So, basically, I'm from Minnesota. Our lakes tend to be eutrophic, with some glacial lakes being mesotrophic or oligotrophic. I love fishing, and along with that, I absolutely love carp fishing. They put up an amazing fight, are very easy to catch, and the bait (canned corn) is dirt cheap.
As far as I understand, carp are harmful to our waters. They dig up plants, lower the visibility of the water, and heavily out-compete native species. As far as I know, MN DNR attempts to lower or even extirpate carp populations in MN lakes have only been successful, leading to many great benefits. As far as I'd heard, the carp digging up the native plants helps Eurasion Watermilfoil, an invasive plant, take over.
So what I have to ask is whether or not I should throw carp back. I rarely eat them, though I have before, and I rarely throw them back. At the moment, whenever I catch one, I take it home, cut it up, and bury it in the garden as fertilizer.
I don't want to throw the carp back if they're really bad for the lake, and it's nice to get really good fertilizer for the garden. And, we do grow food in the garden, so it's not wasting the fertile soil.
Does anyone find this unacceptable? Catching carp and then using them just as fertilizer? Are carp really that bad for a lake?
Similarly, I also have thought of doing this with small sunfish in lakes that have been overtaken by pint-sized sunfish. Is that even legal in MN law? If so, would reducing the population of the stunted sunfish in the lake be good for the sunfish population? Does anyone find this unacceptable?
Please and thank you for answers, information, and opinions.![]()