Carp in sauk lake

[woodchuck909]

Any body hear how many pounds or tons of carp have been taken out of big Sauk lake this year?

Thanks for any info

[crappieking54]

If I remember the article out of the Sauk Centre Herald I think the number reported was 54,000 but one of the nets had snagged the bottom and tore otherwise it would have been more.. apparently they are looking to do it again before the ice is off?

[TrapMan13]

Yup they sure are... Dont matter though... They are willing to pay all this money to take out the carp but they aren't smart enough (wont) put forth the money to put carp traps in place at the mouths of the rivers emptying into Sauk. They will be back, in short order.

[crappieking54]

I heard they do not want to possibly block the path of other migrant fish like northern?? I guess I would give up some fish to have a quality lake back... I fished that lake not to long ago and could barely see my transducer puck in the murky water

[woodchuck909]

Hey Guys, thanks for the reply. I hope they get that mess cleaned up so the fishing gets back to like it use to be.

[crappieking54]

I second that woodchuck it has definitely gone downhill even in the few years I have fished the lake

[hoppe56307]

Does anybody know if he was able to get out a second time this year to try and get some more?

[BobT]

I was out alone on Big Sauk Lake on Thursday morning. I brought some leeches and nightcrawlers in search of walleye. I was marking a lot of fish in the 20' - 25' depth range. Some decent sized arches suspended about 10' - 15' down, which I suspected were likely northern pike, and some nice arches near the bottom, which I hoped were walleye. I couldn't seem to connect with any of them and for a while I decided to try shallower to see if there was anything more willing to take. 

 

I moved into about 15' depth and found perch. I could tell they were perch by the way they were nibbling off my bait. At one point they ate everything off my jig up to the hook and l was left with what was on my hook. So, I dropped that over the side and decided to to just let it sit on the bottom to see what happens.

 

I made myself comfortable and laid my rod across my lap with my hands crossed over it. Yup, I dozed off and in a short time I was awakened when my fishing rod was almost pulled out of my hands! I grabbed my fishing rod and began to fight the fight of a lifetime with a fish! Now, I've caught a few 36" - 40" northern pike and some 25" - 31" walleye and a few 22" - 23" smallmouth on my walleye rigs but never had I experienced a battle like that. I was getting concerned that I would run out of line on my reel a couple times. With my 6# test line it took me about 10 minutes to tire the fish out enough to get it into my landing net. It turned out to be a common carp but what a fun fish to catch! I've never caught one of these before. Lifting it up I estimated it was somewhere between 12 and 15 lbs. I didn't find any regulations about destroying them and learned they are not invasive so I released it. 

 

Are they good smoked? 

 

 

[smurfy]

In my opinion not one that big. Smaller ones if done right are good. But I've had 1 to many bad ones too ever get near a smoked carp again 

[Mike89]

carp can be fun to catch!!

[Kettle]

I've heard it you nail them to a board, smoke them, throw away the fish then eat the board they can be good?