Walleye Searchers Meeting Changed To Feb. 9th

Due to the weather the Walleye Searchers meeting for tonight [Monday Feb. 2nd] has been changed to next Monday night Feb. 9th. The DNR will be there then to give the info on the river and the about the big carp problems. See you all there on Feb. 9th. Thanks, Bill

Thanks for the info Bill.

Gator Hunter

I’ll be driving down from the Red Wing area. If anybody wants to catch a ride let me know.

I think this is a very important issue and like any problem the first key to finding the solution is information. An informed person is equipped to make the right decisions down the road. As outdoorsmen, I don’t think any of us can afford to turn our back and assume this problem will just go away on its own.

Gator Hunter

It looks like a go from the weather man – See you Monday 2/9.

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Kevin Stauffer and possibly John Hocksmeyer from the DNR Lake City office will be at Feb 9th Walleye Searchers meeting. Their topics will be on Asian carp and the annual update of pool 4. This presentation is free and open to the public.

Monday February 9, 7:00 PM

Elks Lodge, 917 15 Av. SE

Rochester, MN

Anyone interested in fishing is welcome to attend. For more information see http://www.walleyesearchers.com

Any report on that meeting?

The black carp grows to 40 inches and 70 lb..
Silver carp grow to 40 inches and 60-80 lb. mostly.

The bighead carp is the one that everyone is worried about and are found in at least 20 states and maybe 24 states. The cold water climate up here will not stop them
They jump in boats and all around moving boats. The DNR in the more southern Mississippi River areas wear helmets when out in the boats for safety reasons. People have been hurt and even knocked out by them jumping into their boat. They can jump 10-15 feet out of the water. They grow to 60-80 lbs. in size. The electric fence idea is probably not going to happen. Its very expensive to build and cost between 500,000 to 1,000,000 a year to run. These fish tend to crowd out other fish and that gets rids of the other kinds of fish. The DNR is hoping that by creating and maintaining a very good habitat enviroment for the regular fish in our pools that the normal fish will survive as the bighead carp don’t thrive in a good healthy enviromrnt as well as they do in poor enviroments for fish. There is also some talk about some commerical fisherman trapping them in nets to be used for food for other countries that are poor. Lets hope they don’t get up this far but theres a good chance they will as there was one already found in Lake Pepin.
Thanks, Bill

Thanks for the report, Bill. I’m glad they are getting the word out up there, and communicating with the fishermen. One thing I’d like to correct, if I may. The silver carp is the one that jumps into boats and hits people. The silver carp and the bighead carp are sort of similar in their threat to the environment, otherwise.