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ARE ASIAN CARP INVADING THE GREAT LAKES? | Weed Growth - The Lifeline of Our Fish
Dec 2, 2024
In this episode, Ang and Pete hit the shallows in pursuit of the king of weeds and slop - the Largemouth Bass. Featuring the Invasive Species Center, this episode alerts us to a possible disaster in the fishing world that could threaten our lake’s aquatic vegetation and shows us just how important weeds are to our fish.
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One of Canada's longest-running fishing shows, Fish'n Canada travels from coast to coast in search of trophy fishing opportunities. First started by brothers Angelo and Reno Viola in 1986, The Fish’n Canada Show has been on the air for over 30 years. Today, Angelo is joined by lifelong fishing buddy, Peter Bowman, and the pair continue to travel across Canada educating anglers using the experience they’ve gained over the years
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0:00
[Applause]
0:07
you got him buddy got him out come on
0:09
baby he's worth
0:11
it fast nice fish got one nice one buddy
0:15
nice hang on hang
0:18
on going on buddy come on right off that
0:21
weed oh man did he ever smack me nice
0:25
one that freaked me out I got to admit I
0:29
know it does
0:31
the fishing Canada show brought to you
0:33
in part by Princecraft boats the spirit
0:37
of boating Garmin plot your Paradise
0:41
reel them in and Ontario Canada in
0:45
partnership with destination
0:48
[Music]
0:49
[Applause]
0:49
[Music]
0:57
Ontario hi everyone welcome to this week
1:00
fish Canada episode Today's Show just
1:02
may be the most important one of the
1:04
entire season we're going to show you
1:07
not only some eye openening and even
1:09
scary facts of present day fishing
1:11
related matters but hopefully we'll also
1:14
educate you along the way and and I look
1:16
at today's subject matter this way if we
1:19
are all ears and on the edge of our
1:20
seats to learn more we're pretty sure
1:22
you will be too today's subject is one
1:25
of the scariest threats that we face in
1:27
specific Waters in Canada it's an
1:29
invasive group of fish called Asian carp
1:31
which include the big head carp the
1:33
black carp the silver carp and in this
1:36
Show's case the grass carp trust us this
1:40
threat is
1:41
real in this episode we're going to take
1:44
you to the Grand River which feeds into
1:45
Lake Erie we sent our crew to tag along
1:48
with members of the invasive species
1:50
Center as they tested the waters of the
1:52
grand looking for any and all things
1:55
invasive studies like these are crucial
1:58
to learn about possible threat to our
2:00
environment and then finding methods to
2:02
counteract their
2:04
Invasion and for those of you who just
2:06
love watching fishing no need to panic
2:09
Ang and I are going to show you just how
2:10
critical weed growth is to our
2:12
underwater ecosystems and especially to
2:14
our fish that's both bait Fish and Game
2:16
fish and in today's case we're going to
2:18
be working on some large Mo bass let's
2:21
face it when talking weed growth there
2:24
probably isn't a better fish species
2:26
than the largemouth bass to put into the
2:28
equation good growth equals zup Plankton
2:31
and phytoplankton generation which
2:34
equals great Bait fish populations which
2:37
ultimately equals excellent large Mo
2:39
bass habitat now I ain't no University
2:42
grab however an's equation is pretty
2:44
simple to me if we subtract his weed
2:47
growth portion the answer to the number
2:49
of largies pretty much equals a big zero
2:53
even a non weedy legs if you take away
2:54
the base foods like zup Plankton
2:56
phytoplankton insects Bait fish Etc any
3:00
fish species in that water body would be
3:02
at risk so where are we going with all
3:05
this well this episode is all about
3:07
grass carp one of the four species of
3:10
Asian carp and it's threatening our
3:12
Canadian Waters in a nutshell grass carp
3:15
are definitely not native to our
