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CARP FEST COMING TO HATFIELD
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 -- 12:25 pm
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
It’s one of the few times anglers want to catch a big carp.
Hatfield’s 8th annual Carp Fest is coming up this Saturday. The goal is to get rid of as many of the nuisance fish as possible to improve Lake Arbutus’ prowess as a fishing hole.
"They're bottom feeders. They do a lot of riling up of the water, they just kind of mess up the lake. With the population we have it's a pretty serious problem," explains Jerry Opelt of the Hatfield Sportsman Club.
That group works with the DNR to shock the lake every year; that takes care of a thousand or so carp. They’ve also stocked the lake with perch, which eat carp eggs.
But in Carp Fest, they’ve created a fun event that tackles a pretty serious issue. In the first seven years, Opelt estimates between 12 to 15 tons of carp have been removed from Arbutus.
There are prizes for the largest carp and the most carp caught.
"The largest carp has been in the 34-inch range. The most caught by a group is well over 100," Opelt says. "Every year, we bring in between 1,000 and 1,200 carp."
And, while we don’t care for carp in these parts, Opelt says the meat doesn’t go to waste. It’s turned into animal food.
If you’d like to participate, you should check in at the Sports Bar boat landing on Saturday morning.
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