Prussian carp in Mcgregor
 

A young friend of mine swears he saw a couple
Of Prussians ,finning in shallow water in Mcgregor .
Anyone else seen this .

I bet by now they are spread through the bow drainage and reservoirs.

Too bad they never made it to PCR maybe then you could catch a walleye that was over 1.5 lbs. If they are in Mcgregor it will be additional food for the walleye and pike.

Glass half full ! Prussian carp eat everything, including fish eggs. They also use a lot of oxygen once they start to thrive, creating winter kill. Glass half empty !!! It might create a lot of big fish now, but we're doomed in the long run. :sign0176:

Whitefish eat fish eggs, burbot eat fish eggs, rainbow eat fish eggs, sucker eat fish eggs.... How come there is still some fish left in waters?

Best read up on how prolific prussian carp are, likely not going to be as rosy as you think.

Once they collapse food chain, they drink up all the water. Birds and gophers are not safe, these suckers will vacuum off any fur or feathered creature.

Those carp breed like mosquitos and can live almost anywhere. Once they take over a lake, you will be saying " how come there is no fish left in waters ?" Are you a fan of this introduction of carp ?

well at least for macgregor has a small fighting chance as they still have a good population of big pike and walleyes, which would mean all you can eat buffet for them.

With the closure of commercial fishing and this new food source, has potential for some very big predators ! :sHa_shakeshout:

Its not safe to go back in the water .......lol

Bad news for native species in the long run. The government has been quiet about this infestation of Prussian Carp. The drainage ditch from Lakeside Packers is full of them north east of Brooks. They are spreading fast.

wow we need huge populations of pelicans then

Blindman River is infested as well......Last year I kept snagging them while fishing for Pike. I'm sure the Red Deer River is packed full as well..... Hey, if they're not impacting the environment and our fisheries and providing another food source for our predator fish I'm all for them. But obviously that's not the case unfortunately.

Nothing good will come of these fish in our waterways. They have been around for over ten years originating in the Rosebud river tributaries. The population is exploding and they will become more and more abundant.

They are in all water bodies in southern Alberta that are part of the SRD canal system, and as far North as Red Deer. The Bow river is full of them and they are here to stay as nothing can be done to eradicate them. They reproduce like mice, breeding 3 or more times per year. They tear up substrate and require little to no oxygen to survive and will live out of water for 8 hours or more. They can overwinter in a lake even if it freezes solid because they have the ability to bury themselves in the mud and go dormant.

They are one of the worst invasive species for native fish, and will most certainly have a drastic impact on our fisheries. Some predator fish will certainly benefit in the short term, until they overpopulate the water bodies.

I'm not a fan of any intentional chages in mother-nature at all. But I fished many waters back home where that bloody prussian carp was introduced. And fishing was good and nobody complained about carp taking over. Perch or walleye can make more damage for ecosystem.

Then things are looking up ! Thanks for that. :)

I highly disagree with that statement...is back home Europe by chance? Whole different ball game. There is plenty of research online done on these fish and the havoc they can create for native fish. An invasive carp can not be compared to Perch or Walleye.

Perch and walleye are NATIVE, and part of the natural ecosystem, whereas Carp are NON-NATIVE or INTRODUCED

Someone putting perch in your local trout pond doesn't compare whatsoever to an Invasive Species taking over entire watersheds. Environmental effects include out competing native fish for habitat; loss of native fish species; changing the type of fishery via alteration of fish community structure, food chains, and habitat alteration/destruction. After a while they become the dominant fish species.

bingo!!!

People are not listening lalalalalalalalalalalal

http://aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/...cies/fish.aspx

http://aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/...rp-May2015.pdf

Never add a fish to a waterway
 

Regardless if a species is native or not.. please don't add to waterways.. it will unbalance the ecosystem... leave it to the professionals to manage these populations.

None native illegal fish introductions are NEVER a good thing. I get what you are thinking. Maybe perch might of helped however my understanding of the biology of PCR is its a poor sustainer of small fish fauna due to the natural algae/plankton/macrophyte community.

In other words it appears the best use for the lake after trying pike/walleye combination is trout since they can thrive better on critters like shrimps, mayflies, caddisflies, damselflies etc.

totally false and you can't get further from the truth.

Unfortunately these illegal introductions are from people who think they are smart but are not and are causing irreparable damage for generations to come.

Totally selfish and self-serving and wrong beyond belief because people do it for themselves and kid themselves thinking they are doing it to help everyone. It continue to astounds that people post like you however I thank you since it provides an opportunity to teach since others are not brave enough to at least post what they believe to be correct.

I just hope you can learn and pass along that moving any fish around is extremely bad and to not do it.

SDF

Which is the most likely start to the Prussian carp invasion? Was it started by a bucket brigade wanting their favorite fish here or just idiots dumping their "pets" into a water body when they tired of them? It's sad to think of all the damage done by the bucket brigades.

I believe it was from people wanting a food fish from their home country in local waters. While they're closely related to goldfish, I don't believe anyone would have had a Prussian carp as a pet.

That's what I find odd about this.. The only ever record of importation to North America happened in 1876, imported to New York State from Germany. They did not naturalize, nor were there any reports whatsoever of this specimen until 2006 when they magically appeared in Alberta; the first ever confirmed case of Prussian Carp in North American waters.

It's widely beleived that they were in a private dugout/pond that flooded and spilled into the river, as they were detected one year after the floods of '05

So how did they get into that dugout in the first place? Smuggled in a water jug in someone's luggage from an overseas flight? That would be my guess

Just talked to a coupler of farmers in the EID and they are getting Prussian carp plugging up intakes on pumps and center pivot filters.

The one guy said his pump sounded like a meat grinder. Invasive species can affect more than a person thinks

I have heard that releasing these carp into waters is good luck, to a certain culture. Also was told it was a traditional thing that involved weddings ! I have not researched this rumour as of yet !!

That's not accurate of the Prussian carp.

You are confusing Prussian Carp with Asian carp - two completely different species originating from two different areas of the world.

Asian people were bringing Asian Carp in to eat in both Canada and the US and they were most likely introduced into waterways (likely on purpose) by many who wanted to raise and rear them for food - and, of course, they were able to get into other watersheds, quickly spreading out of control, and creating the massive mess these invasives are causing.

The Prussian carp comes from a different part of the world and there is no evidence they were brought here for food or as pets. I have not heard what the source of the original introduction was - and I'm not sure we definitively know at this point.

Also, although they are of the same family of fish (Carp) a small 1 oz pet store goldfish doesn't mutate into a 3 lb Prussian carp (unless you live near a nuclear power plant maybe ..lol)