More Asian Carp News

This time it's from the Wisconsin State Journal, in Madison. Read the full article here.

I would agree in full that too much is at stake here for shrugging.

Read on:

"Too much is at stake for Wisconsin and the world's largest freshwater system to shrug off this threat as just another in a long line of invasive species.

The Army Corps of Engineers confirmed last week that Asian carp - which can grow longer than 4 feet and heavier than 100 pounds - were detected within 10 miles of Lake Michigan. They somehow spread beyond an electric barrier that was supposed to stop them.

The Corps now plans to poison a Chicago canal. Two navigational locks near the Lake Michigan shoreline also need to close or operate with much tighter restrictions because they may be the last barriers to the open lake.

Wisconsin officials should encourage a strong response to protect Lake Michigan and its delicate ecosystem from this latest and particularly worrisome foreign invader.

It's not that the Asian carp are inherently bad. But set loose on the Great Lakes, the monster fish could decimate native fish species and wreak havoc up and down the food chain.

The Asian carp eat huge volumes of plankton each day, leaving smaller and less aggressive competitors to starve.

The largest of the two Asian fish close to reaching Lake Michigan are known as bigheads. Yet the smaller silver carp pose their own unique threat.

Sliver carp jump out of the water when startled by motor boats. Some boaters in the Mississippi River basin where the leaping fish are abundant wear helmets to avoid being violently hit, according to the Associated Press."

A call to close the gates of the Chicago River.

One of the only remaining options to save the great lakes from an onslaught of Asian Carp may be to temporarily close the locks that link the Chicago River to the Chicago Harbor at Navy Pier.

An article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel goes into more detail.

An excerpt from the article.

"The Asian carp appears to be not only on the doorstep of the Great Lakes, it's managed to push the door ajar and is trying to wriggle through. But before we get used to adding a carp menu to Friday fish fries, there are still some things authorities can do to prevent a full-scale invasion.

One key step would be to temporarily close the gateways and locks in Illinois that lead from Lake Michigan to the waterways that have already been invaded by the carp, as a coalition of environmental groups urged last week. Then monitor the waterways to determine just how far the large jumping fish has come, and poison those stretches where necessary to eradicate the fish"

It's going to be a long fight boys and girls, we had better hunker down and put on the boxing gloves for this one.

-Great Lakes Angler

Fish Eye Guy Photography

Photographs of native and non-native trout in their rivers. This fellow hikes to remote locations, and gets in the faces of these fish with his lenses. Amazing stuff. This is everything I want to do. So much perfection.

Native Redband

I emplore you to check out the website.

More News on Chicago River Poisoning : Asian Carp

Some good news from freep.com, plans to shut down over 5 miles of the waterway near the Asian carp barrier are underway.

The following is borrowed from this article.

Closing a 5 1/2 -mile stretch of waterway and poisoning it is not something to take lightly. But it's more than justified by efforts to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

Starting Dec. 2, a multi-agency task force will close off a portion of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal below the two electrical barriers intended to stop the carp from advancing out of the Mississippi basin and into Lake Michigan and the rest of the lakes. While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers turns off the newer, bigger barrier to inspect it, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will put a fish poison in the water and haul the carcasses to a landfill.

The barrier has been operating for six months and needs its first regular inspection, according to the Corps. Meantime, the older barrier is not considered sufficient to stop fish, especially smaller ones, from slipping through. DNA evidence from earlier tests suggests carp have come within a mile of the barrier. Hence the need for poison while the stronger barrier is down for inspection and maintenance.

Fisheries biologists have long experience with the poison that will be used and with a detoxifying chemical that is administered to counteract it. The antidote will be applied downstream to ensure no additional stretches of waterway are harmed, and then later in the poisoned stretch to return it to normal. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is contributing to the stock of antidote for the operation, and will supply up to a dozen crew members and whatever gear Illinois requests. As many as 200 people will be needed on site each day for the four to five days involved.

Some complaints have come from the shipping industry and barge operators who would have liked more lead time to prepare for the closure. But even those have been muted; most everyone seems to understand that protecting the Great Lakes takes priority here.

A third electrical barrier is supposed to be running by this time next year. In the meantime, another maintenance closure -- and presumably another round of fish poison -- may be necessary next spring.

Although it's an extreme measure, poisoning the canal should yield valuable information -- especially about how far Asian carp really have traveled -- that cannot be gleaned any other way. Let's hope the results don't suggest it should have been poisoned sooner.

