Lake Hopatcong Grass Carp:

[oelgnal1]

Since I made the previous post, I will comment. What you say is true about the hybrids but as long as the forage population is sufficient, everybody is happy but if anything should happen to the forage, that can be disastrous to the fishery (just take a step back and consider NO milfoil). I know of another 500 acre lake where herbicides were used to kill the milfoil, it worked but the alewife population was destroyed thus limiting fish size.
Although the grass carp may be a viable solution in some cases, people may go overboard with the stocking and put in too many carp to control the problem. In this area there are many man made lakes that may lack structure and the milfoil may be the only natural cover for fry, destroy that and you may have a big bowl with a declining fishery because the alewife fry have nowhere to hide. There are other solutions such as milfoil weevils that are indigenous to the area but they help to control the milfoil but not completely destroy it. This may not be the solution in lakes the size of Hopatcong or Candlewood (only started stocking GC a couple of years ago) but keep your eyes open and proceed with caution since it's next to impossible to put the genie back into the bottle (especially if some can reproduce). I'm sure many boaters and swimmers would love a weed free environment but is that good for aquatic life and fry?

[AndyS]

White Amur. Invasive Grass Carp seen going through the fish ladder on the Raritan river spring of 2017. So you want to put these fish where ??

[saxmatt]

Originally Posted by AndyS

White Amur. Invasive Grass Carp seen going through the fish ladder on the Raritan river spring of 2017. So you want to put these fish where ??

And what's your point? Grass carp have been in the canal and river for many years and both the forage fish population and gamefish population are thriving. There are still plenty of weeds as well, including just upstream of the dam where that picture was taken.

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by saxmatt

And what's your point? Grass carp have been in the canal and river for many years and both the forage fish population and gamefish population are thriving. There are still plenty of weeds as well, including just upstream of the dam where that picture was taken.

I agree with there being plenty of weeds. Last summer numerous spots on the Raritan were populated with vegetation.

Hiwever I dont see much grass carp. I can usually spot the common carp that roam around clearly. I won't doubt grass carp are in there but I can't say at a high population

[saxmatt]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

I agree with there being plenty of weeds. Last summer numerous spots on the Raritan were populated with vegetation.

Hiwever I dont see much grass carp. I can usually spot the common carp that roam around clearly. I won't doubt grass carp are in there but I can't say at a high population

I've only seen 2. There are a few in there but they are rare. They're definitely not spawning or you'd see more. They were stocked to control the weeds.

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by saxmatt

I've only seen 2. There are a few in there but they are rare. They're definitely not spawning or you'd see more. They were stocked to control the weeds.

Stocked purposely in the Raritan? Or they swam their way down? I wonder where they were originally.

[saxmatt]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

Stocked purposely in the Raritan? Or they swam their way down? I wonder where they were originally.

They were stocked in the canal, which flows into the Raritan.