Family finds nearly 50-pound fish swimming in retention pond
By Lauren Johnson
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GRIMES, Iowa (KCCI) — The Kampman brothers of Grimes were quite shocked to see this large fish laying outside the retention pond in their neighborhood.
The boys say they’ve spent a lot of time fishing here but never imagined something this big would be hiding in the water.
“I usually catch bass and bluegill,” said Alex Kampman, who lives in the neighborhood.
No one knows how the fish got out of the water.
The boys believe someone caught it and left it on the shore and then tried to throw it away in a trash can.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has identified the fish as a Grass Carp and they’re pretty common for retention ponds. However, they can hurt the ecosystem of the water.
“Back in the early 1970s, the DNR actually stocked these fish as well because they were thought to be a good way to control aquatic vegetation in ponds. But we found out that they tend to overdo it,” said Kim Bogenschutz with the Iowa DNR.
She adds this fish is large for the size of the pond that it’s in, which means it’s been in there for a while. And while it isn’t invasive, the DNR advises against using them.
“They can live 20, 30-plus years. And so they can live a long time and eat a lot of the vegetation in the pond and that’s one the reasons that we don’t encourage their use, they’re hard to get rid of once they’re there,” she said.
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