Carp Madness - Commercial Fishing Tournament

[Music] you [Music] fifteen commercial fishermen these are tough guys twelve hours as hard as we can go and unknown number of destructive fish he's ten times more of them than I thought it was at first these fish were a novelty then it became scary then it became alarming how many can they catch in two days never seen a boat with an unusual fishing tournament and this is the first ever commercial fishing tournament anywhere for anything there's something else at stake 20,000 dollars in prize money take first place we show our well I don't like to finish second [Music] this is carp madness the world's gonna be watching bringing attention to an invading force known as the Asian carp now people suddenly realize wait a minute this is a bigger issue than we ever thought it could be they were used down south and Arkansas they were brought in originally and to keep clean up the water in culture ponds such as catfish in water treatment plants and through flooding and escapement through other routes they ended up in the rivers the big rivers down that way and have worked their way all the way up to Kentucky all the way up through Illinois Great Lakes and the northern states are panicked everybody is worried about these fish they're moving quickly [Music] although there are five species of Asian carp Kentucky is primarily battling to the bighead and the silver carp all right it's the night before the big Asian carp roundup turn them at the first ever here at Kentucky dam village is where we're shooting that up they're having a meeting here at the village green in the meeting room they've got everybody together from all over this tournament is allowing us a mechanism to remove Asian carp I've been touting how a commercial fisherman can catch anything and catch it out if they want and I'm expecting that kind of effort from you guys now because the world's gonna be watching me give it your all and just for our heads up we do have officers who may or may not be in uniform six o'clock in the morning they got to go out near freezing temperatures but that's nothing for these commercial fishermen put up with a lot of weather conditions going a lot of people don't want to go or can't go they got to be back at their RAM by seven o'clock at night as the Sun rises on the cool waters of Kentucky in Berkeley Lakes the contestants of the first ever carp madness set forth to catch their nets Berkeley and Kentucky Lakes home to boaters anglers and a way of life you love this oh no doubt you wouldn't be out here every day freezing burning up or whatever yeah and then weather can change down here in just an instant yeah I love it I feel blessed to be able to do it and feel blessed to be able to do it for my family well I was in the back water going dip going patient we got in a power line now what's the name of your business Eddy hands-free fishing hands that is appropriate and it's our two biggest fisheries within the state as far as people coming in to fish they cover tens of thousands of acres so they had a lot of water to fish I'm originally from Nashville and I fished these lakes as a kid we didn't have this problem 25 30 40 years ago we got to have somebody that's gonna sit next it's gonna catch eight ten twelve fifteen thousand pounds a day never know it's fishing and you know you may go out and really stomp them and you might go out and think well where'd they all go you just never know by noon no boats no fish leaving some to wonder yeah it was a long wait since five o'clock this morning you know the conditions were cold and windy it's putting a lot of pressure on the last few fish is getting out of the nets it's causing some issues hold hands and they got towards noon and we hadn't seen any fish typically they'll set their nets let them soak for a couple hours then run back in so some of the guys that know what they're doing out there so to be about noon before they start to come in you [Music] by mid-afternoon the first book finally arrives for weigh-in that's exciting I figured they're gonna be more folks here already but it's real exciting [Music] little worker you find them we ran what four or five minutes they finally caught one they had probably 700 pound in it just in one net the first load was a good start for first place that feels good so hopefully they'll keep coming in we'll keep getting adding the pounds and get rid of things let's set out to the water as an observer is your job what do you do down here I'm recording what Nets they're putting out how long the net is what the mesh size is which is the square of the individual nets how many they're putting out what time they go out and then when they start taking them up in a little bit then I'll start recording any game fish that are called what with it whether the game fish were alive or dead when they release them so we can make sure that what we're doing here is not hurting the you know the fishery worst and then helping it by getting the car back lunch times go forgotten the only reprieve is moving to the next net now let's see how they're doing back at weigh-in that's a daily thing for us [Music] first place kept changing Dennis Duncan of Dober Tennessee showed us the first big load of the day that's not in full-time fisherman that's a college professor and a grad