Silver carp, the most common of the Asian carp species, jump on the Cumberland River
just below Barkley Dam during a Kentucky Department of Fish and
Wildlife Resources electrofishing expedition. (Photo: KDFWR)
Are Asian Carp on the Decline?
by Richard Simms
Eyeballing his Garmin LiveScope screen, my guide for the day, Jason Sealock, pointed and said, “The brush pile is about 20 feet that way.”
I dropped a jig exactly where he said, let it fall to a 10-count and began a slow retrieve. I hadn’t turned the reel handle five cranks when I felt the tell-tale “Thump,” and quickly brought the 11-inch Kentucky Lake crappie to the boat.
I was there for the 2024 Annual Conference of the Association of Great Lake Outdoor Writers (AGLOW) at Kentucky Dam Village. About a hundred of the country’s best outdoor journalists were gathered there to network and sample the ample offerings of the famous Kentucky Lake.
KENTUCKY LAKE COMING BACK
“Kentucky Lake fishing is definitely coming back,” said Sealock as he photographed me with one of the many crappie we caught.
Sealock was also a panelist on a session called, “Asian Carp Anthology,” A panel that included some of the region’s foremost experts on the Asian Carp invasion into the Tennessee River – an invasion they say has definitely slowed.
Wade White is a former judge, avid supporter of recreational fishing, the outdoors and a current member of the TVA Board of Directors.
White told the audience, “For a while our fishing (on Kentucky Lake) did take a dramatic decline and tourism in the area took a huge hit. But we’re coming back.”
White said people like Jim Ed Gill, another panelist, have helped in that regard.
CHASING ASIAN CARP FOR A LIVING
Gill is a former ironworker but now makes his living fulltime as a commercial fisherman, specifically targeting Asian carp.
“I started in 2019,” said Gill. “I got tired of construction work and decided to do something I love, which is hunting, fishing and being out on the water.”
It may sound like a dream life for many outdoorsmen, that is until you are pulling nets while it is 25 degrees out with a howling wind.
But in his five years commercial fishing on Kentucky Lake, Gill said he has been a witness to a massive decline in the numbers of Asian carp.
“When I started in 2019 the lake was absolutely infested with Asian carp,” said Gill. “There were piles and piles of them. You’d be idling out of a bay from fishing all night long with the sun coming up and the fish would be exploding on the surface. But we went from seeing these million-pound groups of fish to now, if you see a 15,000-pound group, even during prime fishing weather and temperature, you’re mind-boggled. The numbers have been cut in half, at least, in five-years-time.”
MORE TO THE STORY
Biologists confirm the lower numbers and say commercial fishermen have certainly played a significant role, but they stop short of saying that is the sole reason for the decline. They point to a bio-acoustic fish fence (BAFF) installed at Barkley Dam in 2019 that deterred upstream migration of Asian carp into Lake Barkley (which is connected to Kentucky Lake by a canal). They also say huge rainfall events dramatically impact the water levels and flow of the Tennessee River, which can in turn affect carp movement and reproduction.
Adam Martin, a Kentucky Game & Fish biologist, said during periods of low flow the spawning capacity of Asian carp is severely restricted. That is because the carp’s eggs must be able to free-float in the current for about 36 hours before they hatch. If there’s not enough current to keep them free-floating, the eggs simply settle to the bottom and die.
Martin and other biologists also say Asian carp may not really have been to blame for the decline in fishing the lake experienced. They say those environmental factors, such as rainfall, also has a dramatic impact of the success of game fish spawns, as well as the carp spawns. They say the lake went through extremely poor game fish spawning conditions for two or three years when the decline in fishing began. Still, they are glad to see success in their efforts to reduce the numbers of Asian carp.
Capt. Richard Simms captured this video of silver carp, a species of Asian carp, on the Mississippi River near Memphis. Of course, this is the sources of all of the Asian carp finding their way up tributaries of the Mississippi.
Fortunately for Alabama, populations large enough to cause the above problems have not been found in the state. And even fewer in Tennessee.
“I’d say the silvers are in relatively low to moderate abundance in Pickwick,” said Dave Armstrong, Aquatic Nuisance Species Coordinator with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “They are fairly rare to uncommon in Wilson. We picked up four last year, and TVA picked up three in Wilson over several years. A couple were reported to WFF in Wheeler around Flint Creek, and one in Guntersville.”
HOW TO CATCH THEM
Gill doesn’t just put out nets and let them sit in the water overnight. He says his best fishing for Asian carp is far more proactive.
He says just like sportfishermen, he is locating carp using electronics, primarily side-scan sonar. When he spots a big school of carp, he says it turns into a fire drill.
“When you see them, you’ve got to catch them then,” he said. “Not in a minute or in five minutes but right now.”
Just like salmon fishermen in Alaska, he immediately starts dropping his net in a huge circle, trying to completely surround the school of carp. It sounds easy enough, but Gill says Asian carp are the most “net-smart” fish he’s ever seen.
“In warm, clear water they’ll see the net and they’ll jump right over it,” he said. “They’re much easier to catch in the winter when water temperatures are much colder.”
He admits, ““It is fun. I think a lot of it is the drive to beat them, because they’ve beat me so many times.”
WHAT ARE THE NUMBERS?
Gill says he believes there are about 10 other commercial fishermen targeting Asian carp in his part of Kentucky Lake. He says in the summer, when fishing is toughest, he might average about 3,500-pounds of carp per day. He says fishing is far better in the cold winter months when, on average, he will haul 8,000-pounds of carp into the boat.
He said his income varies dramatically. In the summer he might get only nine cents per pound for his catch. But in the winter, and if selling them for human consumption, he can get more than 20-cents a pound.
“We definitely make the lion’s share of our annual income in the winter,” said Gill. “Summers can be tough.”
While Gill does sell some for human consumption, he says the majority of his catch is ultimately used in meal plants where the fish are ground up and used in various animal food products.
But multiply the numbers commercial fishermen are catching over the course of a year, and there can be little doubt these men and women are making a major dent in the population.
FISHING HIMSELF OUT OF A JOB?
One might think that Gill would be discouraged by a decline in Asian carp numbers since that makes them harder to catch and harder for him to make a living.
He says nothing could be further from the truth.
“There’s still enough money there that we can keep going, but I grew up on this lake. I want them all dead. If that happens, I’m an American man. I’ll go find a new job. So, yea, I want them all gone, I really do.”
Gill, and the biologists, know that isn’t likely to happen. But there is little doubt that sportfishermen – who have generally thought little of commercial fishermen – now owe them some thanks for reducing the numbers of this exotic invader competing with the game fish they know and love.
Capt. Richard Simms is the Editor of CrappieNOW magazine as well as owner of Scenic City Fishing Charters. He is a former game warden for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency before becoming a photographer and PR guy for TWRA. That lead to a 30-year career as a broadcast journalist and freelance outdoor writer. You can follow Capt. Simms on Facebook.
