Quote:
Originally Posted by Smecher
Hey guys. I have been fishing for carp back in Europe for about 10 years. Back there we eat this fish and believe it or not, if you know how to cook it, it's delicious. Over there they stock it and people pay for access to private water that produces nice specimens of carps. We have fishing competitions including this carp and trust me, for its size, it fights. Grab a light or ultralight tackle and it's on!
I have seen so much hate towards the Prussian carp on this site and it seems like everybody is concentrating on the negatives. I see a lot of people on here willing to destroy this fish out of fear of the unknown, I bet most of them never seen, caught or ate one in this life.
Here is how I see it. Calgary has been growing pretty fast, which means the fishermen numbers have increased significantly. I have lived here for a long time and we all can agree that fisheries quality around Calgary is decreasing day by day because of excessive pressure,poaching,commercial fishing,etc. Daily catch limits are being reduced year after year in an effort to have fish stocks to recover. What if a tough fast reproducing species is the answer? I have seen this fish back home sharing waters with many other species without many problems. I can tell you that most of us fish eating fishermen could actually have a fry in our pan every time we head out to a lake. Prussian crap would survive in literally any puddle in or out of Calgary. No more driving for hours to reach a decent fishery, us and our kids would have a very sustainable species of fish on our doorstep. What if this would mean less pressure on the existing game fish (I personally and many others I know would rather target this fish than pike for example), more food for the pikes and waleyes ( meaning the prized trout would be less targeted by predators). Let's face it, at the rate this city grew and continues to do so, we'll soon have only catch and release fisheries. Prussian carp may not be as pretty and kissable as trout but i can tell you that all Asian, European and some Canadian fishermen who like to eat fish would prize it. I think this fish deserves more respect and should not be treated like garbage. Something to think about.
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I see where you're coming from, and you make a very good point that for the most part I agree with. And I'm not responding as an attack towards you, just as a comment on what you've said;
Yes we need better fishing opportunities for the growing population, but stocked pothole lakes have been doing a very good job so far., and are probably the answer. Maybe if they created more pothole lakes that can sustain larger stocking programs, that may help the pressure on native rivers. Or on top of that is to get more people into that brookie killing program. Regardless I personally don't think carp are the solution. Although some people dislike pike and perch, it may be the answer since they reproduce fairly quickly and are native. Also I personally believe that we have to stop stalking foreign strains of rainbow trout, we should either stock athabows, or native cutthroat (where environment is permissible).
What do you people think?