# Grass carp in northeast Ohio?



## slick (Jul 4, 2013)

Anybody know/willing to tell a fellow angler of any spots I could fish for grass carp on northeast Ohio?


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## brad crappie (Sep 29, 2015)

slick said:


> Anybody know/willing to tell a fellow angler of any spots I could fish for grass carp on northeast Ohio?


Finley lake and I think spencer but dont no if some died off from last years winter kill at spencer! At Finley the state put to many in they ate up the weeds pretty bad their not good for fishing!


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## buckzye11 (Jul 16, 2009)

slick said:


> Anybody know/willing to tell a fellow angler of any spots I could fish for grass carp on northeast Ohio?


I've seen them at North Reservoir of Portage lakes... I don't know if there's a big population.
Wondering how you would try to catch them? Bread maybe?
My uncle has a small lake with them in there and no one has been able to get them to bite.


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

Aquilla lake used to have them.


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## slick (Jul 4, 2013)

buckzye11 said:


> I've seen them at North Reservoir of Portage lakes... I don't know if there's a big population.
> Wondering how you would try to catch them? Bread maybe?
> My uncle has a small lake with them in there and no one has been able to get them to bite.


I have read that cherry tomatoes will work well for catching them


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

brad crappie said:


> Finley lake and I think spencer but dont no if some died off from last years winter kill at spencer! At Finley the state put to many in they ate up the weeds pretty bad their not good for fishing!





slick said:


> I have read that cherry tomatoes will work well for catching them


That's the story of the main fishing lake at our game club. Some years before I joined, the board thought there were too many weeds and put in way too many grass carp. Thing's like a swimming pool now! Every couple years somebody shoots one while bowfishing, and they are huge! Still need to get more out of there.

I know guys will look at me funny if I bait up with cherry tomatoes, but if I could drag a few out of there it would be a benefit. Any other tips? Time of year? Deep water or shallow? Interesting thread.


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## nick220722 (Aug 27, 2015)

Take some sweet corn out of a can and tightly chum an area. Put on a carolina rig and a #2 or #4 hook with a few kernels of corn on it. The heavier the weight you use on this rig the better the hook set. I like 2-3 ounces. Put the rig into the baited area and then loosen your drag or engage your baitrunner. The fish should hook themselves so this is very important. I frequently put one rod out for carp while bass fishing with another rod since you really don't have to watch the carp rod. You'll hear the baitrunner or the drag sing. You can also get bite alarms that are louder if you plan to move farther from the rod. This is a low effort way to catch some really big fish. 

I wouldn't worry about going too deep for them. One of the best features in the lake is the edge.


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## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

I have heard small broccoli florets work...you won't get a huge fight out of them, one big run then they usually hemerage and die...they are super fragile. If you shoot one bowfishing all you need to do is follow them for 5 minutes they wear out quick.


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## nick220722 (Aug 27, 2015)

westbranchbob said:


> I have heard small broccoli florets work...you won't get a huge fight out of them, one big run then they usually hemerage and die...they are super fragile. If you shoot one bowfishing all you need to do is follow them for 5 minutes they wear out quick.


I agree - then they like to fight you hard on the bank when you try to hold them for a picture.


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

westbranchbob said:


> I have heard small broccoli florets work...you won't get a huge fight out of them, one big run then they usually hemerage and die...they are super fragile. If you shoot one bowfishing all you need to do is follow them for 5 minutes they wear out quick.


Stick one with a fiberglass arrow and your opinion will change.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Assuming you are speaking of white amurs stocked for weed control? They are a protected species in waters controlled and/or managed by the State ODNR(which pretty much narrows it down to every body of water except private ponds, small private lakes.) If you catch(and keep) any white amurs from public waters, you are breaking the law and can be fined. Hunting/shooting them is the same violation. Common carp( easily distinguishable from white amurs) are fair game anywhere, any method.
As for fight, I once hooked one in the dorsal fin with a 1/32 oz crappie jig at Wft. After "pulling" my 16R around for a while, the hook pulled out(thankfully)! A 40# fish can't help but pull very hard. The Amur fight, "foul hooked"(by accident), was easily equal to the 27# 43" WB striper in my avatar!


