Pam Thiel
(Project Leader)
555 Lester Avenue
Onalaska, WI 54650

Email
Phone:
(608) 783-8434
Fax:
(608) 783-8450

Bighead Carp

Eric Leis has his hands full with a bighead carp Since 2003, two bighead have been caught as far upstream as Lake Pepin in the upper Mississippi River. Both fish exceeded 35 inches in length and weighed over 23 pounds. Some sources say bighead can grow to 100 lbs and 4 ft long!

Bighead carp, Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, were brought from eastern China to Arkansas in 1972 by a private fish farmer to control plankton in his culture ponds. The species escaped in the early 1980's. Some areas have been overpopulated to the point that commercial fishermen have had to abandon certain fishing sites because the nets become so full of bighead that they can't lift their nets. The bighead feed on organisms such as zooplankton and aquatic insect larvae and adults, usually near the surface of rivers. Bighead carp have been observed schooling with paddlefish because they feed on similar food types. This species is also in direct competition with bigmouth buffalo, gizzard shad and all larval and juvenile fishes and native mussels.