# Grand Valley Preserve stocking paddlefish



## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

Grand Valley Preserve is a private gravel pit lake for Indian Hill residents/Indian Hill residential water customers, in Camp Dennison. So I can't go there anyways haha. But I happened to be on their website, and noticed that on November 7th they are supposed to release 800 paddlefish! I wish I could go there...
here's the link:
http://www.ci.indian-hill.oh.us/grandvalley/grandvalley.aspx


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

Yea, Matula and I ran into an Indian Hill waterworks employee who told us the reason they are stocking those paddlefish is for the caviar! They calculated the fish would pay themselves off in less than 10 years. I couldn't help but laugh.

I don't think you are missing much, though. They are hardly a sport fish and have to be caught by snagging them usually.


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## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

So now Indian Hill will be producing its own caviar... Co-angler is going to have a field day with this one 
Its not that I want to catch a paddle fish, but I figure with 800 of those monsters in a lake that small, you'd probably at least see one. They are so cool looking.


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## autogyroenthusiast (Oct 25, 2007)

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinna...6/08/big-fish-farms-entrepreneur-has-big.html


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## BMayhall (Jun 9, 2011)

They are pretty fun to catch I've only caught one they fight hard, it was a lucky snag


Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

I highly doubt someone in Indian hill would be out casting a weighted treble hook and ripping it through the water.


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

autogyroenthusiast said:


> http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinna...6/08/big-fish-farms-entrepreneur-has-big.html


Interesting read, I found this part interesting:

"When theyre stocked in a lake or reservoir at 20 fish per acre, paddlefish dont have to be fed and they dont require recirculation or filtering equipment. They eat zooplankton, tiny invertebrates that float through the water. Mims has found that the fish have little or no effect on other fish caught for sport." ... "He estimates that if entrepreneurs in Kentucky raised fish on 2,000 acres, less than 10 percent of the states suitable waters, they could generate between $10 million and $30 million of annual revenue after 10 years."

...and then there was my favorite quote of the entire article:
*"She said her paddlefish caviar tastes like Caspian Sea sturgeon caviar, but with buttery, nutty undertones."*

:B


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## bsmith (Mar 26, 2010)

Here's my prediction:

"...and in other news a local man has been arrested for trespassing and stealing Paddlefish out of a local quarry. Paddlefish once common to the drainages of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers are now listed as "threatened" in Ohio due to a sharp decline in population in the 1900s. The decline was largely due to overfishing and other human influences such as the construction of dams which interfere with their spawning rituals.

Paddlefish are prized for their caviar which can bring around $300 per pound. The fish stolen from the local quarry were being raised for the that market. The suspect's bond has been set and he is awaiting trial."


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## imalt (Apr 17, 2008)

I am working on getting access in there. At least next year when I go and don't catch anything I can at least snag a paddle fish. By the way House I think there are some people on here that like that buttery nutty taste.


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## Dizzy (Oct 1, 2012)

I read about this last year and found it interesting. More sustainable then just letting the ******** overfish the Ohio. 

Article in edible Ohio Valley


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## PapawSmith (Feb 13, 2007)

I think it is interesting as well, but I wonder how it is that they selectively harvest 800 30-40# fish out of a 40 acre lake once the fish have matured.


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## ARReflections (Jan 7, 2011)

Do paddle fish live in same environment as sturgeon? If so why not stock sturgeon. I did not know paddle fish could live in lakes always thought they were river fish like the wturgeon and suffered the same fate after introduction of the dams to prevent migration...


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

montagc said:


> Can that lake support that many filter feeders? It's an old quarry site, which are typically lower in fertility to begin with. The lake looks pretty big, but adding that much biomass seems like it is doomed from the get go, especially knowing how big paddlefish get. Seems like they would eat all the plankton that the other fish fry would need to survive.


Thats my question. 
I guess Big Fish Farms has been successful with this type of project in other areas so they must know what theyre doing. I just have my doubts as to how many paddlefish an old gravel pit can support.


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## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

PapawSmith said:


> I think it is interesting as well, but I wonder how it is that they selectively harvest 800 30-40# fish out of a 40 acre lake once the fish have matured.


I was wondering that too. Seine net the whole lake?


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## Dizzy (Oct 1, 2012)

It gets the job done!


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## co-angler (Jan 3, 2010)

kingofamberley said:


> So now Indian Hill will be producing its own caviar... Co-angler is going to have a field day with this one


I _was_ going to leave this one alone but this morning, as I was milking the goat I had to laugh out loud and then said to Charlie ( my goat) "Caviar"!
She was not impressed.......


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## Goshen fisher (Sep 3, 2017)

At least one of these guys is still paddling around out there. It was at least 3 feet long and my dad saw it too on a second pass. The nose is unmistakable. In hundreds of hours on the lake I'd never seen one before. Apologies for the poor pic quality. The paddlefish is the dark shapen in the water, nose pointing left.


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## Bankman (Mar 18, 2016)

HOUSE said:


> Yea, Matula and I ran into an Indian Hill waterworks employee who told us the reason they are stocking those paddlefish is for the caviar! They calculated the fish would pay themselves off in less than 10 years. I couldn't help but laugh.
> 
> I don't think you are missing much, though. They are hardly a sport fish and have to be caught by snagging them usually.


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