fish in some Michigan waters that do look like a carp and will actually takes lures sometimes. I have caught them in rivers down South on lures, and had them chase lures (bigmouth) - caught 1 in Michigan many years ago on a minnow (also bigmouth) - black buffalo and bigmouth buffalo. I have no idea if there are any in Kent Lake. They don't look much like a silver carp but could possibly be mistaken for a bighead if you didn't get a real good look at the mouth...?

Here is a story about the Michigan record black buffalo landed by a bowfisherman last year from the Kalamazoo River. Most of the few buffalo fish I hear about are related to Lake Michigan and tributaries of.


While the black and smallmouth buffalo (not sure if we have many or any smallmouth buffalo in Michigan waters?) mouths are more sucker-like (their cousins), the bigmouth buffalo has a mouth more like the mouth of a bighead carp (smaller but more similar). Not as downturned or large in proportion but I have seen them in stained rivers down south and I could see them possibly being mistaken for a bighead carp.


They mostly feed on small items too so I'm not sure why they sometimes hit lures? Maybe because they like small crayfish? I've always figured that is why common carp sometimes hit my crankbaits. I wonder if all of the fish sometimes change their behavior under certain circumstances. I have been reading more studies the past few years about fish changing behavior due supposedly to changes in their environment - things like loss of their normal food source for example.

[djkimmel]

Well, after looking around for just a couple minutes, people are reporting they are catching bighead carp on soft minnow baits. I think any of you who saw these different fish should report them to the MDNR. If you feel the eye was very low on the head:

Photo from New York Invasive Species / Key bighead carp identification indicators (David Riecks, University of Illinois/Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant) http://www.nyis.info/?action=invasive_detail&id=29

You should notify the MDNR. Somebody may have been transporting something they weren't supposed to and dumped them in Kent Lake.

Does this look like what you saw?

Grass Carp / http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/asiancarp_child.shtml

Here are some identifying characteristics of silver carp:

Photo from New York Invasive Species / Key silver carp identification indicators (David Riecks, University of Illinois/Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant) http://www.nyis.info/?action=invasive_detail&id=29


Refreshed my memory about black carp also. They are in the some rivers west and southwest of us a ways, and are a problem because they eat snails and mussels - it is concerning because many of our freshwater snails and mussels are now endangered. They look somewhat like grass carp and it is felt they were introduced by accident among grass carp shipments. They were also brought in by the aquaculture industry to control problematic snails in that industry. They seem to be very low in found numbers so far.