Carp-shooting sharpshooters called into action

Apr. 12—WORTHINGTON — Bowhunters who enjoy the sport of shooting carp in Worthington's Whiskey Ditch and along its shoreline have extra incentive to do so this spring — free use of a dumpster for them to dispose of the roughfish.

The Okabena-Ocheda Watershed District is footing the bill for a 2-yard dumpster to be placed near the pump house at the boat landing in Centennial Park to encourage sharpshooters to help reduce the carp population in Lake Okabena. The dumpster will be onsite Monday and is only for the disposal of carp — no other fish, or garbage, will be allowed. If those rules are not adhered to, the dumpster will be removed.

Watershed Administrator Dan Livdahl said the intent is for the dumpster to remain in place during the carp spawning season, which fluctuates from year to year based on water temperature. He said the dumpster will be removed once the spawning season has ended and for sure by the Minnesota fishing opener on May 11.

The idea for promoting carp shooting in the lake came from one of the watershed board's advisory members, Tom Ahlberg.

"A lot of high school kids would like to fill a pickup box (with carp) but there's nowhere to go with them so they'd dump them in a ditch outside of town," Ahlberg said. "We thought maybe if we did this, it would encourage more participation. If we did this for a fairly low cost, maybe we can make an impact on the population."

Ahlberg, who hopes to participate with his own bow, said carp generally spawn during a two-week span. While Whiskey Ditch provides the easiest access for shooting them, he said they're also along the shore.

"My brother will shoot them right off their dock," he said. "Then it's a matter of getting them from where they live to the dumpster.

"We just wanted to have a good way for people to dispose of (the carp) rather than figure it out themselves," he added. "I hope this promotes people getting out doing it. It's fun to bowfish carp and now we have a resource to get rid of them."

Livdahl said the watershed board's decision to fund a dumpster arose after several other avenues were explored.

"We got a proposal from Carp Solutions earlier this year and they came up with $43,000 to put in box nets and catch as many fish as they could," said Livdahl. Depending on how many carp would have been captured, the district was looking at a potential cost of $50 per carp removed.

They needed a cheaper solution.

"We started talking about putting a bounty on carp," Livdahl shared. That idea was nixed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, mostly because it would involve someone having to count the carp and there would also be no way to verify if the carp came from Lake Okabena or another lake in the area.

Then they talked about having the local fishing club have a bowfishing contest. That idea was dead in the water when the club expressed little interest.

"Ahlberg said people like to shoot the carp anyway; the problem is disposal," Livdahl said. "If we provide for the disposal of the fish, people can go and shoot them and have a place to put them."

The DNR would allow for a dumpster, but only carp can be placed inside — not buffalo fish, which look quite similar in appearance but are native fish.

"There's an exception for carp — they can be thrown in a dumpster and it's not considered wanton waste," Livdahl said. "We want to make sure buffalo fish aren't going into the dumpster."

Ahlberg said carp are the first to spawn, followed by buffalo fish, making it imperative to remove the dumpster after carp spawning is complete.

With an estimated 4,600 carp in the lake — about 61 pounds per acre — the population is believed to be below the threshold for which carp dramatically reduce water quality. Livdahl doesn't want to get closer to a threshold of 79 pounds of carp per acre.

"We want to keep it below that 79 pounds," he said. "The lake is going to have water quality problems but it won't be the carp that are the cause."

Livdahl is hopeful that up to 10,000 pounds of carp could be removed by bowfishing during spawning.

"That would be a big deal," he said. "We could have the dumpster there and get no fish in it, or we could have the dumpster get full of carp overnight. No matter what, it's a lot cheaper than $43,000."

The dumpster will be emptied three days per week and more frequently if bowfishers are using it, which should prevent any odors in the neighborhood. The watershed district will cover the cost of emptying the dumpster and will also monitor to get an accurate count of how many carp are removed.

If the venture proves successful, the district may consider doing it again.

Livdahl said there will be signs on the dumpster stating that it is for dumping carp only and he asks the public to abide by that. Any misuse will result in the dumpster being taken out and not returned.

Ahlberg said he hasn't heard of any other communities doing this sort of project to reduce carp populations but is hoping it works in Worthington.

"This is sticking our toe in the water to see what happens," Ahlberg said.