Macrohabitat Use of Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) in Kentucky Reservoir and Barkley Reservoir

To date, bigheaded carp have invaded many riverine impoundments and reservoirs within United States waters and can dominate the fish biomass given favorable conditions. Reservoirs provide stepping stones for this invasion. A commercial market for these species exists, but most of the fishing effort is concentrated within rivers instead of reservoirs. Limited data exist on the habitat use of Silver Carp within reservoirs. This tracking study was tailored to partially fill existing knowledge gaps concerning reservoir macrohabitat use of Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and to inform commercial fishers of their daily patterns or macrohabitat usage. Our data suggested that Silver Carp use macrohabitats (canal, coves, major-coves, side-channel, and thalweg) evenly throughout the year, regardless of water temperature. Additionally, our data suggest that on days with mean average wind speeds exceeding 3 m/s, Silver Carp favored coves (less than 5 ha) over reservoir thalwegs. These data may be useful for commercial fishers targeting Silver Carp.