We all must hope these plans are successful, as I've made clear in my recent posts, this is no matter to be taken lightly.

A Creative Solution to the Asian Carp Invasion

A great comment left on the article in the tribune :

My Bulletproof Plan

I'm going to take my boat to the barrier, run the motor in neutral to get the carp to jump, and when they do i'm going to punch one right in its face as hard as i can. As it falls back toward the water in a daze, i'll yell "and tell your friends to STAY OUT!!". Problem solved.

posted by rocketj3 on Nov 20, 09 at 1:44 pm

The Chicago Trout Bum on This Weekend's Steelhead Forecast

I say the fishing should be good this weekend, but the Chicago Trout Bum tells you why:

"Swinging streamers continues to be a productive method though fish in deeper pools behind large sections of shallow spawning gravel are keying in on eggs. Pink, chartreuse and orange egg patterns have all been producing but be sure you are fishing them at a proper depth."

Take a look at his full report here.

Additionally he sells some great Steelhead flies there that he ties himself, when it comes to hand tied flies, he's accomplished!

The Asain Carp Have Arrived

This is grave news to be sure. We might remember this year as the last year we fished the great lake before the plight of the Asain Carp arrived...

Straight from an article today in the Star Tribune:

"New research shows the super-sized fish likely have made it past the $9 million electric fish barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a source familiar with the situation told the Journal Sentinel late Thursday."

In news relating to river poisoning, as I discussed earlier this week:

"In addition to plans to poison the river, the Army Corps is scrambling to build a twin to the new barrier. It also is looking at building an emergency berm to prevent the fish from riding floodwaters from the carp-infested Des Plaines River into the canal above the barrier."

This is bad news readers. Bad news indeed. Please read the article in full :: here ::

Harbor Brown Trout and Steelhead Report : 11/20/2009

A report from Mike P. over at Fishing Headquarters brings good news for those planning to hit the harbors this weekend!

Remember to be versatile, if fish are around and moving, don't sit there all night with spawn under a bobber, try casting, try bouncing spawn along the bottom, try jigs.

It's looking like a great weekend ahead for shore anglers and fly fisherman alike.

See ya out there.

South-Eastern Wisconsin Steelhead Forecast : 11/19/2009

It's that time of year again, white knuckles, rosy cheeks, numbing feet in waders, frozen guides on the fishing rod... It can only mean one thing. It's steelhead time.

Things are looking good.

The image above shows exactly what you want to see if you are a steelheader who is confined to the weekends to chase these silver trout.

All the South-Eastern Wisconsin Tributaries are looking great for your weekend. The colder it gets, the less pressure there is on the fish, and the better your chances of hooking up. It is vastly different from King Salmon fishing during the fall.

Take a look at the Chicago Trout Bum, he has some great reports from his recent trips to swing flies and drift egg patterns in Wisconsin rivers. Looks like both Lake Michigan run Brown Trout and big Steelhead are looking promising this weekend.

Chicago River to be Poisoned : Asian Carp

Straight from the Chicago Tribune :

"Alarmed that Asian carp are swimming closer to Lake Michigan, state officials plan next month to poison a stretch of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal."

"The Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced Friday that it will dump Rotenone, a potent fish-killing chemical, into the canal between Romeoville and the Lockport Dam in early December."

"Poisoning the canal has been considered a last-ditch solution to preventing Asian carp from spreading into the Great Lakes, where the fish are considered a serious threat to the region's $4.5 billion sport fishing industry. The main deterrent has been two electrified barriers in the canal near Romeoville, but one will be shut off for maintenance next month, and the other is considered too weak to stop younger fish from swimming through."

I would be interested in viewing the shocking they plan on doing to relocate native fish. It is always fascinating to see the diversity of fish in a system.

Here is some more about the electro shocking.

"Before Rotenone is applied to the canal, crews will use electrodes to shock fish to the surface and identify sport fish that can be safely relocated. After the dead carp are sent to a landfill, the crews will apply another substance that speeds up the breakdown of Rotenone, a chemical widely used across the country to kill invasive fish.

Rotenone is not considered a serious threat to people or wildlife. Water quality experts from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will monitor water quality downstream to ensure the chemical doesn't drift beyond the targeted area. And the Sanitary and Ship Canal will be closed to boat traffic for up to five days."

We'll see if it works, and I'll keep you updated if I learn anything new.

-Great Lakes Angler