PLSLWD staff have been keeping an eye on the Arctic Lake outlet this spring, waiting for carp to start crowding into the channel as their natural instinct draws them to travel upstream for spawning. The City of Prior Lake and the PLSLWD placed a barrier at the outlet to Arctic Lake so that they can no longer make their way upstream.
There are a handful of opportunities in springtime where the carp start moving together toward the outlet after a rain event and begin stacking up on top of each other trying to get through the closed outlet. Staff seized the opportunity on May 20, 2019 when they observed the carp stacking up and threw a net barrier behind them, trapping them in the channel. WSB scientists then used their electrofishing boat to stun the fish, and worked with PLSLWD staff to pull the carp out of the water and load them onto the boat. The carp haul was then taken to the Organics Recycling Facility to be turned into compost.
There were a total of 266 carp removed from Upper Prior Lake totaling an estimated 3,600 pounds! This helps move us towards our water quality goal for carp populations levels, with about another 50-60K pounds of removals to go. The work isn’t done yet, and the PLSLWD will be out completing more carp removals this spring and fall!
Check out some video from the carp haul below or visit our YouTube channel here.
Keep up with the latest news on our 2019 Carp Updates page!