Bottom Feeders

I saw a couple of these shows over the last few months and hadn’t realized there was a commercial fishery for rough fish in MN. I thought all inland commercial was a native thing. Some of those guys sure seem like they get a bunch of fish. I wouldn’t have thought there to be much of a market. I realize a lot of this fish is going out of state, but is it all going to human consumption or are there a bunch of catfish factories out that way? Or, maybe that’s what they use in making that awful lutefisk stuff, eh?

I believe the only netting (besides trible) is done on the border waters. Mostly(?) MN/WI.

I’ve been tracking the reported catch rates over the last 5 years. By far there is more buffalo then carp taken then other fish.

Others include:
Channel Cat
Flathead
Eel
Gar
Shovelnose sturgeon
Drum

It’s amazing how much fish are taken out of the waters of the Mississippi and St Croix, yet the only real effect on the population is the size.

Most fish are being used for human consumption. New York first then Chicago…the last time I checked.

Who the heck is eating shovelnose sturgeon?

Polish Russians have a taste from them and any other sturgeon from my limited understanding.

Lake Bylsby by Cannon gets netted every year.They take 10’s of thousands of pounds of carp out.Many lakes around fairabault get netted yearly too.Still a huge market in the eastern cities for carp,buffalo and catfish.Sure there are many more that get netted in Mn.

Millacs gets it too. Walleye.

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Millacs gets it too. Walleye.

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Yep, the roughest fish.

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I believe the only netting (besides trible) is done on the border waters. Mostly(?) MN/WI.

I’ve been tracking the reported catch rates over the last 5 years. By far there is more buffalo then carp taken then other fish.

Others include:
Channel Cat
Flathead
Eel
Gar
Shovelnose sturgeon
Drum

It’s amazing how much fish are taken out of the waters of the Mississippi and St Croix, yet the only real effect on the population is the size.

Most fish are being used for human consumption. New York first then Chicago…the last time I checked.

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When you say border waters, does that mean the Mississippi for the most part?

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Polish Russians have a taste from them and any other sturgeon from my limited understanding.

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Polish Russians? Is that like a Samoan Norwegian?

More like a buffalo carp.

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When you say border waters, does that mean the Mississippi for the most part?

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Pool 4 and the lower end of the St Croix.

They just finished up on the Croix a week or two ago.

A Russian Man I met on the St. Croix caught one ( ) when we were fishing the shore last fall. They eat em!

Seen an episode where they had a Jewish rabbi come bless all the carp while they were alive in the net for passover.they were getting 4x the money per pound for the blessed carp during that time of year.

Hmmm, I “bless” walleyes all the time and never get a nickle.

I thought commercially they could only take up to 100# of catfish? Mike last night was saying he’d make money if he could fill his been which would equal 1000 pounds.

The few shows I saw it seemed they were only taking carp and it was for Passover

Maybe two or three weeks back I drove through the 494 launch on pool 2 and noticed a huge jon boat parked off to the side of the parking lot. Next to it was a semi with a trailer with “live fish” written on the side of it. I wish I would have walked over to check it out. It looked like it could have been sheephead??? I was surprised to see that on pool 2. It definitely looked like the type of setup you see on Bottom Feeders.

Anyone know where to watch that show online? I don’t get the outdoor channel.

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Anyone know where to watch that show online? I don’t get the outdoor channel.

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On the MN side, it’s 100 pounds per day of FLATHEADS.

I don’t believer there is a limit in MN or WI for channel cats. Same for WI Flatheads. No limit.

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Anyone know where to watch that show online? I don’t get the outdoor channel.

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I just checked the web site I use for many different shows projectfree-tv.com and they don’t list bottom feeders.

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On the MN side, it’s 100 pounds per day of FLATHEADS.

I don’t believer there is a limit in MN or WI for channel cats. Same for WI Flatheads. No limit.

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The show makes it sound like Mike runs out of Minnesota.

Thought I seen an episode where they were netting the zumbro.

I’ve heard of different lakes being netted for rough fish when those fish became so overpopulated that removal was the only answer.

I know Lake Traverse and I believe Bigstone are netted for bullheads and carp.

It is interesting to note that a significant commercial fishery has grown up in IL around the netting of the invasive silver carp. It took a while to get this established because fish processing technology had to be invented to de-bone the carp and they had to line up enough commercial fishermen to make sure the processing operations had enough incoming fish to make the labor costs viable.

The carp is processed, steam cooked, and then spun in a deboning process that leaves only flakes of fish. The fish is then pressed into fish sticks and patties and flash frozen for the Asian markets.

I read an article last year that said the main constraint now is a lack of enough commercial fishermen to net and supply product for processing. In order to make a profit, the fish processors have to be able to run 24/7 with a constant incoming supply of fish.

Grouse

Smoked Silver Carp is awesome…except for the bones. And there’s bones in the “back strap”.