carptracker

Ok, how about this info:

Bighead and silver carp are extremely sensitive to motors, day or night, gas or electric. If you want to get close to feeding Asians, try to drift in to them using wind or the river's current. If you are in an area such as below a dam where there are a lot of Asians swimming around, you can anchor and let them come to you. They are very sensitive to generators and spotlights too, unlike most of our native fish. Bowfishing with your spotlights on is not an option. One way is to use no generator, but have a second person with a handheld spotlight - when the ripples of the surface feeding bigheads get close, the helper shines the spotlight on the fish. Shoot quickly! I have reports that using red lights elicits a different kind of response from the fish, (they apparently spook when the red light goes off but not when it goes on), but I cannot verify.

Want more? Gotta run now - maybe I can write more later.

Carpmaster

Thanks for the info, you are the most informative carp expert ive ever met!!

carptracker

Here is a picture of some surface feeding bigheads that I took in China two weeks ago.

Carpmaster

thats want i wanna see, whack em and stackem!!!!!cool pic!!!! Thanks again for the data if you ever make it ti the mississippi river anywhere near iowa this summer carptracking let me know!!!!

carptracker

Carpmaster - Actually, I have recently contacted some biologists in your area looking for some assistance in getting some samples from your area, but I don't know if it will be convenient for them. I may have to go up there myself to get the samples. I've had an idea to look at microsampling hard structures and looking at stable isotopes and trace chemistry to see if it would work to determine if Asians move between major river systems. Dr. Charles Bacon has agreed to do a pilot for me on this. If it doesn't work out with the Iowa or IL DNR, any chance I could get you to send me some samples from your part of the world? What I need is both postcleithra (the postcleithrum is an easily excised bone in the pelvic girdle) from up to three bigheads and, if available, up to three silver carp. Together with that I would need a water sample from where they were collected, and the length, wt, and sex of the fish. Also looking for samples from the Ohio River and from Missouri in the NB SD area, and from the Ohio and upper Illinois River. If I can't get people to send me samples, I'll have to go myself, but it would cost Uncle Sam (and my budget) a lot less to just pay the shipping.

carptracker

Uh, I mean pectoral girdle.