student at Vanderbilt I took all the big boys ain't got yet I've heard rumors that there's one guy out there that has 5,000 pounds of coming in so hopefully that's true [Music] some grow of almost 200 miles just to catch a glimpse learning experience for the kids and fried Matt and my dad fishes down here in Kentucky lake so it's important to us to get these fish out of here is interesting this the big boy ain't got here yet until team Frehley pulled up yeah we had a pretty good day at bay we were in is just absolutely covered with part of us in Tennessee and part of some Kentuckians so we get along all right these huge containers that many called totes there's not your average toad for laundry to this fishing tournament into this crowd watching the scale alone became a spectator sport as of right now we've had five people weigh in total on silver and bighead is about 10,000 a drop in the bucket to the number out there but it is a start and learns another ton that won't be competing with our native fish and some of the contestants is made for having title issues [Music] okay you're not happy with this but I wondered I came in with one too it's fishing that's fishing that's fishing I may add a pile of fish some more people came in they had a little bit more fish but this might only makes you more determined to do what well I got to go home and get my tackle together and get some stuff apart yeah yeah that's part that's the best thing about being a commercial fisherman it's on your shoulders if you win or lose and blame nobody changes you just got to go back and change I think as the day goes on and even tomorrow they're gonna find where these fish are and I expect that the total weights are gonna go up as time goes on many lessons were learned on the first day and strategies would no doubt change tomorrow towards the end of the day Barry Mann came in with some substantial weight Barry Mann we've been sitting around here waiting for you somebody said you had a boat full of fish and they weren't lying look like I could happen is it technique is it equipment or is it location it's equipment and location equipment and location so you get another day yet so you're not telling anybody where you were I don't know they can have what we being we're gonna go somewhere else you busted him up just a bit it's just a little bit [Music] [Music] the day ended with darkness just as it began then we knew it was gonna be a neck-and-neck tournament team freely nervously watches on just at the end of the day Heath Fraley one of the other commercial fishermen Cayman Fraley number one about ten thousand seven hundred pounds right now nine thousand four hundred and thirty three pounds the second place man oh yeah just I mean just ride around till you see them jumped and put you nets out there and hope for the best you know I mean they're they're everywhere it ain't it ain't no it's not hard it's not hard to catch up as many as it is it's all in a day's work meet the commercial fishermen [Music] what do you think I think you can be interesting it's gonna be a learning experience for everybody I heard about it my buddies commercial fishermen up in Northern Kentucky invited me to go along I thought it'd be a pretty neat learning experience and try to put a dent in the population this isn't a men's only profession yeah is the concept of a commercial fishing tournament itself is that kind of bizarre to you yeah I think it's exciting I mean which you know out there fishing and family and and this species is really really getting thick since you've had great numbers a little longer you think you might have a little bit of a head start on these guys I don't really know I don't know how Kentucky guys fish [Music] by day two only twelve were left to continue team man and he's unloaded the biggest catch of day to the more than twelve hundred pound lead 14 freely as vanished it seems the catch of the day is about 45 minutes from the weigh station it's been Wyeth on the very rough and frigid lake barkley is where we find Barry Mann we basically set us a go some people had an idea that they're in there I think when you see a boat full that really stuck with a lot of people and realized while there's a lot more fish in here than I realized I've lived here the last time and 40 68 year old so I've done a lot of fish they don't like spent a lifetime a birthday I can tell every year there's more and more where my life's just how bad is it if you fish down here a lot and you spend time down here if you go below the dams and you look at the numbers of these things it's scary there's millions of pounds in here I fish out here on these drops in the summer time and they'll come up on top and it's nothing but solid carp from this long too long from five feet long Asian carp without a doubt are probably the most prominent invasive species to come on the scene for sportsmen as far as I could see was bighead carp about that part of the water not winding that spinnerbait in them and I mean there was millions of them anywhere from probably seven to thirty pounds and you know I never caught a bass there last year not one it's amazing when we think about how many fish are after in the water on the death I assume everything I see out there is a bass or a crappie and to note what I saw today to know that hundreds of