3:17
Canadian Waters they're big like up to
3:19
45 kg or close to 100 lb that's big they
3:24
eat up to 40% of their body weight every
3:26
day on a 100 pounder that's about 40 lbs
3:29
of food every
3:31
day and that food consists mostly of
3:34
aquatic plants aka the weeds are fish
3:37
need and they can also consume insects
3:40
small fish earthworms and other
3:42
invertebrates in the absence of aquatic
3:44
vegetation and here's a beauty for you
3:47
grass carp can only digest about half of
3:50
the plant material they actually consume
3:52
in a day the remaining is expelled into
3:54
the water which in turn promotes algae
3:57
bloom not good
4:00
so how did these Relentless aquatic
4:02
razors get here today we're in Dunville
4:05
Ontario on the Grand River and we are
4:08
conducting early detection surveillance
4:11
work for grass carp the goal of our
4:14
operations is to Target higher risk
4:16
areas for grass carp arrival as well as
4:18
collect Baseline fish Community data so
4:20
we know what the fish Community should
4:22
look like without grasscarp and if grass
4:25
carp were to establish we could properly
4:28
assess their impact Fishery and oceans
4:30
Canada surveillance Crews sample up to
4:32
37 locations each year between May and
4:35
November our early detection work is
4:37
based off scientific modeling that
4:39
predicts suitable spawning habitat for
4:42
grass carp grass carp pose an immediate
4:45
threat to Canadian Waters as they are
4:47
reproducing populations in the United
4:49
States in the Sandusky mommy rivers of
4:51
Lake
4:54
Yuri you got him buddy got him out come
4:57
on baby he's worth it it's fast nice
5:01
fish nice one buddy nice there you go
5:06
[Music]
5:16
buddy so before we dive Ultra deep into
5:19
the grass carp Wormhole let's take a jot
5:22
Eastward and see how Pete and I deal
5:24
with fishing around different types of
5:26
weeds and hopefully inform you the
5:28
viewer just how important aquatic
5:30
vegetation is to fish and
5:33
[Music]
5:39
fishing he is caught in the stuff talk
5:42
about fishing the
5:43
junk going to try and get us out of
5:45
there get in
5:48
here finally look at this stuff we're
5:50
getting I'm in that's a weed fish oh my
5:53
God see hit you good uh I just grabbed
5:56
it like under a mat you know what I mean
5:58
they give you that little no no you just
6:00
took it just had it and I I just kind of
6:03
we've been we've been look fishing a lot
6:04
of weeds like this you know for the
6:06
whole morning and not really we saw a
6:08
couple fish but that's a nice Patty eh
6:10
and that fish is totally totally
6:11
dependent on everything you see here
6:13
that's green whether it's it's the Reeds
6:16
whether it's the weed line that's right
6:18
up against this break that fish lives in
6:21
vegetation and that's why it's so
6:23
important that we we take care of it
6:25
without that you have no fish that's it
6:28
plain and simple all right all right Mr
6:29
Bowman we said it looked a little
6:31
different we pushing a lot of these
6:33
these Reed edges where there was a lot
6:36
of weeds coming in you call it lead in
6:39
cover or whatever there's weeds on the
6:40
bottom that come into the weeds this is
6:42
actually clean so the weeds are right
6:44
against the edge here and we just
6:45
started this patch so maybe it's maybe
6:47
it's the pattern in here you never be a
6:49
good sign yeah we'll
6:51
try as an just said with that bass
6:54
without weeds we have no fish plain and
6:57
simple that large mouth was 100% reliant
7:00
on weed
7:01
growth grasscarp were introduced into
7:04
the Southern United States in the 1960s
7:07
and 1970s in aquaculture ponds to help
7:10
control vegetation flooding events and
7:13
intentional releases allowed this
7:15
species to enter natural water courses a
7:18
breeding population of grass carp has
7:20
reached as far northward as the Illinois
7:23
River in its tributaries as well as
7:25
rivers that drain into Lake yie the
7:27
doorstep of the Great Lakes GR ascar