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## BIGEYURK25 (Apr 4, 2013)

Here ya go fellas 38lbs this past summer


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

I've never understood why the dnr protects them. They're a worthless species that do no good to the environment.


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## ldrjay (Apr 2, 2009)

beaver said:


> I've never understood why the dnr protects them. They're a worthless species that do no good to the environment.


Oh they do until they hit a certain size. They eat and eat. Once they hit a certain size they may as well be dog food.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

That doesn't change my stance. Eating and eating does no good for the environment. Those weeds are a good thing for the fish. They eat up all the oxygen producing cover, then spent he rest of their lives being giant non native resource suckers with no real purpose or natural predators.


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## ldrjay (Apr 2, 2009)

Lol what happens to all that oxegen producing cover when it dies? Oh yea it kills fish. Lol I not trying to change your stance on what the state does just letting you know there is more to an eco system that we dont get paid to mess with. If nothing ate some of those plants there would be less habitat for us to hit. Then again look at what we do to reservoirs. Raising and lowering a body of water to control other things that aren't in that body of water? Its cycle.


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## ldrjay (Apr 2, 2009)

Actually now that I think about it isnt there a bunch of vegetation that is non native and invasive? Something has to eat it.


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## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

Flathead...I have shot several with a bow..they all crap out quickly.


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

They are not protected in all state waters ...Only waters they've been stocked . They usually have signs posted . They turn up here and there and are fun to shoot . I think they fight a lot better than common carp just because they usually are a lot bigger than commons . Stick a arrow in a 50# grassy and you'll be in for a good fight


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## rockytop (Mar 19, 2008)

mogadore is making a comeback i think the grass carp are dying off. good news for the panfish...http://www.ohio.com/news/local/summ...ed-eating-white-amurs-aka-grass-carp-1.482103


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## Tbomb55 (Nov 27, 2008)

What kind of carp are in Wingfoot? I have spooked huge schools containing very big fish in some of the bays. They have brushed my kayak while bolting past.


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## JohnJH (Feb 3, 2015)

buckzye11 said:


> I've seen them at North Reservoir of Portage lakes... I don't know if there's a big population.
> Wondering how you would try to catch them? Bread maybe?
> My uncle has a small lake with them in there and no one has been able to get them to bite.


I've caught 2 grass carp before. One came on nightcrawler and the other came on a chunk of hotdog while I was catfishing.


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

The best way I've found to actually catch them is to chum with bread on the surface and get em started feeding on the surface. Then put a piece of bagel on a hook and put it into the floating mix and wait.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Tbomb55 said:


> What kind of carp are in Wingfoot? I have spooked huge schools containing very big fish in some of the bays. They have brushed my kayak while bolting past.


Common carp and triploid(sterile hybrid) white amurs. If caught(by accident), the white amurs have to be returned unharmed. There are signs posted at Wft that say this, mostly at the docks/ramps. The amurs do not have barbs by their mouths, the mouths are straight forward, not turned down like the common carp. "White amurs are not carp", they are members of the "minnow" family. Per state law, white amurs in all waters "managed by ODNR" are protected species.(Pls don't take my word for it, look it up-or call your local DNR district office and ask to speak with a fisheries biologist.)


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## BIGEYURK25 (Apr 4, 2013)

Carpn said:


> The best way I've found to actually catch them is to chum with bread on the surface and get em started feeding on the surface. Then put a piece of bagel on a hook and put it into the floating mix and wait.


One of my favorite ways to fish for carp. Also one of my favorite things to do while fishing. The adrenaline you get once one comes up and grabs yours and your waiting for it to take off and your line to tighten up is like none other. I catch a lot of catfish this way too. I also caught that 38lber on bread on the surface


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

Who ever says they dont fight hasnt caught a big one IMO we caught 3 in one day at a pond i have access too and they fight very very hard this was the biggest


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## BassFishing123 (Jun 6, 2015)

Shoot em'. Ams Reel knocks them down good.


