• Thursday, June 25, 2015 Section Editor Virginia Hutchins [ 208-735-3242 • vhutchins@magicvalley.com ] • B5
Mandatory Tease Goes OUTDOORS in Here and Here Three Lines’Worth Here • SXX
Mike Plein bowfishes for carp June 19 on the Thousand Springs stretch of the Snake River near Hagerman.
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Idaho Anglers Finally Find Appetite for Carp VIRGINIA HUTCHINS vhutchins@magicvalley.com
J E RO M E • Finally, Idaho anglers are making lemonade from lemons. That is, from common carp — the big, fast-growing nuisance fish whose population exploded in the Snake River and southern Idaho’s big reservoirs, gobbling up the food needed by game fish species. After decades of despising carp, anglers are making the best of it. Fly fishers learned to relish the stealthy pursuit and exciting fight. Capitalizing on no-limit carp fishing, bowfishers will compete in carp tournaments within a few hundred miles of Twin Falls almost every weekend this summer. “The carp is a lot like fishing for bonefish in saltwater. They are finicky, they’re particular, but they’re very catchable when they’re tailing for food and an absolute kick in the pants with a fly rod because they have big shoulders and are powerful,” said fly fisher Dale Quigley of Twin Falls. “And they will literally clean your clock if you’re not on top of your game. They’re as good a fighter as a steelhead.” For decades the Idaho Department of Fish and Game tried to interest people in carp, promoting it in articles and public fish fries as good food. But anglers still turned up their noses — perhaps because carp needs a particular fillet technique to remove free-floating bones from the muscle tissue — until fly fishers and bowfishers starting taking interest. What’s the appeal? “Just the excitement and the addictability of it,” said bowfisher Mike Plein of Kimberly. “You go once, and you just think it’s the greatest thing in the world.” In the heat of summer, Idahoans can’t hunt for elk, but they can shoot dozens or hundreds of carp in a day. Carp is one of the few species legal to take with a bow and arrow, and Plein believes bowfishing is taking over the sport — drawing sponsor dollars and tournament prize money. “It’s the NASCAR of the fishing world.” What about catch-and-release fly fishers? Twenty years ago, Idaho fly fishing got a big popularity boost
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Bowfisher Mike Plein docks his flat-bottomed boat at 1000 Springs Resort near Hagerman. The custom platform at the front of the boat is for shooting carp. from the 1992 film “A River Runs Through It,” said Scott Stanton, a regional fisheries biologist for Fish and Game. Eventually those anglers wanted a new experience, and they found it in the carp they kept seeing — or accidentally catching. Last year, an Idaho Falls author’s new fly fishing book gave carp a slightly apologetic plug. “They’re perhaps the most challenging freshwater fish on the fly, and only in recent years have American fly fishers begun to embrace them as worthy flyrod targets,” Chris Hunt wrote in “Fly Fishing Idaho’s Secret Waters,” whose other pages extol more elegant prizes in more elegant locations. They’re game. They’re wary. They’re liberal in their diet. The Snake River and its carp havens — backwater bays and shallow flats — give anglers a rare excuse to “break the 8-weight out of the closet and make long casts to truly big fish,” Hunt wrote.
See a photo gallery of bowfishing for carp on the Snake River, at Magicvalley.com.
More Inside How to carve and cook a carp, Page B6
Part of the attraction is that the Snake’s carp behave like saltwater fish. “They tail and root around for crustaceans, just like redfish,” Hunt wrote. “They cruise in hungry pods, just like bonefish. And they can be incredibly selective, like permit. ... Carp are strong, fast fish prone to reel-whistling runs and shattered graphite.” Now even the note of apology is disappearing.
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Bowfisher Mike Plein pulls in a carp June 19 on the Snake River near Hagerman. Carp is an invasive species here, and there’s no limit on the number anglers may catch.
Please see CARP, B6
None of those Carp Were Mine
A DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Times-News Enterprise Editor Virginia Hutchins tries out bowfishing with Mike Plein on June 19 on the Thousand Springs stretch of the Snake River near Hagerman.
