I know, your heart quickens as the very mention of the phrase, "carp fishing", but there is more than just the glamour involved. When you are working at a wildlife refuge, your attitude is different. You look at things from a more boilogical view. When we volunteered to go out with some of the crew here at the refuge when they stated that t
hey were going carp fishing, I was not sure what was in store for us. Carp have infested Malheur Lake and a long portions of the Blitzen River. They muddy up the water which is bad for the birds and the natice fish so they are a problem.
hey were going carp fishing, I was not sure what was in store for us. Carp have infested Malheur Lake and a long portions of the Blitzen River. They muddy up the water which is bad for the birds and the natice fish so they are a problem.Seven of us headed out in government vehicles to the Double O area of the refuge. After driving for about an hour on a road that went from gravel to dirt to just a track, we arrived at a spring-fed pond. The pond is land-locked but the carp arrived during the high water of the 1980's when the whole valley was flooded for several years.
Our visit to the pond had two purposes. The first was to catch as many fish as we could and thus get them out of the pond. The second, and more important was to test the captured fish to see if they were infested with any bacteria or diseases that could be harmful to the ecology of the fisheries of the Blitzen Valley.
So out came the fishing equipment; rods and reels, nets, buckets to put the captured fish in until they were tested, bait. Now we are not talking about fancy lures or flies, or anything like that. Worms, and canned corn. but the bottom line is that the fish were not interested in either. We moved around the pond, tried different combinations, such as just worms, worms and corn, just corn, even those combos with "trout stink" on them; with pitiful results. Eight people, five hours, six fish. I have incl
uded a picture of three of the carp who volunteered in the name of science. Notice the roe in fish number one and the swim bladder has been pulled out of fish number two. I, at least, did my part and got one, but they were just not interested in our food. There were plenty of fish swimming around. They were just not interested.
uded a picture of three of the carp who volunteered in the name of science. Notice the roe in fish number one and the swim bladder has been pulled out of fish number two. I, at least, did my part and got one, but they were just not interested in our food. There were plenty of fish swimming around. They were just not interested. It was, however, a very nice day at the pond.
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