Fishing News
Holy Flying Carp! Jumping Fish Invade Kaskaskia River
By The Associated Press
When silver carp first started showing up back in 1994, they were a novelty. People laughingly referred to them as the ""Kaskaskia River Dolphin.''
Silver carp jump as high as 5 feet in the air and the Asian fish seem to jump a lot when the weather is warm, the river is low and especially when aluminum boats pass by.
Cherie Smith owns the Kaskaskia River Marina with her husband Ervin "Smitty'' Smith, and said everyone thought the jumping fish were funny at first. But they aren't funny now.
"It was pretty cool until people started getting eight or 10 in their boat,'' Cherie Smith said.
Cherie Smith called the Illinois Department of Natural Resources because she thought someone was mutating the fish by dumping radioactive material into the river. That was not the case. Instead, it is theorized this exotic species was introduced into the Mississippi River during the 1993 floods, when the fish escaped from farmers' ponds, where they were kept for algae control.
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