9-year-old girl in Kimberly just earned my respect. I’ve never met her, but I shot at Snake River carp with her borrowed bow and arrow. Her dad had to dial down her bow’s draw weight so I could pull the string to my cheek. As we cruised the riverbank, my left arm began to ache after the first 15 minutes of holding the bow in readiness. And when we headed for the dock, none of the dead carp
Virginia Hutchins Outdoors Editor
in the tub were mine. I tried. I really tried. But my first-timer accuracy wasn’t hot, and my reflexes were even worse. I didn’t take a carp, but I began to grasp what turned Mike Plein of Kimberly into a “crazy avid psycho bowfisher” — those are his words — and made
his sport grow like a 30-pound carp. On Friday, Plein drove up to a dock on the Snake River’s Thousand Springs stretch towing an intimidating boat: a 200-horsepower, flat-bottomed inboard jet boat with a remote-controlled trolling motor and the ability to run in about 4 inches of water. An in-your-face sticker that spells “Toxic” in graffiti wraps the boat’s exterior, and bowfishing gear logos plaster the interior. The platform at the
front of the boat gives Plein and his fishing buddies a powerful position for hunting and shooting, and 12 50-watt LED lights line the platform’s edge for night fishing. In those lights, he said, carp gills and scales “just shine back at you.” No wonder night fishing is hot. Plein fishes in a neon green jersey also calculated to intimidate tournament competitors. The arrowpierced skull on the jersey — like the boat graffiti and Please see HUTCHINS, B7
B6 • Thursday, June 25, 2015 BLOG
Venus, Jupiter Obvious at Night, Elusive in Daylight
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very Wednesday afternoon until Labor Day, the College of Southern Idaho’s Centennial Observatory offers safe, close-up views of the sun with specially filtered solar telescopes. The 24-inch Norman Herrett Telescope (under the dome), is put to a different task. Due to its large size, the Herrett Telescope, when fitted with a solar filter, heats up rapidly when pointed sunward, and heat waves quickly spoil the view. So, instead of the sun, the computer-guided 24-inch telescope targets stars and planets. On a bright, sunny day, it’s fun to see Venus in the eyepiece, then look along the telescope and spot it against the blue sky without optical aid, resembling a motionless white cottonwood seed, high overhead. Venus is visible in daylight because it’s the brightest thing in the sky after the sun and moon. If you’ve been watching the western sky after sundown, you’ve seen it — and the next brightest object, Jupiter — also visible in daylight, with some effort. Daytime Jupiter sighting usually requires the help of the moon or Venus, when one of them happens to lie nearby. Such an opportunity arrives on Tuesday, when Venus and Jupiter will be in close conjunction, with less than half a pinkie width at arm’s length separating them. So, first, to find Venus: Late Tuesday afternoon, stand in the shadow of a building with an unobstructed view of the sky
Chris Anderson Skywatch
Sky Calendar through July 8 Planets: One hour after sunset: • Venus: W, very low • Jupiter: W, very low • Saturn: S, low One hour before sunrise: • Mercury: ENE, extremely low Moon: Very close to Saturn 6/28. Full moon 7/1, 8:20 p.m. Last quarter 7/8, 2:24 p.m. Other data: Latest sunset of 2015, 6/27, 9:23 p.m.
to the upper left of the sun. Venus will lie two full hand-spans (from thumb tip to pinkie) to the upper left of the sun. Relative to Venus, Jupiter is even fainter, just above and a little bit to the left. An easier method is to come to the observatory on Wednesday to see Venus through — and along — the telescope. If the sky is clear enough, you might even bag the rare, daytime Jupiter. Next column: A dwarf planet mystery. Chris Anderson manages the College of Southern Idaho’s Centennial Observatory in Twin Falls. He can be reached at 208732-6663 or canderson@ csi.edu.
I Went Paddleboarding for the 1st Time; You Can Too
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irst rule of summer: Never apply sunscreen to your own back. Second rule of summer: Spend as much time in the water as possible. I followed one of those rules this weekend, and I now have what appears to be a bright red, cat-shaped tattoo on my left shoulder. But I had an amazing time getting it. Saturday, my friend and long-lost Times-News reporter Kimberlee Kruesi took me stand-up paddleboarding at Arrowrock Reservoir. To get there, follow Idaho 21 to Mores Creek Bridge, about 18 miles, then take the road to the right to Arrowrock Dam. Kimi has her own board, but I rented mine from Idaho River Sports for about $50 including taxes and a whole bunch of paperwork. That included an inflatable board, a pump, a paddle and a life jacket. In Twin Falls, you can rent boards from River Rat or Pryor Paddle Rentals. River Rat charges $35 per
day to rent a board, or you can rent one at its Dierkes Lake location from Memorial Day through Labor Day for $20 an hour. Pryor is at Centennial Park and rents boards for $21 for four hours or $31 for all day on weekdays, and $26 for four hours or $36 for all day on Alison weekends Smith and holidays. You can also rent a paddleboard in Burley at Idaho Watersports for $30 to $80 per day, depending on the model. In Boise, Kimi and I arrived at an uncrowded lake and smooth waters. We unfolded the boards and began the process of pumping them up. This is not for those with weak arms. At the end, both of took turns lunging against the pump to get the air pressure in the boards to 15 pounds per square inch. All that air makes the boards rigid and stable.
