Koi fish in local lake

[MnMike58]

We took the grand kid to Gun Club Pond in Inver Grove Hts. tonight and saw at least 4 3lbs Japanese Koi fish swimming around the fishing dock. Has anyone else seen these fish there? I sent the DNR an email with some photos I took. Are these fish in any other lakes?

[whitebassman]

Arent there goldfish in powderhorn lake? Somehow that is a memory of my childhood days sunny fishing there.

[ThaiNinh]

I seen a few of those in Crystal Lake in Apple Valley.

[lakeshoremunster]

I wonder if it were to be legal to go and catch these koi's

as they are in public water, I know that it says in the handbook that we cannot use goldfish for bait but it dosent say anything about catching them.

[Tom7227]

I thought ones that big were worth a lot of money. Might be worth checking them out. They have to be invasives so I doubt it would be illegal to harvest them.

[deadeye]

I too have seen some odd stuff in crystal lake. I have caught several goldfish there.

When in season the skis really like orange lures for some reason

[Acemac]

they are rough fish you can do what ever you want with them!

Mr. Ninh when we getting that new boat wet?

[Kodiak]

net em and sell em

[fridron]

No use tryin' to sell 'em, some local gardener didn't want to take care of them over the winter and dumped them in the lake. Catch them and put them in your garden.

[Tom7227]

If you do the Google for Koi you will find out that they sell for big bucks.

[ThaiNinh]

that would be awesome to catch its a $400-$600 dollar fish depending on size. But please don't eat it.

[ThaiNinh]

they are rough fish you can do what ever you want with them!

Mr. Ninh when we getting that new boat wet?

Tomorrow actually!!!!!!! Gotta make sure it floats first. Want to go out opener day Say 3am.

[Kodiak]

it would be cool if someone got one and posted a pic of it. haha, especially through the ice.

[Righty]

where is gun club pond?

[Ralph Wiggum]

They are invasive and perfectly legal to take. I have a local pond with them in it. I contacted the DNR a few years back, and they said to have at them! Also, they wanted me to notify the local fisheries office so that they were aware of their location.

This one's a goldfish that I shot a few years back. I have yet to catch one hook-n-line--they're elusive!

[Urbanflyguy]

I have talked with a local CO i know about catching koi and the big decrotive goldfish and selling them he said he'd do some research and get back to me. I wish i still had the email as he sent me a few statutes. Foremost is the fact its illegal to transport live fish , and then theres the transport of invasives, and finally there was one about selling exotics reguires a licnese etc. so as tempting as those spendy little devils are its not worth the fines. They are how ever a really fun fight on a 3 or 5 weight flyrod and they REALLY like nymph patterns

[Kodiak]

go get em!

[Swimmer]

If someone did catch and sell these guys, they would (or the buyer would) have to quarantine them in a treatment tank for a few weeks before putting them in their new home. I was visiting some freinds who worked at the Cablelas Sidney NE store a while ago and we ended up catching two ten pounds Walleyes and a couple of decent Tiger Muskies on a local lake (in March). We transported them live to the Cabelas store and the aquarium guru placed the largest Walleye and one of three Tigers in quarantine tanks prior to putting them into the huge display tank (they survived and went into the tank a week after we left town). Fun times...since we had two "extra" Tiger Muskies we had a cook out and ate them. First and only time I will eat Musky. Yes, they tasted like Northern Pike. Being Nebraska there was no season on any species and no length requirements. Nice picture of the goldfish.

[mosquitoman]

there is a pond in Burnsville that i use to go fishing at with my brother every day after school when i was younger that had large schools of gold fish (and huge snapping turtles). we would use the smallest hook we could find with a piece of corn. there were pretty nice bass in there too...... i havent been there in years though

[Kodiak]

If someone did catch and sell these guys, they would (or the buyer would) have to quarantine them in a treatment tank for a few weeks before putting them in their new home. I was visiting some freinds who worked at the Cablelas Sidney NE store a while ago and we ended up catching two ten pounds Walleyes and a couple of decent Tiger Muskies on a local lake (in March). We transported them live to the Cabelas store and the aquarium guru placed the largest Walleye and one of three Tigers in quarantine tanks prior to putting them into the huge display tank (they survived and went into the tank a week after we left town). Fun times...since we had two "extra" Tiger Muskies we had a cook out and ate them. First and only time I will eat Musky. Yes, they tasted like Northern Pike. Being Nebraska there was no season on any species and no length requirements. Nice picture of the goldfish.

i would have cried on every bite eating those tigers

[half-dutch]

Koi are the same species as regular "German" carp; so the same fishing rules would apply to them. They will also easily interbreed with the regular carp and may be seen just about anywhere regular carp are found. Very often partially colored regular carp are caught that are those hybrids. FWIW not all large koi are worth anything on any market either. There are very special and fussy standards that determine the value of captive fish. What have been released are as apt to be culls from that market as releases from backyard ponds emptied in the autumn, since few of the types actually breed completely true to color or pattern and the sorts take some size before they can be fully completed.

Goldfish though closely related are in an entirely different genus. They are also quite commonly released into local ponds. Powderhorn certainly has a lot of them. There are a couple of other closely related species found around that even look very much like regular carp, but all of these lack the barbels, and that is how you tell the difference between this group and regular carp. Some of these were undoubtedly flushed fish from down the toilet which is not always completely separate from the storm sewers that feed ponds like Powderhorn, and may not have been purposely released directly into the ponds where they are found.

Those who like to eat carp of any kind prefer the ones without the barbels which don't often get much over two or three pounds, commonly called just "the little carps". This last group is the most commonly eaten and cultured food fish in the world, in part because it very seldom winter kills due to a special adaptation not found in regular carp where under the right conditions it just goes dormant below a certain temperature and quits using oxygen, and in that condition can even survive ponds that freeze solid. It is widely adapted all across Eurasia in its various species, one of which was the ancestor of the common goldfish. IMO both goldfish, the more commonly eaten Prussian carp, a slightly different species, are both found locally, if you know the waters. Common goldfish will even eventually revert to a feral type that where it is extremely difficult to distinguish the species. For their size they both fight as hard pound for pound as the common carp and are a blast on light tackle and can be even fussier to get to bite.

The fishing rules do not allow transporting any of these fish live from any waters or releasing them into any public waters or using them or any part of them for bait, not in Minnesota, but do allow immediate release of live fish taken on hook and line back into the waters where they were caught.

They all fall under the laws in place for carp and goldfish. They are not unregulated.

-- half-dutch