7:29
pose an extreme ecological risk to the
7:32
Great Lakes Basin due to their ability
7:34
to reproduce rapidly outgrow and
7:36
outcompete fishes for food and
7:38
[Music]
7:45
habitat you got him buddy got him out
7:48
come on baby little guy beautiful he's
7:51
worth it though that is a weed fish
7:53
right
7:54
there nice job buddy that is a weed fish
7:59
and he did what he was supposed to do as
8:01
soon as it hit he just smacked it yeah
8:03
just a little guy little guy but still
8:05
but you know you look you look at an
8:08
area that we're fishing now and most of
8:10
us and I don't blame most of us would
8:12
just look at it and say no I'm out of
8:14
here it's just so weed choked you wonder
8:17
how do those things live in there and
8:20
they do they live in here the entire
8:22
season they feed in here they breed in
8:25
here they do everything in these weeds
8:27
and yet as Anglers in most cases we
8:30
avoid it right here is deep water right
8:33
here we got 50 ft and 30 and 20 10 and
8:35
right into so these fish have access in
8:37
deep water if they want to go there they
8:39
probably won't large am they probably
8:40
just sit right on this Edge right here
8:42
you know so they have to move 50 ft 30
8:44
ft and he's out to his wintering area
8:47
and they'll stay right here until ice up
8:49
you got to use some pretty heavyweight
8:51
equipment to get in there we're flipping
8:54
I'm flipping jigs today Pete's throwing
8:56
all kinds of uh weird and wonderful
8:58
stuff as well but it's all designed to
9:01
penetrate the um the canopy cuz it is
9:04
virtually a canopy you look at this here
9:06
and you say well you can almost get out
9:08
and walk on it so thick but all it's
9:10
doing is forming a canopy down below
9:13
we're looking at two three maybe even 4T
9:15
of Open Water uh with nothing but stocks
9:19
of of canes sticking up and and these
9:21
fish will actually sit in Ambush they'll
9:24
they'll get little points and little
9:26
Coes like I can see from above here
9:28
where you've got bunches of reeds and
9:30
they'll Hunker in there in Ambush and
9:33
when something goes by like in this
9:34
particular case this is a crayfish
9:37
imitation body uh when it goes swimming
9:40
by or dropping down and just come out of
9:42
that Ambush area and pound it so what
9:44
we're doing as we're going up wind up
9:46
River and then we're just lifting the
9:48
power poles up setting up dropping the
9:50
poles down and working all the area in
9:52
front of us lift it up and move another
9:54
30 ft yeah every time we do that we
9:56
we're going to we're going to Spook the
9:58
fish that are behind us but we're not
9:59
spooking the fish that are ahead of us
10:01
cuz one of the things that Pete just
10:02
mentioned that that's important to note
10:05
when we're going up current against and
10:07
using electric motor well every time
10:10
that electric motor blade turns it hits
10:12
some of these reads and because it's all
10:15
connected with this canopy this cap that
10:18
transmits it's not just the sound from
10:20
the motor here but the sound actually
10:23
transmits throughout the whole
10:26
area F fast nice fish I got one nice one
10:30
buddy nice come on buddy come on right
10:34
off that weat oh
10:40
[Music]
10:46
[Applause]
10:48
man our cruise sample up to 37 locations
10:52
in the Great Lakes Basin and use many
10:54
different sampling techniques at these
10:56
sites our crews are electrofishing and
10:59
and setting Nets uh near the river mouth
11:01
and Nearshore areas as well as large
11:03
Wetlands electrofishing uses an
11:05
electrical current to attract fish to
11:07
the boat and stuns the fish so that we
11:10
can net them once they're in the boat uh
11:12
we measure them we identify them to
11:15
species and Native fish species we
11:17
release back into the water the
11:19
electrical current doesn't harm the fish
11:21
they regain movement after a few minutes
11:23
after being
11:27
stunned
11:31
you've now seen us fishing a thick weed
11:33