LBION • Pomerelle Mountain A Resort scheduled equipment upgrades this summer, so it will be open to the public on a few dates only. Pomerelle will be open Saturday, July 18, for its annual star party; Saturday, July 25, for its Instructor Disc Golf Tourney; Friday afternoon through Sunday, July 31-Aug. 2, for the annual Pomerelle Pounder; and a date to be determined for the Pomerelle Disc Golf Tourney. “We generally open the first weekend in July for summer
operations,” said Gretchen Anderson, marketing director. “This summer we’ll offer only a select few dates to come up to see the wildflowers, enjoy the cool mountain breeze and become renewed in our alpine setting.” Pomerelle’s Slopeside Grill will be open on those days, and the resort will offer scenic chairlift rides, mountain biking/hiking and disc golf. Information on lift pricing and events: Pomerelle.com or 208-673-5525.
Say you want to write an article about Idaho anglers going for carp, and Fish and Game employees respond with delight. “I tried to start that trend,” said Doug Megargle, regional fisheries manager in Jerome. “I was calling it our inland bonefish.” That is, a chance to catch a big sport fish on light fly tackle. He, too, tried feeding folks deep-fried carp nuggets and fish balls at a fish fry a few years ago. About half liked it. Others were mad they’d eaten carp without knowing. “Common carp for us are an overwhelming nuisance,” Megargle said. “And in the interest of making lemonade from lemons, we want people to understand that common carp were brought into the West as a delicacy.” A few do understand. Megargle issued two commercial fishing licenses to eastern European immigrants who wanted to catch carp with gill nets — mostly at Murtaugh Lake, because they liked the taste there — for their fellow immigrants. But nobody’s making a big enough dent in the carp population. One female common carp can lay many millions of eggs, Stanton said. “They just overtake the other fish because they grow so fast and get so big. … They eat all the groceries in the fishery.” Also, carp stir up mud as they feed, which blocks sunlight and hinders plankton growth. Fish and Game tried eradicating carp from Mini-Cassia’s Emerald Lake and Connor Pond in the mid-2000s. They were carp-free for three years before the
COURTESY OF DAYNA WESTFALL
Wildflowers bloom at Pomerelle Mountain Resort.
How to Carve and Cook a Carp
For years, Stacy Gebhards tried to get Idahoans to consider the common carp an opportunity to put food on the table. He staged carp-tasting demonstrations and published tips. Gebhards, now retired from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, published these carp-carving tips in the March 1985 edition of “Idaho Wildlife,” under the headline “Carp with Class”:
Continued from B5
‘Overwhelming Nuisance’
As one helpful man on the beach noted, rigid boards are more convenient. Of course, he had a pickup, not a Subaru station wagon that lacks a roof rack. Once we had the boards fully inflated, we headed into the water. Last weekend was about 80 degrees, and the water was the perfect temperature. This weekend is going to be even hotter, hovering around 100 in Boise and Twin Falls. I scooted up onto the board. It was a little wobbly, but sitting cross-legged on top of it was fairly easy. We paddled farther out, and I
Pomerelle Plans Summer Events
Carp The May meeting of Magic Valley Fly Fishers featured Twin Falls angler Glenn Buscher sharing his carp-chasing insights, advertised with a photo of Buscher holding a 21-pound beauty he landed on a 5-weight rod. And even if few others are dining on carp, Fish and Game staffers are still pulling out former colleague Stacy Gebhards’ recipe for battered, deep-fried nuggets, published repeatedly since the ’70s along with filleting diagrams. In early June, the agency’s fisheries employees from around the state gathered for a retreat and a carp feed, using Gebhards’ old recipe. “If prepared properly, it’s very good,” Stanton said. In fact, he planned to eat carp after work.
