Grass carp in Lewisville? W pic

My wife sent me this yesterday. She text me some guy caught a record fish on the Lew with a pic. I opened the pic and it is a grass carp if i am not mistaken. That appears to be the Lewisville Fishing Barge.

Discuss please, would like to hear what y'all say. Why would there be grass carp in the lake if they are trying to get native plants to grow?

Grass carp are stocked in permitted lakes only. That being said, many have escaped and made their way into non-permitted lakes. They have been caught in many a lake where they do not belong. They are supposed to be destroyed if caught "out of bounds".

My first and only car was caught in Lewisville. Was about 8lbs. He ate some stink bait when I was going after cat fish

That's a Buffalo not a carp

Plus #1.

Joe Pool must be a permitted lake because they carp and buffalo are thick as flies

Lake Kiowa is a private lake at the beginning of Indian creek that feeds Ray Roberts. The land owners had a aquatic vegetation problem and got a permit to stock grass carp. Lake overflowed retaining fence in spillway. Carp got into Roberts. From there to Lewisville.

That is a long way but i guess it can happen. I suppose they are sterile so eventually they will die. Also Kiowa is a little lake (googled it) Probably did not have that many grass carp in it. so even though it was one in a million, the guy who caught it used up his luck. Should have bought a lotto ticket instead.

blooper, common carp and buffalo are different than this grass carp.

True that! Kiowa > Ray Roberts > Lewisville. And there are a few humdingers among 'em.

That's definitely a Grass Carp jippedgenes! They're pretty distinct from our native Buffalo species or our naturalized Common Carp. I've seen them caught all over the state, in lakes, ponds, rivers, and everything in between. Even places without permits for them have them occasionally because of flooding and perhaps, to a much smaller degree I'd hope, illegal stocking.

They can escape through an unprotected spillway with as little as 3 inches of water flow. Grass carp can not reproduce in ponds but they can reproduce in some rivers.Floods of the last few years could have made the mood just right to flow downstream, have some hanky panky then some offspring.

I thought the stocked grass carp were sterile. Triploid or something.

Yes the triploid are supposed to be sterile. They can live a long time, but are not supposed to be able to reproduce.

If they are indeed the triploid grass carp, then I would assume they simply escaped from some farm ponds during last few years flooding and made it down to Lewisville.

Lake Austin was last stocked with adult Grassers in 2013. I and others have captured Grass Carp of 10lbs and less there. Now, a small size doesn't necessarily mean a young age but it is somewhat suspect. The theory is that the screening process for determining whether or not they are sterile isn't exactly 100%, and that nature "finds a way." We'll truly find out after 2023 or so, as the typical lifespan of a Triploid Grass Carp is roughly 10 years.