Just FYI, on KY lake, these are shad

[WTM]

not asian carp fry, confirmed by the TWRA. some folks are panicked thinking they are carp because of the sheer numbers of frye. there wasnt a spot in 20 miles of shore line that i did not see them. one well known bass angler is, asking well if they are shad then where are all of their mommies and daddies? well Sam, get off the ledges, go back in the creeks and you will see the bigger shad flicking around the frye.

i told someone a couple of years ago about the 2016 and 2017 shad kill that they would come back in force. fall fishing should be good this year.

 

[RUGER]

:super:

 

[ZachMarkus]

Haha Ol Sam!


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[chunkandwind]

It's like that from KY dam to Pickwick dam. Best shad spawn I've seen in at least 10 years on the big lake.

 

[bluball]

Fishing has been good since may 2018.Fish have fattened up and look healthier than ever.Some guys just complain because thete not doing good,carp are changing there patterns.

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[WTM]

Fishing has been good since may 2018.Fish have fattened up and look healthier than ever.Some guys just complain because thete not doing good,carp are changing there patterns.

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what is worrying me about the carp now are spawning beds. from what i saw in May, i dont believe a bluegill or LMB has a chance in hades to successfully spawn unless they are finding different spawning grounds. with all of the scanning i did in may, i just dont see how its possible. i hope i am wrong. good thing for the baitfish, i did not see any carp back in the creeks where i did a month ago so maybe they will have enough food to grow.

 

[TRIGGER]

So glad to hear. Other fisherman have been saying everything we are seeing on the ledges are carp. I wasn't convinced. Glad it's confirmed. Wow there are a lot more shad than I have seen ok KY lake.

 

[X-Tennessean]

I am on the lake just about every weekend, was on last weekend fishing and the amount of fry jumping close to the banks was amazing! I did scan and see tons of carp and also have several jumping behind the boat but that is nothing new.
I am glad to see all the fry!! Should be plenty for the game fish to eat.

 

[NumberOne]

That's great to hear. In my mind this kind of debunks the theory that the carp are eating all the Phytoplankton in the lake to the point that fry (of any species) can't survive. Maybe im completely wrong. Maybe my simple mind cant grasp it but if that is all shad then that's a huge positive. I have been on the lake a couple times the past two weeks and the amount of fry is amazing. I have seen it from the ledges all the way into the actual creeks. The shear about of fry had me a little suspicious to be honest. I thought it had to be carp. Also, I have graphed a lot and havent seen half the amount of carp as I have seen the last two years. Still a load of them in the bay/creeks but they sure havent shown up on the ledges like in the past. Its a lot easier to graph thats for sure.

 

[NumberOne]

I do agree about the carp messing up spawning areas for bass. They were thick in the spawning areas this spring. I saw numerous bass chase carp out of bushes that obviously had beds close by. In my experience it seems the carp have pushed back into the creeks more. Again I could be wrong and it could just be their seasonal pattern but they havent been as thick on the main lake.

 

[TheLBLman]

Maybe the commercial carping is helping better & sooner than expected?

 

[WTM]

Maybe the commercial carping is helping better & sooner than expected?

yeah, i dont know, i havent seen any long gill nets yet in the mid section. Kentucky has been doing a lot of subsidizing on the pricing and building a process and ice plant closer to the lake to cut down on travel to two rivers processing. the only thing i have seen is bowfishermen but they wont even make a speck of a dent in them. 80 boats only brought in 15k pounds during the carpathon at eva. a single commercial fishing boat can net 10-15k pounds a day.

its going to take a united effort between all states affected or its not going to work. hopefully something natural or manmade will kill them to manageable numbers but i think that is a long shot.

hopefully the telemetry tags will yield some data on how they travel. it seems like they show up in numbers and then disappear from an area.

