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While at my parents' house this past weekend in Pass Christian, we decided to the casting net to see if any shrimp were making it in yet. I kept catching carp in the net. Is this from all the freshwater the river sent down? Will these fish die off, or can they survive and reproduce in brackish water? Their house is on a bayou off St. Louis Bay to give you a point of reference.

I can now see that I spelled question wrong...

Depending on how far back in the bay they live, the water could be dang near all fresh. We have a family camp on the West side of the Jordan River off of Bayou Lacroix, and the water is pretty much fresh.

Steam wrote:While at my parents' house this past weekend in Pass Christian, we decided to the casting net to see if any shrimp were making it in yet. I kept catching carp in the net. Is this from all the freshwater the river sent down? Will these fish die off, or can they survive and reproduce in brackish water? Their house is on a bayou off St. Louis Bay to give you a point of reference.

When you try it again mix cat food and corn meal in a bowl 50/50 and either throw it out in balls or poke holes in cat food can and tie a string to it, refill and toss it in the water at night. The string is so you can retrieve and refill it. The shrimp will come to it and eat it. We used to do this when I was a kid and would catch enough for a shrimp boil the next day. The old man that taught me this and how to throw a cast net was from the Delisle area and we caught shrimp in your area.

Thanks and we usually use rabbit feed and cat food to attract the shrimp. I just have never seen any carp in these waters and don't want them to invade the area. I was hoping this was just from the abnormally amount of water sent into the gulf this year. Kind of like the same reason there are no shrimp in the MS waters right now.

Do You have a pict of the "carp"? Im thinking you may have been catching mullet; unless the house is on up the Wolf or something. Just kind of surprised to hear carp in reference to your location, especially with the salinity as high as it is.

I'm guessing mullet too.

+3 on mullet until proven otherwise.

Definitely not mullet. I have been going down there for close to 30 years and caught many mullets in casting nets, crab traps, etc. It is not mullet. The place is across the bay from the Jordan, but real close to the mouth of the Wolf. Not sure how salty the water is, but alligators are frequent visitors to the bayou.

Interesting, I know the locale well, yesterday I was in Timber Ridge estimating a flooring job for a new construction on the water. If you can get a picture of the fish, Id love to see it. The salinity has been from 20-26 for the last 20 days. I dont claim to know anything about carp; I just always thought they were a freshwater fish. What road is the house on? (PM if you want) I have worked on a ton of house in that area!!

I will back Johnny up that he doesn't know crap.

Crap / carp what the difference hehehe.. hey, there is Ruddy Duck with your name on it...let me know when you and Alex want to go!!

The house is on Poindexter Drive. I do not have a picture of the carp, but it is the same ones I have had jump in the boat while frogging on the Yazoo River. I know it is carp. Nasty fish. We cut them up and used as crab bait.

that is pretty interesting. i basically had a surrogate family on poindexter growing up (two of my best friends), so I'm pretty familiar with the area. I have caught bass/gar/and perch on flyrods from those canals so it is not completely unreasonable that a carp could be in there. The water can get pretty fresh in pockets in there. I have netted a lifetime worth of shrimp in those canals, the friends from above actually had an uncle that made his living catching live bait back there, and I can't remember catching a carp. Since you're familiar with mullet, I assume your familar with ladyfish and could dismiss those as a possible suspect?? They would be the closest saltwater fish in appearance to those silver carp. I definitely am not doubting the possibility of virtually anything turning up in those canals, i have caught a snook in a castnet in there. I know of a confirmed manatee, and we got a baby tarpon in a pond not far from there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigmouth_buffalo


could it have been a buffalo? i have heard that they are common is the upper coastal marsh areas of south ms and al