Source for the above pic is from the Australian government, and we KNOW the government never misleads anyone....

Yes, Carp stir up mud in shallow, silty water when they're feeding. No, that picture does not tell you the whole story. If you read about that they actually drained and dredged that portion removing lots of silt buildup. The Carp removal had a negligible effect compared to the dredging.

You probably believe in unicorns and Santa as well. But to each their own I guess. I enjoy carp, buffs, and gar as much as you do. So I guess we are one in the same. I just target them differently.

Dredging is proven to improve water clarity.

We are not the same, not even in the slightest.

Oh yea, I forgot. I routinely catch more and bigger fish in one outing than you will in 5 years. But other than that, we could be brothers!!

Hey, how did I miss all the fun on this thread lol? First, for those reading this thread, we need to make a distinction between common carp and Asian carp like bighead carp that are invading our river systems. Many of the negative articles on carp are referring to the Asian carp species and not common carp.

That being said, like with any species, there are situations when common carp can negatively affect a waterbody. The reality is that it all depends on the management goals for the waterbody. If I was managing a waterbody just for largemouth bass, then I would manage it in a different way than if I was managing it for just carp. Most large reservoirs in Texas are managed with a multi-species approach and common carp are becoming viewed as a desirable sport species in some situations.

Typically, hands on carp removal as a economically feasible management technique would only be successful on a very small reservoirs. There is also a concern with by-catch (killing gamefish) when using mechanical removal techniques.

Here is a good article on the subject.

https://americancarpsociety.com/science-misinformation-on-the-species

Well stated!

Yes sir, well put. And for the record I enjoy fishing for carp and buffs too. Just a different method, that's all.

The good part is that a healthy population produces a harvestable resource. And we have lots of healthy populations of carp and buffalo in Texas.

The problem is that so many carp fisherman refuse to manage or harvest the resource leading to poor water quality issues. How anyone can say that carp don't thin out bottom vegetation and roil up the water is beyond me. I like to catch carp and use them mostly for bait and can completely see that bowfisherman are the only ones willing to manage the carp population. We do know that carp eat fish eggs as they even eat their own eggs. No fish is above sound management practices and if carp were generally good to eat we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

From the very link you provided.
The common carp Cyprinus carpio was introduced to North America more than a century ago, but little research has focused on interactions between this invasive species and native fishes. We used large mesocosms (600 m) within drainable 0.4-ha ponds to examine the effects of adult common carp on (1) reproduction of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides and bluegills Lepomis macrochirus and (2) growth and survival of the larvae and juveniles of these centrarchid species. In separate enclosures, adult bluegills or largemouth bass were stocked with or without common carp. In enclosures with common carp, turbidity was substantially higher, but both centrarchid species spawned and the densities and sizes of larval largemouth bass and bluegills were similar to those of larvae in enclosures without common carp. As juveniles grew, largemouth bass survived at a higher rate but were smaller in enclosures containing common carp compared with largemouth bass in enclosures without common carp. In a second experiment, we stocked known numbers of older juvenile centrarchids into enclosures and found decreased growth for both largemouth bass and bluegills. However, survival of largemouth bass was again higher in enclosures with common carp. Although centrarchid spawning was successful and larval growth and survival did not decrease in the presence of common carp, centrarchid growth slowed at the juvenile stage, probably due to food resource limitation resulting from direct competition with common carp for invertebrate forage, high turbidity caused by common carp, or both of these factors.

It looks like turbidity is substantially higher and the bass/bluegills did not grow as large as they did in the enclosure without the common carp. Due to food resource limitation resulting from direct competition with common carp for invertebrate forage. I also note there is no compilation saying how many carp or what size they were in the enclosures. I would rather have fewer individuals that are larger than many smaller fish. This is exactly why I say smaller fish should be harvested. Look at Joe Poole lake the bastion of 2-3 pound carp and anywhere neat Britton park to the south is a mudstained roiled up mess. I would easily say that if half the carp were removed from Joe Poole Lake the fishery would be much better for all the fish in the lake including the carp.