But, European carp have their downside. In excess numbers, they are known to stir up and roll water, creating muddy lakes and rivers that are then poor bass habitat. And all fish species compete with one another for planktonic food while fry. A large carp or rough fish population is a limiting factor to a maximum-size bass spawn, even if the water isn t muddied. BUT, carp number hardly ever get out of hand unless something eliminates the predation on young carp.
Small carp are great bass, pike, and walleye food.
They are apparently one of the easiest fish for predators to catch. That s because only a few live long and survive in waters where predator populations are maintained at high levels. These few carp are seldom harmful to the bass population, and provide lots of fish food with every spawning season. The horrible truth is that anglers themselves created most fishery problems with European carp by over-harvesting black bass and other predators back in the days of liberal bag limits and small size limits. The use of goldfish as bait by anglers, and subsequent bait-bucket stockings of lakes with this carp relative and other rough fish, didn t help.