2024 was our inaugural Silver Lake Kids Carp Cull Contest. If you didn’t hear FoSL paid reward money to anyone 16 and under (because no fishing license is required) for each carp submitted across four Sundays starting Memorial Day weekend. We paid $2 per carp with a $50 bonus for the kid who submitted the most carp each weekend, also each participant got a Certificate of Appreciation and a carp cull t-shirt. We promoted the event with flyers, press releases, a paid ad in the Oceana Echo and social media posts (on that note special thanks to Terri Puffenberger and the admins on the Facebook groups Silver Lake Community Forum and SLDAPO for helping us get the word out). The results were encouraging across the four collection Sundays we netted 117 carp from 19 kids (there were repeat participants weekend to weekend) with a total payout of $434. Now we know we haven’t solved the carp infestation with this year’s results, but it was great to see the community involvement in the effort and we’re hoping to grow this event in the future and make a serious dent is our carp population. Extra special shout out to Tim Beggs, Oceana County Commissioner and a member of the SLIB, for his dedication and help with this event. Tim provided us the means to dispose of the carp that were submitted, which was crucial to the success of this effort. THANKS TIM!!
Below are the promotional materials we used in 2024 –
KIDS WANTED TO FISH FOR CARP
Friends of Silver Lake proudly presents
1st Annual Silver Lake Kids Carp Cull Contest
Open to all kids 16 and under to help remove nuisance carp from Silver Lake. Friends of Silver Lake will pay a reward of $2 per carp submitted at the collection site, the Golden Township Park at Silver Lake Sand Dunes, only on the designated
Sundays, May 26, June 2, & June 9, from 1:30-2:30PM.
Cull Continued – Sunday June 16th 1:30-2:30PM –ADDED —
Participants can fish at anytime (no license required), must fish on Silver Lake, and must keep the carp to submit at one of the collection events. Participants may submit carp on multiple Sundays.
| Contest Rules – | Participants must be age 16 or younger Only nuisance carp submitted qualify for rewards Only carp taken from Silver Lake (Mears, MI) qualify for rewards |
| Collection Site – | Golden Township Park at Silver Lake Sand Dunes 8453 W. Silver Lake Rd, Mears, MI 49436 |
| Collection dates – | Sunday May 26, 2024, from 1:30-2:30P Sunday June 2, 2024, from 1:30-2:30P Sunday June 9, 2024, from 1:30-2:30 |
| Contest rewards – | Cash per Carp* – payout of $2/carp submitted on each collection date, Most Carp Award* – payout of $50 for the greatest number of carp caught (two or more) by the same angler at each collection date. Free t-shirts to the first 50 kids who submit a culled carp across the entire three collection events. |
| * Total cash payout is capped at $250 per collection date ($750 for the entire event). | |
Removing nuisance carp from Silver Lake helps promote the efforts to improve water quality, establish native aquatic plants and improve our fishery.