Ontario Shore Fishing Forum

Yep. Time will tell...just like the fearful Round Goby

I was just watching a documentary on the Lake Erie Watersnake, a species that was once endangered due to development of the shorelines and destruction of their habitats necessary for their prey species. One of their main diet items were frogs. But ever since the Round Goby invasion, the snake had benefited greatly by feeding predominantly (90%) on the slower moving gobies. Their population had recovered so well, THANKS TO THE GOBIES, that the species was delisted off the endangered species list.

There are more and more beneficial interactions that are being reported on the Round Goby. I do not deny that they have a negative impact, but it is also foolish to ignore the positive impact. As I say always, nature will find a way to balance herself. She can do this without human interaction. We just need to be patient, and we need not to force our wished upon her. Human meddling by bucket biologists is often what messes things further.

Here's a link you can read about "professional biologists" and the past actions on native species by introducing non-native species in the name of providing additional fishing opportunities...and how modern biologists are now realizing better management of existing resource, and the drastic means necessary to recover lost resources.

http://blog.nature.org/science/2015/08/1...t-biology/

Of course, we cannot simply use rotenone to remove Grass Carp from Lake Ontario. If it was that easy, it would have been done. Don't fool yourself that a few electrofishing boats will do anything to prevent Grass Carp establishment either. Eradication of a species out of the Great Lakes is extremely difficult due to the immense size of the watershed, which is why prevent is key to keeping out invasive species...but once an invasive species has arrived, it is almost always too late. By the time an invasive species had been noticed and sampled, it is very likely the species had already established locally.

As far as I know, the first sighting of Round Goby in Lake Simcoe watershed was in Pefferlaw River. The MNR then treated the area with rotenone hoping to prevent establishment of Round Goby in Lake Simcoe. At the time, there was much resistance to this effort as locals feared rotenone would kill all the native fish in the river. The treatment was still allowed in the end. But this effort did not at all prevent Round Goby from establishing in Lake Simcoe. If we can't even address a smaller body of water, and a founder population effect, like this example, what can we truly do in Lake Ontario?

We can complain and whine and discuss...but in the end, the best action is to find a way to fish for these invasive species, because they really are here to stay once they get in and establish.

I see recipes from overseas on line for Grass Carp.

How do the "Asian's" catch grass carp? What bait and methods does one use?

They are reported to be quite "spooky".

From what I've read in the past they have a mostly vegetarian diet. So corn apparently works well as it does for Common Carp, and "baiting" the area is employed in similar ways.

I also have seen articles that say worms work, as do cherry tomatoes.

...............Corn's cheaper.

I have personal experience catching them in Florida.

They are very spooky with amazing eyesight. One afternoon, I found a school of 10 Grass Carp sitting under a berry tree. The Grass Carp would take fallen berries off the surface of the water. I tried to collect some berries to fish for these fish, using 8lb fluorocarbon, #14 octopus hook and absolutely no split shot or other terminal tackle. I put two berries on the hook to conceal the hook. However, they would only look up at my berry baited hook sitting on the surface. The closest I've came to catch one that day was a fish that rolled toward the surface after I dropped the line from the tree (to imitate the berries falling from the tree), but the fish refused it at the last second. These fish were able to spot my fluorocarbon line, or perhaps the slightly unnatural drift of the berries in the water.

At another canal a couple of years later, we found some Grass Carp feeding very shallow along the margins of the lake. I noticed that they would come up to eat the algae off the rocks. I tried to collect some algae and put it on the hook, but as with my previous experience, the fish appeared to be able to see something unnatural about my rig. They would work down the shoreline and then suddenly spook when they got close to my rig. They would also avoid the shoreline if they spotted me standing by the shore.

Finally, we caught some at yet another canal where the water was much deeper and coloured, so you were unable to see the bottom. In this situation, the Grass Carp that were cruising a couple of feet below the surface would refuse to bite. However, if we freelined a piece of bread naturally using 8lb fluorocarbon, #8 octopus hook buried and covered by the bread, and let the bread sink out of sight to the bottom, Grass Carp would pick up our bait and we caught them successfully and repeatedly (over two separate trips a year apart).

In Texas, my cousin caught one using creep feed while we were fishing for Smallmouth Buffalo and Common Carp. The water was very murky where we fished so fish were less line shy in general.

The number of baits that can be used is long, but sweet corn, boilies, livestock feed pellets, fruits (apparently they love strawberries...) and bread are common.

People have caught them using method feeder, hair rig, Carolina rig or simply freelining the bait of choice. The technique is largely dependent on your fishing location and clarity.

They are fun...even small ones.

FIXED:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzWnveH_9pI

You can try that all day and not catch any...Grass Carp DO NOT JUMP like that!

OT, stop persisting the ignorant misconception please (not calling you ignorant...just calling the misconception ignorant). There are already people confusing Grass Carp with these Silver Carp because the media and our governmental agencies can't simply say Grass Carp...but has to keep throwing the term Asian Carp in the news. They all behave differently. Grass Carp does not equal dangerous jumping fish that are filter feeder!

WHOOPS............. (smile)

Seems to be taking a lot longer this time to announce if the last three caught were fertile or not.................

More found in lake Erie:

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/asian-...-lake-erie

I had missed this update - it is actually good news:

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Did you know that moose aren't 'native' to North America either? Been here less than 10 000 years and have still not adapted to deal with brainworm that 'native' ungulates are immune to.
Yep. Moose. That iconic, all Canadian, mountie-uniform-wearing animal. Not native.