Success - big female carp caught before spawning

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Success - big female carp caught before spawning

Catching carp has become increasingly difficult with the number of carp remaining in Lake Sorell dwindling to less than 5% of the original population.  With the majority of carp remaining now reaching six years of age, the urgency to remove as many fish as possible before they become sexually mature is greater than ever.

Despite intense fishing pressure constantly removing the larger fish, the program needs to be vigilant and use a variety of fishing methods to target all of the preferred habitat where mature fish may try to spawn.

A fish was captured last week by carp management staff who were backpack electrofishing a shallow rocky shore. The fish was shocked in just a foot of water and weighed 1.7kg, the biggest carp captured so far for the season. When dissected it was discovered that the fish was a female and was holding a considerable number of eggs. When you take into account that an average 2-3kg female carp can hold up to a million eggs, its emphasizes the importance of stopping every single one of these fish from the opportunity to spawn.

The carp management program will continue to target and electro-fish the warm shallows in a bid to continue to pick up more mature fish looking for an opportunity to reproduce.
Source: Success - big female carp caught before spawning