Carp sienining question

[TubeDude]

Thank you Pat, for that informative response. I don't often get as far south as Utah Lake, so I don't see any of the seining boats. Are the Loys still fishing? From  your PDF, I see this in an article by the Provo Daily Herald in 2017:


“We’ve known all along, we can’t just walk away,” Mills said. “We’re starting to see vegetation come back, and we want to keep removing for a couple more years still, but at
that point we can’t just say, ‘OK, we’re done.' “Because it would probably only take two or three years before the carp population would rebound and come back.”For maintenance of the carp population, they could keep removing them, though Mills said research is currently underway at Utah State University looking into other methods. For instance, there are certain types of fish that could be introduced to the lake that are really good at eating carp eggs. Either way, though, the shift to a maintenance strategy is several years down the road.
“This year will be telling, because when the lake comes up a lot in the year, that’s typically when the carp do really well,” Mills said. “So our monitoring this year and also next year will be really important.”

Which sort of maintenance efforts are being employed? in the 3-4 years since the completion of the now-expired removal, have there been any studies on recovery of the carp population through natural recruitment? Does your experience at the lake support the idea that the carp population has suffered a setback resulting in greater gamefish population?

The carp problem is like an orphan stepchild.  Everybody hopes that if they ignore it, it will go away.  Sadly, unless and until the carp population is reduced beyond the tipping point...where predators and natural attrition keep adult numbers in check...the reduced population is only a temporary fix. 

Yes, there are noticeable changes.  There are fewer carp in spots that are normally swarming with them.  And the average size of carp is slightly larger...and the fish are noticeably chunkier.  But carp are the epitome of prolific.  A ripe "average size" female drops tiny eggs in the millions...not thousands.  And a successful spawn around the lake can multiply the population several fold within a short time.  My personal guess is that the carp numbers will be back to where they were within a short time...unless there is some successful experimentation with the CARP HERPES VIRUS.



EDIT:  I have not personally seen any carp seining boats on Utah Lake for a couple of years.