Quote:
Originally Posted by saxmatt
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.
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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.
