<<I've got daddy-duty tonight, so this story will be short.>>

I spent several hours at Benbrook today--first time back for me since April when I discovered that Ghostie has big carp.

Overall fishing was slow, with only a single common of about 10 pounds coming during the first four hours. Then, at about 1:30 I had a good, but unremarkable, run. I picked up the rod and began to reel in what felt like another small common.

As I brought the fish closer, I saw a tail swirl a long way from the line. I knew then that this was no ordinary fish. It looked dark, and at first I thought it might be a gar (On corn? Nahhh). Then, much to my shock, I realized that I had hooked a large white amur (grass carp).

Unfortunately, with no one in sight to take a picture for me, all I have is a photo of the fish on the mat. The fish flopped around in the sand beforehand, so even though I tried to rinse it off, the grasser is still pretty dirty in the photo. I weighed the fish in the mat and subtracted the tare, which gave me a weight of a little over 30.5 pounds (also, the mat is about 33 inches wide):





I caught the grasser on a single kernel of field corn on a hair, with a small piece of yellow foam to make it neutrally buoyant.

This fish is almost a twin of one that Paul Swider caught at Rocky Creek (southeast side of Benbrook) on July 3, 2005:

http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11000&hl=benbrook+produces

Here are a couple of scenery shots. Sorry I don't have time for more detail:



The wind was so strong, my green coat is billowing out behind my chair in this photo:



I had to lower my rod tips to cut down on the errant bleeps from my alarms caused by the high wind and waves:



Note that that my ghetto hangers have been replaced by real hangers.

VERY nice! Congrats Brett!

nice fish looks kind of weird but still nice

Nice grasser!

I see you have some fox warriors.... do you like them?? I'm getting some for chirstmas...

GG

thats really cool.....congrats

congrats

COol Fish!

Don't feel bad about getto hangers......I usually use propers.......which is a 'y'-shaped stick to 'prop' up my rod.

Mine are the Fox Micron Warriors, if that makes a difference (I'm not quibbling about your name for them--I'm just not sure if they're the same alarms). And, yeah, I like 'em. I've only used then once or twice before, but they seem to work well, even in high wind, like today. I wish I could adjust the sensitivity (they "bleep" on the tiniest movement), but that feature would cost a bunch more.

Yeah.. What I'm getting for christmas are Micron warriors too...

I can't wait!

What are all the red dots along the bottom half of the fish (see top photo)? I used a soft, knotless net, so that should not have damaged the fish.

Carp pox?????

With my Fox alarms if you push the power button a second time it reduces the sensitivity. I am thinking that we may have the same alarms but I cant be certain unless I have them in front of me.

Awesome catch!

Are they small and square looking??

Do they have "Warrior" on them??

RE: The Red Dots.

Who knows, lol. Probably banged himself up on the bottom or against some brush during the fight or something.

Nice catch, Bret!

BTW, I don't think that grassers were ever stocked in Benbrook. I was always told that they got in Benbrook because they were washed down from Weatherford.

Weatherford was stocked years ago with a bunch of grassers. The problem was that the aquatic vegitation was not really enough of a problem to stock it (according to the lake's biologist). Apparently, somebody wanted to do a study of some sort.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Benbrook is not a permitted lake for grassers, so be careful if you release one back into an un-permitted lake. I had a buddy that lived on Weatherford and got a huge ticket for doing so. *Legally* they're supposed to be eviscerated if they are caught out of a non-permitted body of water. Legally.

As for the red spots, it is most likely an external parasite. It happens when the water temps change.

Thanks, Krista. I never knew that Lake Weatherford flows into Benbrook (via the Clear Fork Trinity, as I found out after reading your post).

How can an angler know if a lake has a permit for triploid grass carp? It's not like there are signs on the shore, and I've never found that information online. I'd hate to get a ticket for violating a law that I knew existed, but I couldn't tell whether it applied to me.

Well, there it is. Thanks.

No problem.

The more I think about the red dots, the more I'm convinced that it's an ectoparasite. The water temps dipped a bit when we had that little cold spell, then rose a little bit while it got warm again. It seems like it has affected some fish species more than others. When the water temp changes, it is usually a prime opportunity for any parasite to infect fish.

some new swims in there for me thanks

Yeah, there's a few community ponds in there. Don't know how big they'll be, but it's definitely worth a try!