On 18 Nov 2006 18:54:35 -0800, "Tim" wrote:

Looks like they're traveling right up the Illinois river,.

Think they'll end up in the great lakes??


http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=519235

Thanks, those are thorough articles.
Be interesting the see the further evolution of fish species
in these waters.
I worked at the U.S. Steel South Works mills in 1968 and well remember
being among the first to see some of the Coho that had
been introduced into Lake Michigan by DNR the previous 2 years.
Some were getting caught in the cooling water intake cages.
On maintenance runs whenever we stopped at that station our crew would
ask the engineer there to "show us what you caught." and he would pull
up a cage. Only saw a couple, but he said he saw them every day.
Many of us were fisherman, so it was of high interest.
I never fished the big lake, but knew many who did.
The reason I never cared to fish or eat the fish there is the damn
things were full of PCB's and mercury from the getgo, since being at
the top of the food chain they concentrated poisons.
Still don't understand how people eat crap like that.
A neighbor pushed a 20lb Coho on me despite repeated polite refusals.
I finally took it just to show it to the kids, but told him flat out I
wasn't going to eat it, but bury it in the garden.
The bigger they get, the more poison they collect.
I never did see in these articles you posted any evaluation of the
food value of these Asian carp - the ones not feeding in sewage
collection ponds. But I wouldn't knowingly eat a carp anyway.
My uncle used to catch carp, smoke them and sell them on the south
side of Chicago, and gave enough hints about how good they were that I
suspect he partook of that culinary sin.
But the Buffalo fish mentioned in the article are only a step above
common carp, so it's possible Asian carp might be their equal.
In that case, the Buffalo fishermen might be looking at a bonanza.
ahem.....Can you shed any....ahem.... light on this?

--Vic