pounds of Asian carp are in a small little bay on Kentucky like all embark me like I find it amazing simply put you're eating machines they compete with all fish species at some point in their life they feed on the same food items that most young larval fish feed on especially sport fish and that becomes a big problem bighead carp can reach up to 100 pounds and consume up to 140 percent of their body weight daily while they're young and as adults they can gobble up 20 to 40 percent of their weight each day the Asian carp reproduces such high rates while they're breeding by the millions based on you know everything that we've read about and heard about and if we don't do something about it it's gonna make a lot of people's livelihoods I was always worried about pollution maybe being the demise to commercial fishing but it's not this right here's the biggest threat to Kentucky Lake how has this in Illinois how have these fish affected the old way of doing things oh it's it's pretty well wipe the Buffalo population out and wear that you know or we used to catch a lot of Buffalo there's no Buffalo there is concern as anybody else is about this because it's their livelihood - if these things affect the paddlefish populations or the or the Buffalo populations which are direct competition for forage with the Asian carp it's going to hurt their livelihood the fisheries gonna is gonna suffer from idiot if we can't find a market for more people to fish for my commercial fishermen on fish form if they can sell them now what's important for the commercial fishermen is they have to be able to make a living out of this we got $5,000 worth of nets right now in order for it to be successful for the sportsman for the habitat and for the resource of gain fisheries there's got to be an economic reward for that commercial fisherman I've fed legislators from Washington DC to Kentucky on these things and everybody loves these fish the solution to that problem truly is to have a commercial fishery there should be a market established for these fish it's some of the best meat and I'm not kidding you some of the best meat I've ever read in my life beauty about this fish it that because it is got a very mild taste and it's very clean you can adapt in multiple recipe we are not here to eradicate this fish by cooking it but I can tell you the demand of fish today is huge the markets are there for these fish the fishermen can catch them but this tournament is going to make a lot go a long way to how fast that industry advances because what one of the things people are hesitating on is a are there enough fish out there you guys know there's enough Asian carp out there but B can you catch them are you willing to go after them at the markets there but what we're going to answer in the next two days is how effective are you at catching these things in places where we know there's a lot of I believe all you guys can do the job [Music] these are hardworking people right here [Music] [Applause] this is actually what I do they get out there and they pull Nets hand-over-hand net after net that's where I made it now back to get another load it's probably the hardest most unforgiving job there is welcome to their office no we putting everything we've got into it so we're not going we're not gonna give up we're gonna go from time it starts to time it ends they like the dark that when you see a boat full of seven thousand pounds of fish up to the top gunnels on the boat that really stuck with a lot of people and realized while there's a lot more fish in here than I realized I think it's a good deal to let the public know just how many how many than things there is in the lakes in the rivers there you're up though high Green River pond River there their problem and gonna get to be a bigger problem yes I was telling dr. bass for a couple years I worked in the Federation for several years as the president of Federation putting on several events bass tournaments I've done a lot of tournaments I've never seen a boat with you know six thousand a new reputation is forming about these rugged commercial fisherman ten years ago the commercial fisherman was you know kind of the scum the low man on the totem pole but I think you know in another 10 years that they're gonna be the hot man you know their stock is going up could commercial fishing save our waterways I hope that it brings a sport fishermen I'm more aware where they can kind of understand the commercial fishing aspect maybe maybe the whip they'll learn maybe that we are needed on this lake more so now than ever seen it of hope and maybe these guys could save the day these could be the guys in the white hats who were riding in on a big white stallion and saving today we spoke with some of the the Tennessee folks and their fish and wildlife agency and they have they wanted to see how this tournament went because they're really interested in trying to do something similar they've got the same problems and we're the first to do this they wanted to see what worked and what didn't work and I think they got a good idea if this continues on they need to get down here because I'm learning so much about the species and learning so much about how much it affects everything around us and how it could come up to New Hampshire and we don't want that we don't want