QuoteOriginally posted by Weasel:
8 weight flyrod and a small crab pattern.  Then hold on!!

Yeah!!!  I landed a 40#r on a 5 wt once.  When I set the hook he took off.  Ran 50 yds straight through my backing non-stop before I got him back.  I'd sure pay attention to the line and make sure its not wrapped on anything when you shoot just in case!!!

Not sure if this is legal or not but when we feed the catfish there are some 20 pounders that come to the surface and they would be easy to shoot.

Can you shoot gamefish with a bow????

You will have to check your local regs.  Some states do allow shooting catfish with a bow.  Here in Ohio, it's currently illegal.  There has been talk of adding catfish but it hasn't happened yet.

I have shot a lot of grass carp and you have good information as far as equipment. So I will discuss the shot placement.  A grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp all have soft fleshy meat.  

I have used every fish point made on them and the larger fish shot in the midsection will tear the arrow out. I have seen them actually be torn almost in half.  For that reason on bigger fish try to hit them in the head or along the backbone for more holding power.  

The grass carp is the worst one of the three,  I have had them pull off and part of their stomach or air bladder is still stuck on the point.  
I had always heard grass carp do not re produce.   I think that is a myth because the back water and Illinois River is full of all different sized ones now.

I use the AMS system. Great rig and easy to use. I also use the Muzzy tips made for carp and gar.

Elmer,
As a former Fisheries Biologist, I can attest to the problem of lose and reproducing non-native fish like grass carp. Early on folks figured out that not only would it be bad to have these things reproduce everywhere but some said that the only thing they needed to migrate was "wet grass". They surely can get around and through some pretty skinny water as well.

Early stockings resulted in escapees when ponds over flowed during spring rains. Most states quickly tried to prevent their inevitable spread by passing laws that said only triploid fish who could breed but not produce offspring, would be stocked. Too little, too late, those early stockings had already done their damage.

As I said in an earlier post, once the fish get big they really don't do the job they are stocked for, which is controlling aquatic weed growth. Unfortunately, most folks are misinformed and stock them to get rid of what many call "moss". "Moss" is actually a type of filamentous algae and the grass carp won't eat it. If it doesn't have leaves it's not on the grass carp's menu.

Now, as a consulting biologist/ecologist, I NEVER recommend putting the dang things in a pond. They just cause more trouble than they are worth. It's better to address the cause of the nuisance plant growth than use a non-native species as a band-aid, and a poor one at that (just my opinion, no charge).

I guess they do make for great bow-fishing though. Kill 'em all and make room for native populations, I say.

OkKeith

Kill em with a  tradbow, save the flyrod for trout and panfish! After all this is tradgang.  

Bowfish those biguns  

This pond is on my dad's land in my home town and i moved off 10yrs ago.

When i lived close by i always made sure that the lake was getting everything it needed to control the grass and i also controlled the amount of fish being taken out.

I didn't even know my dad was putting the carp in his ponds.

He has 4 ponds ranging from a 10 acr to a 3 acr being the smallest.

When they brought all the fish there was a misunderstanding and they put all the carp in the 10 acr lake and i can tell you there are way to many in this pond.

I use to catch a lot of 6-7 pound bass and have even caught a 13-8 a 12-7 and at least 10 over 10 pounds.

Ever since those carp were put in it has become really hard to catch a big bass out of that lake. I worry they might be destroying the bass beds or just plain keeping the bass spooked.

Anyway when i was up there saturday i counted at least 50 and in one buch there was over 10 and i could nearly reach out and touch them they were so close to the bank, talk about a easy shot.

The 50 i saw were in one area of the lake so i can only imagine how many i would see from a boat.

I have got the fever really bad about shooting some of these GIANTS and i plan on doing it just as soon as i figure out what to do it with.

Hey Joe,

Sounds like you have a great place to go fishing on your Dad's place! A few grass carp are no big deal, but that many could be a problem. Does it seem like the pond is muddier than it used to be as well?

What could be happening (hard to "diagnose" without seeing it) is the carp could be rooting out and eating up ALL the plants in the pond. Kinda like too many cows in a pasture. Baby bass need good places to hide just like rabbits or deer. Without this protective cover, they simply all get eaten up by Bluegills when they are really small or bigger bass when they get a year or so old.

Even the larger bass can be harder to catch if cover is scarce. They tend to hang deeper and be less aggresive without a place to hide. They are simply too nervous to act normal.

I have a buddy who does a good job of cleaning grass carp out of ponds with his bowfishing gear. He uses either the AMS sidereel set up, or his trusty old Bear wind-on rig. I think the wind-ons are pretty inexpensive. That's what I have. He dumps a sack of Alfalfa Cubes (calf cubes, or whatever) in a spot in the pond where he can get good shots and waits a few days. Just like deer over a pile of sugarbeets. He can seriously lower a population in a weekend.

Like a lot of the guys have said, any rig will work. Be safe and have fun. There have been lots of recipies and suggestions for carp posted here on Tradang.

OkKeith

OKKeith

I believe what you just said is exactly what is happening to my dad's pond.

Give me a couple of weeks and i will let ya know how it all works out.

Sweett carp, cant wait to get out

AIM LOW!  Then readjust a little lower:)

Stick em....  Good Luck, Bridog

joe, just let me come out there and handle them for you:) you dont want to worry with them anyways.

btw- it is legal to shoot catfish with a bow, here in alabama

Brandon

Let me know when you want to go and we will see if we can boat some of these monsters.

Cell 205-913-2674

sounds good! im gonna send you a pm too.

if you know anyone who builds self bows look at this link...these are grass carp.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=12215.0

stan