This post by Alison Gene Smith is from the “Trails & Tales” blog. Read more at Magicvalley.com/blogs/ trails-and-tales — it’s free if you’re a print subscriber. Just click the big, blue “Activate” button at Magicvalley.com to activate your digital subscription.
got up on my knees. Again, pretty easy to stay stable. Admittedly, I was a little nervous once I couldn’t see the bottom of the lake anymore, but after a few minutes I got more comfortable and decided to try standing. I slowly got into an upright position and could feel the board start to wobble under me. “Can you see my legs shaking?” I asked. “Only if I look really hard,” my very kind friend said. As Kimi noted, balancing on a paddleboard will show you how much you need to work on your core strength. I spent most of our nearly four hours on the water kneeling or sitting to paddle, but after a few more tries I felt much more confident standing on the board and even managed to paddle around a little without falling in. With more practice (and squats), I’m sure I will be paddling with the best of them. Here’s to a summer of lots of time on the water with friends and very few sunburns.
The reel attached to Mike Plein’s bow.
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
fish came back through canals. This summer, the agency expects to wrap up its carp eradication in the Hagerman Wildlife Management Area. Two ponds remain: Anderson No. 3 and Riley. “The Snake, we could never eliminate them,” Stanton said. That goes for Lake Walcott and the water behind Milner Dam, too.
“They’re very shy. They’re very easy to spook, so you’ve go to be very stealthful when you approach them,” Buscher said. His approach works. The day he caught a 21-pound carp in the Snake River near Lake Walcott this spring, his fishing partner got a 23-pounder 33 inches long.
‘Easy to Spook’
It’s a pair of Kuna archers, however, who hold the Idaho record for common carp: a 67-pound, 10.4-ounce fish taken from C.J. Strike Reservoir in 2011. And it’s bowfishing that offers big money for carp prowess. The sold-out U.S. Open Bowfishing Championship in Missouri this month featured 275 teams from across the country battling for a $25,000 grand prize, and a 60-pound grass carp helped the top team to its win. “The money is coming to the sport all of a sudden,” said Plein, the Idaho representative for Bowfishing Association of America. He figures there might be 100 or 200 bowfishers in Magic Valley. Advantage Archery in Twin Falls plans the third shoot of its Triple Crown carp tournament in July; twenty-five teams competed in the second leg in mid-June. What happens to the carcasses of all those carp? That’s the big problem this sport fights, Plein said: improper disposal of dead fish on the bank or elsewhere. “Just like anything, one person can ruin it for everybody.” Responsible bowfishers often use carp in compost or give them to others who want fertilizer, Plein said; in the heat, the bodies turn to liquid quickly and leave a shell of scales. He advised checking around for organic farmers willing to take dead carp. Don’t dump without asking first.
The same feeding behavior that stirs up mud — head down to vacuum the river bottom, tail up — also makes the carp easy for anglers to spot in the shallow water where they root. Carp anglers favor flat-bottomed boats that can move slowly into mudflats, often casting or shooting from a platform at the front of the boat. Gebhards recommended baiting the hook with simple canned corn or with a dough concoction. For the latter, he wrote in a 1985 issue of “Idaho Wildlife,” you should boil 1/2 cup of juice from canned corn; crush and stir in 1/4 cup canned corn; add cornmeal until the mass is solid but moist; knead in flour to your desired consistency; form the dough into bite-sized balls; and cook them. But these days you’ll hear more anglers talking flies. “Leech patterns, mainly. Minnow patterns would work as well, and also anything that’s hatching — Baetis, caddis, mayflies,” Quigley said. Cast ahead of the feeding carp and carefully twitch the fly. Buscher recommends a 6- to 8-weight fly rod — “They’ll break a trout rod in a heartbeat” — at least 10to 15-pound tippet material, a hook size from 8 to 4, the same flies you use for trout and a fly reel with good drag and at least a hundred yards of backing.
‘Money Is Coming’
COURTESY OF IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME
1. Cut below gill and along spine. 2. Run knife along bones. Pull off fillet. 3. To skin, place fillet skin side down, and cut between skin and meat. 4. Cut skinned fillet into fish sticks 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch thick. This leaves “floating bones” in pieces small enough to soften during cooking. In the May 1979 edition, Gebhards wrote that one of the best ways to prepare carp is deep frying — and serving with a good sauce. His recipe: 1 pound carp fillets, skinned and cut 3/8 inch thick For the batter: 1 cup cold water 1 egg 1/4 cup salad oil 1 cup Wondra flour 4 teaspoons cornstarch 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon monosodium glutamate Mix the cold water, egg and salad oil well before adding the other ingredients. Dip the carp strips in the batter, then drop them into the deep fryer. For the sauce: 1 cup ketchup 1 cup chili sauce Dash of Tabasco Dash of Worcestershire sauce Squeeze of lemon 3 tablespoons pure ground horseradish Salt and pepper to taste