By Rod Rose
Assistant Managing Editor
Lebanon — It may be properly known as the “common carp,” but to Joshua Culley, the 33-inch, 15-pound mini-monster he hauled out of Hot Pond Park Wednesday afternoon is anything but.
“I’ve been fishing here my whole life,” Culley said while the carp flopped listlessly on a blue nylon leader, “and I’ve never caught anything like this.”
He was using a B moth and bluegill hook, Culley said, and was surprised the hook held.
It may be one of the largest fish ever pulled out of the Hot Pond, between Noble and New streets east of Pleasant Street.
While the pond has been stocked with catfish and bluegill for the annual Hot Pond Fishing Derby sponsored by Lebanon Kiwanis and the city parks department, the carp had to have been tossed in the pond by someone else.
Initially, Culley thought the fish was either an Asian or Japanese carp.
“Common carp are everywhere and probably the most widely distributed invasive fish in the U.S.,” said Doug Keller, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Common carp do not occur naturally in Indiana. Since the Hot Pond is isolated from any stream, “someone stocked it in there,” Keller said.
Because carp are aggressive bottom feeders, they pose a risk to aquatic plants. There is also evidence they eat the eggs of other fishes according to a DNR report on the dangers of common carp, creating the potential the fish “can dominate a fishery in a short period of time.”
Culley’s catch isn’t close to the Indiana record of 43 pounds 4 ounces.
In a angling oddity, Culley’s cousin is the person who several years ago caught several red-bellied piranhas that someone had thrown into the Hot Pond, he said.