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## crestliner TS (Jun 8, 2012)

c. j. stone said:


> Common carp and triploid(sterile hybrid) white amurs. If caught(by accident), the white amurs have to be returned unharmed. There are signs posted that say this, mostly at the docks/ramps. The amurs do not have barbs by their mouths, the mouths are straight forward, not turned down like the common carp. "White amurs are not carp", they are members of the "minnow" family. Per state law, white amurs in all waters "managed by ODNR" are protected species.(Pls don't take my word for it, look it up-or call your local DNR district office and ask to speak with a fisheries biologist.)


Actually, Grass Carp are Carp not minnows. They are a member of the Cyprinidae family which consists of minnows AND carp!
I also yook this straight from the ODNR website:


*Forage Fish*
Forage fish means freshwater drum (sheepshead), common carp, grass carp (in waters not stocked by the ODNR Division of Wildlife for vegetation control as indicated by signs), bighead carp, silver carp, black carp, quillback, suckers, bowfin, gar, buffalo, gizzard shad, and goldfish. These species may be taken by any method except by means of explosives, poisons, firearms, electricity, chemicals, nets, seines, traps, or by snagging within 1,000 feet downstream of a dam. Gizzard shad and rainbow smelt may be taken with a minnow seine, minnow dip net, or hand landing net.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I said "white amurs" are minnows, not grass carp! They are sometimes referred to as grass carp but there is a difference. I didn't make it up. That white amurs are actually members of the minnow family is a direct quote from an article by a Fish Biologist I found while researching info on amurs. Seems everybody is an expert on triploid white amurs(not based on any fact, based on presumptions and observations) abt the good/bad they do to the Eco system. I've had them for 25 years in a previously weed choked, useless pond, have read everything I can find abt them and decided the good they do outweighs the bad. The DNR did not stock amurs in Wingfoot or Mogadore but I have been told by the Div 3 Fisheries Manager that they are "protected, they are aware they have been targeted by bow fishermen and will use any enforcement means required to curtail this." These are facts, make your own conclusions!


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

When I was younger there was a pond down the road from my house that had some in it. My older brother and I used to fish it a lot as kids and after a while he decided he wanted to catch one. He tried using all kinds of weeds growing around the pond as bait. I was probably I was around 8 or 9 years old and he was probably 11 or 12. I can remember a few years after that I was down there at 6:30am during summer vacation and I had some bread with me. You could see those things come right up to the edge of the bank looking for food. At that time the cottonwoods were doing whatever it is they do and the little fuzzy white seeds were all over the surface of the water. I cut all the weight off of my line and tied on a bare hook. I threw 5 or 6 little pieces of bread out and put a piece of the crust on my hooked and casted it as far as I could which was tough with no weight. I'd say it landed 10-15 yards out so I crouched down and waited. After about 20 minutes I had one on. I used this method at a couple different ponds and managed to catch some from each. The big ones are really fun to catch but it seems like they get wise after a while? I haven't fished for one or in a pond in years though. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but aren't all of the ones that are stocked into small neighborhood ponds only one sex so they don't reproduce?


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## BIGEYURK25 (Apr 4, 2013)

MIGHTY said:


> When I was younger there was a pond down the road from my house that had some in it. My older brother and I used to fish it a lot as kids and after a while he decided he wanted to catch one. He tried using all kinds of weeds growing around the pond as bait. I was probably I was around 8 or 9 years old and he was probably 11 or 12. I can remember a few years after that I was down there at 6:30am during summer vacation and I had some bread with me. You could see those things come right up to the edge of the bank looking for food. At that time the cottonwoods were doing whatever it is they do and the little fuzzy white seeds were all over the surface of the water. I cut all the weight off of my line and tied on a bare hook. I threw 5 or 6 little pieces of bread out and put a piece of the crust on my hooked and casted it as far as I could which was tough with no weight. I'd say it landed 10-15 yards out so I crouched down and waited. After about 20 minutes I had one on. I used this method at a couple different ponds and managed to catch some from each. The big ones are really fun to catch but it seems like they get wise after a while? I haven't fished for one or in a pond in years though. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but aren't all of the ones that are stocked into small neighborhood ponds only one sex so they don't reproduce?


