bighead/silver harvest

[carptracker]

I surveyed the commercial fish buyers that buybighead and silver carp and, unbelievably, it seems like a conservative estimate of the fish now being harvested is around 20 million pounds per year, in the central USA. Also, they are having to downsize the mesh size in theirnets because they are running out of the larger fish and starting to go after the 10 -12 pounders.

[Fishhunter]

no wonder I have trouble finding anything over 10 pounds this year.

[carptracker]

In your/our area, there is essentially no commercial harvest most of the time. The commercial harvest is pretty much limited to the Mississippi, Ohio,and Illinois Rivers, and most of that in the Illinois. There is no one to sell the fish to in Missouri, so it is too far to carry the fish to the processor - so hardly anyone in Missouri catches the fish unless they live reasonably close to Pearl IL, where they can take the fish across the river. You have to move a LOT of fish to make money in the Asian carp business, so it doesn't pay to haul it far. Eight to 13 cents per pound, usually around ten cents, makes for moving a lot of fish.