line adjacent to a deep drop off with
11:35
close proximity to standing
11:37
reads but with some changing weather
11:40
conditions on the way we're going to
11:42
show you some other weed types that bass
11:44
use when things are more favorable we
11:46
may return to the Deep weed line our new
11:50
area is much more protected from the
11:51
wind and the main river current it's
11:53
also shallower so the common denominator
11:55
here is the weed growth this time it's
11:58
lily pads some reads and a bit of
12:00
coontail when you compare the difference
12:02
from this area to our first spot you can
12:04
start to see how diverse larg Mo habitat
12:07
can
12:10
be oh boy what is that a little large
12:13
little large BR and talk about being in
12:16
the thick stuff too yeah no kidding look
12:17
at the size of this
12:21
guy come on up
12:24
here that's a tiny little one isn't that
12:27
wild he took this
12:30
just to give you an idea it's a six 6in
12:32
bait and I
12:34
think he's about maybe seven all right
12:37
so he's got he's a little bit bigger in
12:39
the bait not by
12:42
much right in that salad right in there
12:45
yeah great pads and weeds together yeah
12:49
hey it takes all size of fish to create
12:51
a strong population our next move is to
12:54
one of our favorite weed types it's a
12:57
gigantic pencil read bed de in a strong
13:00
West Wind this is the type of fishing
13:02
that Pete and I cut our teeth on in our
13:04
early tournament days here we get out
13:07
the jigs Andor Plastics and Pitch Flip
13:11
or cast to as many good-look areas as we
13:14
can standing Reed or cane patches are
13:17
such an important part of the underwater
13:19
ecosystem like most weed types this
13:21
manyi Forest of tough tall standing
13:23
plants attracts every type of shallow
13:25
underwater creature in spring summer
13:28
fall and probably even
13:32
winter B bass nice fish got nice one
13:36
buddy nice hang on hang on here we go
13:40
I'll get him in he's not bad yeah he's
13:41
not bad he's not huge he's nice he's a
13:46
good one right where the pike was yeah
13:48
just we just had a pike blow up on us
13:52
nice nice
13:53
largie look at the different types of
13:55
Weeds now now we're in something totally
13:57
different totally different once again
13:59
without that yeah you don't have that
14:02
it's simple and we just saw a small Pike
14:05
just jumped over my jig it was bizarre I
14:07
cast to the next clump of reads and this
14:10
guy hit so now we know there's fish life
14:12
too you can tell by the change of
14:15
weather the hoodie we're hunkered down
14:17
it's pretty cool we got a really bad
14:19
front that moved in overnight that's
14:22
especially good for weed bass when it
14:26
gets like this they hunker down into
14:28
this stuff even more than normal yeah
14:31
and but he was all over they hunker down
14:32
but but it's like the water temperatures
14:35
they're starting to go down this is
14:36
getting close to fall so the water's in
14:39
the mid 60s now so they're hunkering
14:41
like an says they're they're tight in
14:42
tight to these things but they're still
14:43
aggressive that it's just soon as it
14:45
dropped in he grabbed it so keep that in
14:48
mind but the weeds are the
14:50
[Music]
14:52
key grass carp are prolific breeders
14:55
females can have up to 1 million eggs
14:57
and in turn thousands of Offspring each
15:00
spawning season given their feeding and
15:02
breeding habits grass carp would
15:04
dominate our natural ecosystems as well
15:07
as our species Not Just Fish would be
15:09
affected but birds mammals and
15:11
amphibians would also have a negative
15:13
impact if they were to establish there
15:15
are no established populations of grass
15:17
carp in Canadian Waters grass carp have
15:20
been caught in very small numbers only
15:22
31 individuals since fisheries and
15:24
oceans started surveillance in 2013
15:27
trying to remove an establish population
15:29
costs a lot of money and may not be
15:31
possible so we want to detect these fish
