The challenges of my lake

[SEARK]

Some of you may remember me telling about being hit by a flying fish last year. It happened agian this year only not to me this time and it was much worse for the guy. The following story is from Fox News:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It's a fishing tale that packs a wallop so strong it broke the jaw of a southeastern Arkansas teen and covered him in fish blood and guts.

Seth Russell, 15, of Crossett, was cruising Lake Chicot on a large inner tube towed by a boat when a Silver Asian carp leaped from the water and smacked him in the face. Seth was knocked unconscious.

"He doesn't remember anything at all," the boy's mother, Linda Russell, said last week. "He was laughing, and the next thing he remembers, he is waking in a hospital."

The teen has had oral surgery to wire several teeth together and still experiences back pain that doctors attribute to whiplash from the high-speed collision, his mother said.

He's not the only one who's has a run-in with the "flying" Silver Asian carp.

"They do not fly, but they are quite good jumpers," said Carole Engle, director of aquaculture and the fisheries center at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. "Over the past year, we have had some calls about fish jumping and causing injuries on Lake Chicot.

[wolfeman131]

this may be the strangest post I've read since the one about mounting the grill to the grab handles or, of course, Ed's shorts. . .

[04OUTBACK]

Keith,
I saw that this morning on Fox news.. WOW.
That's gotta be a scare!

[SEARK]

I hadn't seen a lot of them this year. From what people have been saying the fish were staying in one of the bayous that feed the lake, but when Gustav came through they found the open water. At least the one that him me last year just got blood and guts in the boat.

I can't believe anyone was even on the lake the weekend anyway. It jumped 1.5 feet in about an hour and half on Wednesday when the "big" rain set in. There is so much trash and logs floating around right now there no way I would put my boat in.

[Waynes345]

Those carp have been migrating north for a few years now and powers that be are worried that that they'll get into the great lakes. They've got a temporary electric barrier accross the ship canal to keep them out of Lake Michigan. There are some wild videos out there of people getting clobbered by these things jumping into their boats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb8OmEr7VqI&feature=related

[Serria1]

More info on the fish.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=yS7zkTnQVaM&feature=related

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=2ChwJiKKBdA&feature=related

[Sled491]

How the heck did these things get this far north? Like Zebra Muscles, my lake is just around 1000 acres and is 30 miles from lake Michigan with no direct access, in fact my lake flows to the Mississipi not from it. So how did my lake get over run with Zebras? Don't get me wrong they have done incredible things to the water clarity, but still the thought just pisses me off.

[Kelsey]

As posted earlier, these things have become quite the nuisance up near Chicago. Some buddies of mine have turned it into a sport....Extreme Aerial Bowfishing. Below is a clip of a video.

Warning....not for the faint of heart!!

http://www.spike.com/video/extreme-aerial/2886458

[SEARK]

Those are about the same size fish that jumped into my boat last year and hit the kid in the jaw this weekend. Just imagine what hitting one of these things at 25 or 30 mph would do to you.

[TW3]

All I can say is WOW. Glad I live in FL

[jmvotto]

Sled, the zebras got passed around from tankers in europe into the Great lakes and then from lake to lake on boats and trailers. These fish look like the hitchcock movie the birds. freaky but very scary, us cold water northerners would have to find salt water or green lizards to ride with.

who in there right mind purposely brought these to the states, that would be like putting pirranah in the lakes???

[Sled491]

JV, I know how the zebras got spread, but that's the point, how many guys in your area go directly from one of the great lakes to your lake, or to my little lake, and why would they dump there bait or livewell tanks on another lake. I mean when I had a fishing boat my intake and discharge lines had screens on them. You have to want to screw things up to do something like that.

These Chinese flying fish are the same thing but on a larger scale (the size of the species that is). My question is how does this stuff get this far inland before we get worried. In the ocean we are worrying about fish going extinct, like sea bass and some sharks, and inland we can't get rid of the crap that the overseas boats keep dumping on our shores.

[Kelsey]

Sled....Go BowFishing!!!!

[Waynes345]

Seems to me I read that the Asian carp were originally imported to fish farms in Arkansas or Louisiana because they were fast growing. Rains or floods overflowed the ponds they were in releasing them into the eco system.

The zebra mussels are hitch hikers and don't need to be released. The guidlines on our lake requires 5 days of drying or thorough cleaning (including bleach) to keep the mussels and that new VHS fish virus out. They have not yet started inspecting, but there are lakes in the area that do.

[Sled491]

Seeing as hunting season looks to be a bust for me this year bow fishing might have to do!