The weird story on bighead carp from Garfield Park just keeps going.
Fishermen are catching and snagging many fish, ones which survived the fish kill, stacked near the fresh water supply on the north end. This pile includes carp and bighead carp from Friday evening.
Tom Palmisano at Henry's said most of the bigheads are running about 47 inches.
This is one of the bigger ones.
For comparison, the one that Spencer Miller caught on Thursday was 49 inches. And the Illinois record (69 pounds) caught by Jack Bailey from the Carlyle Lake tailwaters on May 4 was 51 inches.
I would hardly think this possible, but the Asian carp saga in Chicago keeps growing and becomes even odder.
Am I missing something here? In the earlier article, "Garfield Park Fish Kill", it mentioned a lot of bass, gills and crappies were dead along with some monster Asian carps. If the Asian carps were so bad that they will eat everything and starve off the other species, why are there still so many gamefish in Garfield Park (before the fish kill)? Garfield Park is not that big.
Puzzled, not sure who your are, but you asked the million-dollar question. The same one that could be asked about McKinley Park lagoon and other lagoons in the Chicago. This goes to the heart of why this Asian carp story grates so much on me, one of the main reasons this story will go down as boondoggle. It feels like the villification of Asian carp is being used as a bludgeon to justify closing the locks (which I have mixed feelings about). Asian carp aren't good, but neither will the world end when it is proved they are in Lake Michigan, and I think it is simply a matter of time before that is proven.
The lady at Henry's told me it was a "weed killer" that killed all the fish in Garfield Park. Is there any confirmation of that report?
That was part of a lethal combination that reduced oxygen dramatically (and fatally to some fish). Other factors in the combination were the heat followed by a cold rain. And usually there is some human error in there somewhere in cases like this.
C'mon Dale, chances are someone, who knows if its a dingdong or someone with evil intentions, is stocking those fish in the lagoons. I'd bet money on it.