I have to start a thread about the hundreds of dead Carp on Pymatuning infected with a killing virus. Would you still eat any fish from Pymy knowing this virus has a killing factor on Carp ? They say it doesn't affect humans so I'd like to cook one of those half dead Carp up and see who will take the first bite ! Just want to hear the yes or no's of all you fishermen or concerns .
 
I personally would practice catch and release on all fish for awhile. 
I don't trust any reports saying "only Carp" are affected. 
What you guys think ?

I'm kinda with you Caption as for eating fish , have stayed away from Pymatuning with all this going on... to your question will I eat any fish from there ...NOPE!!! Been hitting Wilhelm lately keeping freezer stocked pretty good with Crappie ... got a few Tuesday evening ...

It's amazing that the Commission has posted nothing. I'm sure Pymie could stand to lose a few thousand carp, but how do they know that only carp are affected? In the other thread, one guy said he found a dead walleye in with the dead carp. A fluke? May be, maybe not. I'd sure hate to see a virus that could affect all of the fish population in such a big lake.
I can't even fish Pymie 'til I get a smaller motor, but I wouldn't want to even be on the lake with the stench of rotting fish, and I sure as hell don't want to eat any of 'em.
 
Maybe we need to do a survey here on the forum; get a long list of folks to sign up and petition the PFBC for some answers. This sounds really bad to me.

Capt I put information regarding this Koi virus on the Pymie thread. Hope it's OK with you if I post it here.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/m/#publication?id=VM113

Thankfully this deadly disease is specific to carp and doesn't spread to other species.

However, it certainly is reason for anglers to be aware of any fish we keep, as those fish are subject to "other viruses" which produce the same symptoms and results.

I should also like to mention, while the virus and bacteria count will likely increase before it gets better, there exist water borne bacterias far more dangerous to us as humans.

For instance the bacteria responsible for necrotizing fasciitis. Flesh eating bacteria.

I'll still eat em! Do you think the tuna or cod you get served at restaurants is any better?

I won't be eating any fish from there soon. Maybe next year if this settles down, and after a cold winter. Besides,I didn't catch walleye one this year out of the lake, so no worries here. Maybe the eyes were telling us there was a problem looming.The catfish and crawdads are no doubt in hog heaven. As previously mentioned, if this is a test to see if this virus kills carp, and it works on the invasive grass carp, and no other fish, they have their solution to that problem. Probably put a dent in the commercial rough fishermans pocket though. 

I'd be more worried about bacteria from all of the rotting fish.  Highly unlikely that a carp virus can affect humans, although I guess viruses do mutate (swine flu, bird flu).  The terrible fishing is enough to keep me away, this just tops it off.
 

I am interested in seeing what happens to the Pymatuning ecosystem without the carp. I believe that carp eat a lot of fish eggs and insect larva. Not positive of that but I figure that's what they are rooting in the mud for all the time.
 
 
Without the carp, will there be more forage for the baby sport fish? 
Will the sport fish populations rise because more baby fish survive?
Will the insect/larva who live their larval stage in the water level rise? 
Will the number mosquitoes rise?
Will having more mosquitoes, cause greater incidence of mosquito borne illness? 
 
I guess we all stay tuned to find out. :)
P.S. I've done a few searches for answers to the questions I asked above, because Koi Herpes has hit other lakes, but I haven't found any info yet.
 
-Roy

Olds ya forgot the turtles, how could you forget the leatherbacks? They'll be feeding onnnnnn...... 😧ewww I'm not eating anymore turtle soup, stupid carp! 😠

But on another note, should we count the dead carp we see, using the PGC/PFBC mathematical equations? For every actual dead fish we see there must be 'ump-teen' more?

Multipliers:

Walleye X 10
LMB x 15
SMB X 12
Trout X 1000½

White Tail Deer X (flip of the coin)

We've seen and cleaned up hundreds of carp.
 
Saw one dead LMB last Saturday, but on Sunday it was gone. Guessing an eagle thought it would taste better than a carp.
 
Once the carp float to shore they morph into a skin covered bag of stinky goo. No meat left, just goo. You have to be very careful not to drop one, because it goes splat! and the goo goes everywhere... Just ask my wife, she got hit with a goo carp splat two weeks. and no, I didn't laugh when it happened, I knew better. she's not sick from it, not yet anyway.