15:33
early and keep them out of our Waters
15:36
that's why the work we do is key in
15:38
preventing grasscar from making a home
15:40
in Canadian
15:45
[Music]
15:47
Waters this hot spot is a perfect
15:50
example of quality weed growth which is
15:52
essential to creating good fish habitat
15:54
the way point on your screen will get
15:55
you there this portion of the St
15:57
Lawrence River has an an unbelievable
15:59
amount of varied weed growth As you move
16:01
Downstream into the more Open Water
16:03
areas of the river there's much less
16:04
weed development and thus a lot less
16:07
weed oriented fish species as well we
16:09
visited a couple of other areas on the
16:11
river to try and depict different types
16:12
of weedy habitats that large M are
16:14
attracted to one is a river system with
16:17
lots of lily pads mixed with grass
16:19
another was isolated Reed Beds which are
16:21
also an essential weed type for large Mo
16:23
bass pike small Mo and Sunfish to live
16:26
among to reiterate our point in this
16:28
episode without weeds we as Canadians
16:31
would have little to no large mou help
16:33
us protect our rich and fertile
16:35
underwater world and do your part in the
16:37
battle against invasive species for more
16:39
hotspots like this one check out fishing
16:47
canada.com going on buddy come on R off
16:50
that weat oh man that he ever smacked me
16:54
that freaked me out I got to admit I
16:56
know it
16:57
does
17:00
[Music]
17:09
so with our little foul weather detour
17:11
finished we want to take you back to our
17:14
starting spot at the beginning of the
17:15
show this wheat Edge is the most
17:18
consistent and reliable we found on this
17:21
shoot going on buddy come on right off
17:24
that weed oh man did he ever smack me
17:27
nice one right off the edge of that big
17:29
weed bed there perfect exactly the same
17:31
man this is
17:32
perfect nice Megan you want a that or I
17:35
don't know I haven't really seen like a
17:38
yeah he's might be a three pounder well
17:41
good that's a good decent that's a nice
17:42
fish yeah yeah good job buddy yeah let's
17:44
see if he'll uh you can snig him in you
17:47
got a good knot on there let's test that
17:48
knot out there you go got
17:52
him nice beautiful right where he should
17:55
have been eh beautiful the importance of
17:57
weeds and and we can't tell you enough
18:01
times how important it is to get to get
18:04
near on top of in the weeds cuz that's
18:08
where these guys live you know what we
18:09
lose our weeds we lose these we lose
18:12
fishing for these so a shame and that's
18:14
a thing to keep in mind you know we've
18:15
all done it in the past Cottage owners
18:18
especially I Know Myself included in
18:20
that category where you know you got
18:22
weeds in front of the cottage and and
18:23
you want to get rid of them because you
18:24
want a nice clean Weed Free environment
18:26
to go swimming and boating
18:28
but yeah you're right you can't be doing
18:31
that
18:33
man nice
18:39
job in July of 2023 a grass carp was
18:42
captured by a commercial fisherman in
18:44
the bay Quinny Fisheries in oceans
18:46
Canada conducted an analysis of the fish
18:49
and the results were that it was a
18:50
fertile female so Fisheries in oceans
18:53
Canada and the ministry of natural
18:55
resources and Forestry responded after
18:58
after 5 days of on thewater operations
19:00
no other grass carp were detected in the
19:02
bequin although we didn't catch grass
19:04
carp today we caught other invasive
19:06
species such as goldfish and round
19:13
GOI what do you got that that freaked me
19:16
out I got to admit I know it does I
19:19
don't know if I need the net on this guy
19:20
or not but that's that's a big one it's
19:23
a big one yeah let me get the net on
19:27
that stay on
19:29
girlfriend don't jump don't
19:32
jump here we go I'm going to bring her
19:34
up now she's been it's a good one okay
19:37
here we
19:38
go nice right in the net the way it
19:41
should have