 

[chunkandwind]

Maybe the commercial carping is helping better & sooner than expected?

yeah, i dont know, i havent seen any long gill nets yet in the mid section. Kentucky has been doing a lot of subsidizing on the pricing and building a process and ice plant closer to the lake to cut down on travel to two rivers processing. the only thing i have seen is bowfishermen but they wont even make a speck of a dent in them. 80 boats only brought in 15k pounds during the carpathon at eva. a single commercial fishing boat can net 10-15k pounds a day.

its going to take a united effort between all states affected or its not going to work. hopefully something natural or manmade will kill them to manageable numbers but i think that is a long shot.

hopefully the telemetry tags will yield some data on how they travel. it seems like they show up in numbers and then disappear from an area.

I'm not seeing near the numbers as last year. Like you I hope the tags can shed some light on things. I did see some nets just North of Danville the other day.

 

[TRIGGER]

What do the carp nets look like? I have not knowing seen any.

 

[Headhunter]

I personally have not been on KY lake in a few years and don't have any plans to. That is because every single friend I have that fishes there, and many of them are good fishermen, not all bass fishermen, some are shellcracker and bluegill, they all tell me how bad it is and it is just not enjoyable at all to go there. I have spent many, many hours on Kentucky Lake, it was my favorite for a long time. I hope the asian carp problem is resolved, but until it is I don't plan on going.

 

[bluball]

Maybe the commercial carping is helping better & sooner than expected?

yeah, i dont know, i havent seen any long gill nets yet in the mid section. Kentucky has been doing a lot of subsidizing on the pricing and building a process and ice plant closer to the lake to cut down on travel to two rivers processing. the only thing i have seen is bowfishermen but they wont even make a speck of a dent in them. 80 boats only brought in 15k pounds during the carpathon at eva. a single commercial fishing boat can net 10-15k pounds a day.

its going to take a united effort between all states affected or its not going to work. hopefully something natural or manmade will kill them to manageable numbers but i think that is a long shot.

hopefully the telemetry tags will yield some data on how they travel. it seems like they show up in numbers and then disappear from an area.

I'm not seeing near the numbers as last year. Like you I hope the tags can shed some light on things. I did see some nets just North of Danville the other day.

Still everywhere,with good electronics you will see them everywhere.Mainly on my 360 i keep it set on a 60ft circle.You cant see the structure you have marked on the 360 because they are so thick

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[bluball]

I personally have not been on KY lake in a few years and don't have any plans to. That is because every single friend I have that fishes there, and many of them are good fishermen, not all bass fishermen, some are shellcracker and bluegill, they all tell me how bad it is and it is just not enjoyable at all to go there. I have spent many, many hours on Kentucky Lake, it was my favorite for a long time. I hope the asian carp problem is resolved, but until it is I don't plan on going.

Kylake isnt as bad as everyone is saying yet.Still alot of great fishing left in my opinion.The patterns have changed because of the carp though.I mainly crappie fish but have been catching alot of good bluegill and bass here lately,usually in deep water

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[WTM]

What do the carp nets look like? I have not knowing seen any.

real long nets with bigger buoys than a standard net and the top of the net is only a foot or so underwater. kentucky just opened up year round netting so if you fish their side of ky or barkley you will probably see them. the fishermen dont stay with the nets like they do on the illinois.

i think its a lost cause now unless they support funding. to give you an idea of the cost, the COE was appropriated $778 million for the design that they are building to keep them out of the locks to the great lakes.

 

[WTM]

I personally have not been on KY lake in a few years and don't have any plans to. That is because every single friend I have that fishes there, and many of them are good fishermen, not all bass fishermen, some are shellcracker and bluegill, they all tell me how bad it is and it is just not enjoyable at all to go there. I have spent many, many hours on Kentucky Lake, it was my favorite for a long time. I hope the asian carp problem is resolved, but until it is I don't plan on going.

Kylake isnt as bad as everyone is saying yet.Still alot of great fishing left in my opinion.The patterns have changed because of the carp though.I mainly crappie fish but have been catching alot of good bluegill and bass here lately,usually in deep water

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yeah, you can still catch fish but i dont see how bass and bluegill could have spawned with the numbers of carp in the pocket water the first two weeks of may. every bed i scanned from jville to danville was pretty much empty. there was no bluegill bedding activity a week ago either, the traditional second bluegill spawn, even though the carp seemed to have moved out into deeper water.

 

[TRIGGER]

Does anyone have a link to the study?