Using gill nets and multiple boats to “herd”
their quarry, Freeman and crew can catch
thousands of pounds of carp in a day.
make up 99 percent of Freeman’s
catch, are notoriously skittish when it
comes to the sound of boat motors. It’s
what makes them so dangerous for
boaters, and it’s what makes them easy
to move around seemingly at will.
When the proverbial dust settles
and enough fish have been successful-
ly herded toward the gill nets, it’s time
to start the hard work.
ONE FISH AT A TIME
“People don’t understand how many
fish are in here,” Freeman says
between heaves of the net, pulling in
several feet – and fish – at a time. “Just
the biomass of all these fish.”
The results of the process are hard
to believe until you’ve seen them first-
hand. With every few feet of net
Freeman pulls out of the water, there’s
usually at least one Asian carp wedged
within it, and each fish regularly weighs
between 5 and 10 pounds. It’s a work-
out, to be sure, and the hull of
Freeman’s 26-foot aluminum boat fills
up surprisingly quickly.
Every once in a while, Freeman
retrieves part of his net with a hole in it.
“These fish are so intelligent,” he says.
“If there’s a hole in the net, they’ll find it.”
So much so that there’s almost
always a big fish wedged in the net
directly next to one of those holes.
Freeman believes those fish swim along
the net looking for a gap, identify one
and do their best to hit it. Sometimes it
works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
Some spots produce thousands of
pounds, which he can harvest with the
help of his crew in just an hour or two.
Those same spots will replenish in
days, and it’s back to square one.
Another day on the water, another pay-
check, another difference made.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
“Every day is a game to me,”
Freeman explains. “Just like bass fish-
ing. There’s so much going into it every
day with the conditions.”
Freeman’s background as a tourna-
ment bass angler certainly aids in his
finding success as a commercial fish-
erman. As with bass, carp are suscep-
tible to the conditions, from weather
and water temperature to wind and
water levels. Finding them, while not
inherently difficult with the right elec-
tronics, often comes down to experi-
ence both as a bass angler and as a
commercial fisherman.
Freeman’s experience is also his
passion. He’s a bass angler through
and through, which is why the impact
of Asian carp on Kentucky and
Barkley has been so deeply personal
for him.
“I want to make a difference on the
lakes that raised me,” he says. “I paid
for college on this lake through bass
fishing. This is theoretically all I’ve
ever known.
“I want my lake back. I feel like
every day when I’m out here, I’m doing
something that’s important. When we
APRIL-MAY 2020 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | FLWFISHING.COM
get these fish stopped – when, not if –
we can get a lake back that’s enjoyable
to come to and full of fish.”
But does it matter? Is Freeman real-
ly making a difference by harvesting
10,000 or 20,000 pounds one day and
finding that many fish again in the
same area just a few days later?
“I feel like I am making a difference,”
says Freeman, acknowledging the
uphill battle. “I took this to heart, and I
enjoy every day.
“I know every day when I go out
there I’m making the most difference I
can make, and in that I feel like I’m
giving back to what made me who I
am today.”
That may seem like a contradiction
– taking pleasure in an endeavor that
seems endless – but Freeman truly
believes in what he’s doing, and he
knows that every ton of Asian carp he
pulls from the lake is a ton of fish that
won’t be able to reproduce, or per-
haps move into a new fishery and
populate there.
There’s also anecdotal evidence to
support Freeman’s optimism.
“I think we’re making a difference,”
he repeats. “There’s more bait here
[the upper end of Lake Barkley]; actual
bait balls.”
Because the carp feed on plankton,
it’s often the shad population that suf-
fers first when the carp population
swells, as shad have to compete with
the invasive population for their food
source. When the baitfish population
begins to dwindle, the population of
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