19:42
been
19:44
large where was that the weed line read
19:47
on that weed line holy sh that's a great
19:52
lar that was a beauty right there I see
19:55
the patch you got it from right there
19:57
right off the edge of that that is
19:59
awesome just took it and he took a quick
20:01
too he's like the rest of these guys
20:03
they're really when they're there
20:04
they're there they're fast that right
20:07
there folks is a nice large M bass no
20:10
kidding we like these ones nice fat and
20:13
again so weed oriented yeah that bass is
20:15
right on the edge of a huge drop off
20:18
that might be a good pattern for us
20:19
we've been hitting the reads and
20:20
everything maybe we got to hit the edges
20:23
I'll put her back right in the mat right
20:24
off this this Edge woo that's a at least
20:28
a four pounder woo I like that buddy
20:31
that was funny we were just happing we
20:34
were just okay now here's what happened
20:35
now we were just coming out of this big
20:37
thick shallow weed patch hit the flat I
20:40
put her I put the Garment in gear so cuz
20:43
I didn't want to run the prop the M Merk
20:44
through it get through all that stuff
20:46
and we just started to DFT we were going
20:48
to set up we're going to go across to
20:49
this side over here and I just drop and
20:52
drop drop and and says I know what
20:53
you're doing I love when the kind of
20:54
fluka fish you know what I mean it was
20:56
not even in the game plan we know how to
20:57
fish fish weed lines weed lines are huge
21:00
in fishing on for all species but it's
21:02
just so nice when you kind of just okay
21:04
let's think about the next spot
21:05
everybody get ready and then you get one
21:07
like that so that's
21:08
[Music]
21:10
fun so what have we learned coming out
21:13
of this show well first and foremost we
21:16
now all know that weed growth aquatic
21:18
vegetation whatever you want to call it
21:20
is absolutely essential to our beloved
21:22
animals called fish and secondly and
21:26
equally as important invasive species
21:28
like the grass carp can and will if left
21:31
alone annihilate that beautiful
21:33
underwater Greenery until there's
21:35
nothing left which ultimately includes
21:39
those beloved little fish Pete just
21:41
mentioned what can we that's all of you
21:43
watching along with an and myself take
21:46
from this episode we can first learn how
21:49
to identify not only grass carp but all
21:51
four Asian carp species by going to the
21:53
Asian carp website which we'll put on
21:55
screen at the end of the show and
21:56
downloading their reporting
21:58
guide and thus being armed with the
22:01
correct imagery and knowledge we as
22:03
Anglers can be ready to take action in
22:06
case or should I say when the inevitable
22:09
happens and that of course is
22:12
encountering one of these highly
22:13
invasive creatures hey let's all work
22:16
together and help keep our worldclass
22:19
sport fishery world
22:21
[Music]
22:26
class getting there brought to you by
22:30
The Outdoor Journal Radio podcast
22:34
Network to get to today's largemouth
22:36
bass portion of the show we first took
22:38
Highway 401 East to the town of Cornwall
22:41
Ontario we then took exit 789 and headed
22:45
south on Brookdale Avenue we next headed
22:48
east on Water Street West and finally
22:50
turned South to the boat ramp at laroo
22:56
Park
22:58
the fishing Canada show brought to you
23:01
in part by Yuri fishing lures fish the
23:05
best Mercury out Fords go
23:09
boldly and Outdoor Canada Canada's only
23:13
National fishing and hunting
23:15
magazine closed captioning for this
23:17
episode is brought to you by fishing
23:19
canada.com the gateway to your next
23:21
fishing
23:23
Adventure come Al to our cabin in the
23:26
wild cuz we're in for some good fish in
23:30
Canada yes we're in for some good fish
23:33
in
23:34
[Applause]
23:35
[Music]
23:43
Canada
#Agriculture & Forestry
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#Fishing
#Fish & Aquaria
#Aquaculture