Re: channel catfish pic
 

I've recaptured dozens of carp using the same bait, some 2 days in a row. You'll never recapture one because you're part of the bucket brigade and keep every carp you catch. It's impossible to recapture a fish if you are killing everything.

Re: channel catfish pic
 

This goes back to when NJbands said there was a shortage of carp and everybody agreed that was an odd statement.

There's no reason to call someone out on keeping carp. They're virtually everywhere.

There's some truth in that a carp caught before will be a bit more finnicky next time. That's with any fish really; they wise up the more they are caught.

Re: channel catfish pic
 

I don't kill everything, only carp because they are a nonnative invasive species that Fish and Game Departments never stock and kill and remove them when lakes are drained. I know many people that eat carp. Giving them away is better than having them buried in landfills. I tagged and released > 7,800 fish in NJ since 1985. Every year I release thousands of fish in NJ. If you really believe that you are a great carper, show me a pic of a Carnegie Lake carp that you caught. I talked to many outstanding European carpers that never could catch a Carnegie Lake carp.

Re: channel catfish pic
 

My fishing partner Attila fished next to you a few years back and caught 16, you got skunked. You were yelling at him to keep them. The next day he showed up and you were in the spot he baited. He set up where you were and again caught a bunch of carp and you blanked. Unfortunately I haven't heard of a big fish out of there because you and others have been keeping them for years. I don't mind if you keep a few but pulling out 25+ fish a day like I've seen you do and keeping hundreds a year really kills a spot. Luckily there a lot of spots you don't know about.

Re: channel catfish pic
 

nice catch.

I do believe that carp are a pretty "smart" fish. fishing for them in the saddle river and Passaic rivers they could get elusive. now I really haven't dedicated day to going carping in a while but they run a long way almost like a bonefish and I may dare to say one of the most under rated fish going. I had one get foul hooked on a rattle trap this year in pompton and as much as I knew it wasn't a bass, and believe me I wished it was :), it was fun. the ones in monksville look like submarines .

Re: channel catfish pic
 

NJ fish and game is making a big mistake by treating carp the way they do. I know a bunch of carp anglers who refuse to buy licenses because of it. Carp fishing is a multi billion dollar industry in Europe and there are $50,000 tournaments in NY and CT. CT fish and game is going to make some trophy carp waters with a maximum size limit and no bowfishing to protect trophy carp. Between the tournament, trophy waters, and tackle shops carrying carp tackle the state and local shops in CT are making a lot of money annually from carp fisherman. Connecticut also allows you to catch and release state records if you have a certified scale. Maybe someday NJ fish and game will smarten up but for now not many carp fisherman spend money in the state. They are missing out.

Re: channel catfish pic
 

The fact that NJ doesn't list carp as a kill-on-catch fish and not invasive is tolerant enough. Reasonable to believe that they don't list them as invasive because people target them.

What can nj do to make their carp fishery better? It seems like youre upset that there aren't as many giant sized carp as there should be. Wouldn't a creel limit not fix that problem since the giant carp will be the ones only harvestable?

Re: channel catfish pic
 

I'd like a 32" length maximum and reduce the limit to 6. I can't see even a big family needing more than 6 5-20lb carp for a good meal. The big carp bully out the small carp when food is around. When you take them out you see a boom in pupulation. With no competition from big fish a place can become over run with small fish. I've seen this happen with bass, carp, panfish, pike...you name it. When you protect the bigger fish and cull the smaller ones you tend to have less fish but a bigger average size. Just look at park ponds vs bigger harder to fish lakes. The park ponds have tons of small fish, but the bigger lakes like Hopatcong are ruled by predators, and everything in there is big. When you have more big carp there is a better balance, plus baby carp are an excellent forage fish for bass, trout, walley, pike etc.

Re: channel catfish pic
 

A maximum length wouldn't be a bad idea but so could it be in every fish species. Is there a reason why nj in freshwater doesn't utilize the rule? My guess is that it's less fair to not let people keep trophy fish.

Re: channel catfish pic
 

There are tons of carp, big and small, still in Carnegie. I don't think NJBands is decimating the carp population in that lake. I can't comment on his fishing ability, but I have seen him catch some nice sized carp.