Phil Smith with an escaped carp. (Photo by Nancy Wilson Smith)
Susan Knox Wilson
This year’s monsoons brought us some welcome rains, along with some surprises, like this very large carp that neighbor, Phil Smith, found in his backyard!
“Our backyard abuts a lake on the Tuscany West Golf Course,” Phil revealed. “During one of the summer’s heavy rains, the lake overflowed and when the floodwaters receded, this poor fish was trapped in a depression in the yard. Luckily, I spied the fish before the water in the hollow vanished and I was able to get it safely back into the lake.”
“We’re grateful to Phil for rescuing the fish,” proclaimed General Manager Bill Barnard. “These fish are a vital part of our program to keep our golf course lakes clean. We have 28 handsome lakes and keeping them healthy and beautiful is a full-time job. We have a biologist who visits PebbleCreek every week to test water quality and check for aquatic plant and algae growth or evidence of insect larva.”
“In addition to employing a biologist,” Bill continued, “our PebbleCreek lakes are stocked with specialty fish to help control plants and insects. Each fall, a truck full of fish from a hatchery in Arkansas arrives with a load of white Amur (who eat algae); Israeli carp (who eat the larva of flies and mosquitoes); and tilapia (who eat water grasses). I’m not sure how the egrets know when the hatchery truck arrives, but they do, and you can see them lined up around the reservoirs just as soon as the fish arrive. It’s a struggle to keep fish in the lakes so we’re thankful when someone like Phil helps us out by saving a fish!”
For any neighbors who might be tempted by seeing Phil’s fish, kindly we remind you of PebbleCreek’s no fishing allowed policy.