http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/giant-goldfish-catch-michigan_n_2495876.html

Seems like they have the same problem in Tahoe

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/21/giant-goldfish-lake-tahoe/1937223/?kjnd=R0z5Z%2FRlXJT9psVlReB6Gq1Hs5TuhieSLQAt17oXTkWCAkdwZ9YPYupOSR1R5Mv%2B-ac943574-aa52-4253-8d73-f6f025bea0ce_uIvonktrIHXhAhusCc98xu%2BKBAEGkN%2BGxAC3NHWRzQytWkWMe1RjCR4cyxGZJT2%2B

Not me, but I snorkeled a pond (formerly gravel pits) when I lived in NY and saw a number of goldfish monsters.

 

Read those articles yesterday, interesting stuff.

People use them in the Ohio river as bait. I was standing on my boat dock a few years ago and saw one at least 12 inches swim by

There's a couple of ponds around here that have established populations of goldfish. One of them is bad enough that it is going to be drained this year to get rid of them.

I did when I was young. Didn't realize the damage being caused. Caught some big bass though. 

That is what these are for.......http://www.luckycraft.com/virtual/Kingyo.htm

Around here they are a super popular bait for big flathead catfish.

Have You Ever Used Goldfish For Bait?

 

Illegal here in New York.

I was fishing one of the locks of the Erie Canal and a guy reels in a goldfish which had to have weighed at least 2 pounds.

Neither of us could believe it. I took the pic for him and we released it.

Illegal here in New York.

I did not know that. My friend loves using them as bait.

use to use them as bait for catfish back in Az.... when i was growing up....

Illegal in PA as well !

Lake Moomaw in VA is infected with them, the guess is catfish anglers introduced them. They are impacting the food chain, the forage base in that lake is alewife. Not a good thing to do, it is illegal just about everywhere, using them s bait is the same as introducing a foreign species.

Every once in a while I see various fish in my canals here like goldfish, koi, ect. I think that was part of the reason peacock bass were introduced into a lot of the water here to cut down on invasive fish like that.

I think it's generally pretty illegal. When I was younger, the local bait shop that sold shiners went out of business, so we resorted to buying goldfish at the local pet store. Maybe that golf course has a monster goldfish population, but I doubt it.

No. I dont fish with live bait ever. Not my thing.

No. I dont fish with live bait ever. Not my thing.

 

One of the first things I tell people, about targeting huge, trophy sized bass, is to always keep an open mind. Granted, I find live bait to be the best choice, less than half the time..... But for a person to to reduce their own odds the other 30% of the time, is simply not logical to me. It's all fine and dandy, for somebody to catch a bass, blindfolded, with one hand tied behind their back.... But what impresses me most, is to see somebody catch multiple HUGE fish, by stacking all the odds in their favor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Wild strain Goldfish (and Koi) are present in nearly every body of water in Nor Cal. TONS of them in the CA Delta. Most run 2-5 lbs, but I caught one (not a Koi) that went 10 1/4 lbs once !

As for using them as bait... The wildstrain ones, caught in a legal manner, can be used "only" in some parts of the Delta, and are fantastic bait for Stripers. I have seen people use "store bought, feeder goldfish", and they barely worked.... if at all.

 

Peace,

Fish

I've used them for bass on a couple occasions and they are pretty effective, about like using shiners. They're very popular for catfish bait around here but I'm not a fan of using them for catfish because they're expensive when they get as big as I like them to be for catfish bait. I've seen some monster koi in a couple of the local lakes.

I swear i have seen that fish swimming around! Was fishing behind some canals at the end of my street and my mom had stopped by to see how I was doing. As she looked down she yelled over to me saying she saw a big gold fish! I said no way but went over to check it out, and yep....massive goldfish just swimming about. Wouldn't hit anything though.