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Common Carp Die-off at Davis Creek Reservoir

This short news release went out last week:

Common Carp Die-Off at Davis Creek Reservoir

LINCOLN – Fisheries biologists from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission are investigating a die-off of common carp at Davis Creek Reservoir south of North Loup in central Nebraska.

A viral infection is the expected cause of the die-off, and samples have been taken to verify the cause.

The reservoir remains open to fishing, and no other species of fish have been impacted. Anglers should expect to see significant numbers of dead and decaying carp at the reservoir, with the possibility of more distressed fish dying in the coming days.

I want to bring this up again here especially so folks who might fish Davis Creek are aware that we know about the dead Carp and we are investigating.  We have a good idea of the cause, but I do not want to say until we get verification, and that might take some time.  Sometimes things end up being different than what we originally suspected, and once we say what the cause might be, that is all that anyone will remember.  Stay tuned.

Common Carp are the only species being affected, and are the only species we expect to be affected.  However, we will keep an eye on what is happening at Davis Creek and if anything changes, you will hear it here.

No, a die-off of Common Carp is not a great cause for concern and may prove beneficial to sport fish in Davis Creek.  However, it is important that we stay on top of events like this and have an understanding of what is happening.

Recent visits to Davis Creek have found a lot of stressed and “sick-looking” Common Carp.  We suspect this die-off is still running its course and there may be more dead and stinkin’ fish in the coming days.  Again, we do not believe there is any risk to other species of fish or anglers, but if you go to Davis Creek, know that you are going to see, and probably smell, some dead Carp.

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Sickly Common Carp from Davis Creek Reservoir. Jeff Schuckman photo, Thanks, Jeff!

About daryl bauer

Daryl is a lifelong resident of Nebraska (except for a couple of years spent going to graduate school in South Dakota). He has been employed as a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for 25 years, and his current tour of duty is as the fisheries outreach program manager. Daryl loves to share his educational knowledge and is an avid multi-species angler. He holds more than 120 Nebraska Master Angler Awards for 14 different species and holds more than 30 In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards for eight different species. He loves to talk fishing and answer questions about fishing in Nebraska, be sure to check out his blog at outdoornebraska.org.

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