I've never heard that before, but makes sense


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

c. j. stone said:


> I said "white amurs" are minnows, not grass carp! They are sometimes referred to as grass carp but there is a difference.


So, what is the difference? I've always thought white amurs and grass carp were the same fish, and after reading your post I decided to do a little research. My thoughts remain the same......can't find any info out there indicating they are two different species. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't find any differences at all. Being sterile or triploid doesn't make them a different species. They raise triploid rainbow trout in some places.

What should be noted is common carp and grass carp are in fact two different species, and shouldn't be confused with each other. With that said, common carp and grass carp/white amurs are both part of the cyprinidae(minnow) family.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Grass carp are not native to Ohio(or the entire US!) as far as I'm able to determine. Yes, the big difference is that the white amurs are sterile. You are not likely to encounter any true "grass carp" in our lakes(we wouldn't know, or be able to determine the difference anyway). Any so called grass carp seen/caught are goingi to be amurs put in the lake/pond for a purpose. My intent was that there are huge, immediately detectable differences between "common carp" and white amurs-the latter should be released unharmed IMO if hooked(and never "shot"), which could get you a ticket in some state waters.


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

c. j. stone said:


> Yes, the big difference is that the white amurs are sterile. You are not likely to encounter any true "grass carp" in our lakes(we wouldn't know, or be able to determine the difference anyway). Any so called grass carp seen/caught are goingi to be amurs put in the lake/pond for a purpose.


As I mentioned in my previous post, being sterile does not make them a different species. A grass carp is still a grass carp.......sterile or not. A rainbow trout can be sterile, but it's still a rainbow trout.



c. j. stone said:


> My intent was that there are huge, immediately detectable differences between "common carp" and white amurs


Correct, common carp and white amurs(grass carp) are two different species. It appears that you think common carp and grass carp are the same fish?? Grass carp and white amurs........same fish. Grass carp and common carp.....two different fish.



c. j. stone said:


> and white amurs-the latter should be released unharmed IMO if hooked(and never "shot"), which could get you a ticket in some state waters.


This is also correct. Not because they are a protected native species(as you said, they aren't native to the US anyways) but because they are put in some waters to control the vegetation. If they're harvested or killed, well, they're obviously not controlling the weeds any more...


Grass carp is just another name for a white amur, just like sheepshead is another name for freshwater drum, eelpout is another name for burbot, etc..

Grass carp/white amur(native to Asia)- http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/species-and-habitats/species-guide-index/fish/grass-carp

Common carp(native to Europe)- http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/species-and-habitats/species-guide-index/fish/common-carp


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## devildave (Sep 20, 2014)

My wife at Cascade park elyria ohio...straight breadball...


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## chris1162 (Mar 12, 2008)

devildave said:


> My wife at Cascade park elyria ohio...straight breadball...


Thats a nice size common carp!


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

devildave said:


> My wife at Cascade park elyria ohio...straight breadball...


A very nice common carp! Actually eaten(and considered "very tasty") by millions of people in Asia, as are grass carp(Amur).


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## crestliner TS (Jun 8, 2012)

c. j. stone said:


> A very nice common carp! Actually eaten(and considered "very tasty") by millions of people in Asia, as are grass carp(Amur).


You sure its not a minnow? You seem very confused!


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

crestliner TS said:


> You sure its not a minnow? You seem very confused!


Maybe I didn't express myself very clearly. Maybe I'm confused, maybe there's some misinterpretation. What I really am is tired of this thread. Over and OUT!


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## wrmdunker (Apr 11, 2012)

I have had conversations with ODNR about 2 years ago. They changed the rules and DO allow the taking of grass carp on certain ODNR lakes. If it is not allowed (e.g. Moggy and Wingfoot) there will be a sign posted. The ones in Wingfoot were stocked by the Goodyear Hunting and Fishing Club. The ODNR no longer stocks these fish as their benefits don't exceed their bad points. Call District Three and they will send you a list of lakes where they can be taken.


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