it in New Hampshire we don't want it mate while back it will you still no sign of Heath freelee's team with a top prize of $10,000 there isn't a moment to waste they load the boat to the max before running to the shore to offload to a teammate who will then drive the catch to the weigh station your back you got fish guts on you yeah I can tell you've been working yes now yesterday 147 pounds today 7140 okay listen that wait a minute seven at seven thousand six hundred forty-one what happened today that didn't happen yesterday well we got a little hot tip and we found the fish hot step on what you say we lost remote quarter to 6:00 this morning they've been at it since the a.m. stop putting his nets out trying to cover the entire embankment kind of cut it off he's getting him behind it and running his boats turned the fish up and they're they're running and his neck and he doing well with it and they fished and they fished and they fish I feel pretty good right now I mean I always I'd like to see a boat full another boat full come in that's what I've taken on it's I went to college for a few years still working on a degree but just helping a family out and enjoying what I'm doing being out outside all Pam it says it's nice to have something different but it's uh it's a lot of fun we're enjoying it but it's not something see everybody this is carp madness and by day's end the lines grew [Music] but day two was a different story with team man the men to beat as heat Frei Lee's team unloaded for the last time would it be enough anybody goes out there and pulls for 13 hours two days in our own caches 20,000 pounds of fish that means it's a lot of fishing like team freely has weighed in yeah this is Barry Mann he has two boats coming in and this is a last of Wayne for tonight he liked the patient that's all he did when when I was when he a child growing up and I was wanting to go to college but he got Durance a good fishing I couldn't hypnotize him to do it okay so he's 51 years old man I've been fishing ever since you got out of high school I really want to thank you all for coming out to the very first ever Asian carp commercial fishing tournament I walked up and I said there's a fellow up there that said come and find some buddies and ask for a fish what I'm gonna do is take it home and a neighbor of mine will smoke it and then we'll taste it and we'll share it with all our neighbors it doesn't look like it but it's a beautiful fish I don't remember one anything as bad as I want this bitch I'm gonna put it in the trunk of the car [Music] commercial fishermen can over fish anything they're allowed to over fish and for a little bit of incentive they can do just that in these two reservoirs Heath Fraley while Heath freelee's team tipped the scale at just over 22,000 pounds it wasn't enough to tip the scales in their favor in the end very man twenty eight thousand six hundred and sixty nine pound is it technique location or a combination of both hard work that's obvious we had to change around today what we've done years today years to using like was just a little by hand and today we got a pattern and it was good all day long we had one little miss lick but wheels en time all day long today congratulations now I worried all week all month trying to put when we started putting this stuff together worried about all the things that could go wrong and believe me it's been so smooth that everybody in the division should be congratulated for putting this thing together and it's been amazing I'm glad I was part of a fishery for director Ron Brooks came up with us a very creative idea that's drawn a great deal of attention to it and hopefully can become a model for other states to start taking action it's something that Kentucky can't do just on their own and sportsmen can't do just on their own I think people have seen and are aware and they've seen a little news clips of fish jumping out of the water and they don't really a lot of people don't realize that's Kentucky I think it might be somebody else's problem and it don't really know the long-term effects when they see these pictures of thousands and thousands 83,000 pounds of fish in two days then I think they're really gonna realize hey we got a problem here carp madness one at least is now in the history books but the problem is still ever-present if we've learned anything from the 40 tons collected in the past two days is that it's only a story and that Asian carp fisheries managers the commercial fishing industry and the future of bass bluegill crappie and all of our native fish are very much all in the same boat [Music] you [Music] you you

Channel: KYAfield

Views: 1,467,904

Rating: 4.5829134 out of 5

Keywords: kentucky, afield, hunting, fishing, gun, bow, archery, cooking, recipe, asian carp, cooking fish, catching fish, invasive species, water danger, safety on the water, safety, bighead, asian, jumping, silver, silver carp, bighead carp, commercial fishing, nets, hoop net, gill net, outdoors, tournament, fishing tournament, bass, sportfish, crappie, catfish, dam, kentucky lake, lake barkley, problem, invasive, non-native, threat, food, boating, tennessee, illinois, illinois river, jumping fish, tons of fish

Id: CQYJd-7iQb8

Length: 26min 48sec (1608 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2013