(bright upbeat music) - The Great Carp Hunt at Utah Lake brings community members together to tackle invasive species, while improving water quality and protecting native fish.

Joining us now to share more is Kelly Cannon O'Day.

Welcome, Kelly.

- Thank you for having me.

- So tell me about The Great Carp Hunt.

- The Great Carp Hunt is our annual fishing tournament, and it's just a way to get community members involved in removing the evasive carp from Utah Lake.

- [Liz] Why is that important?

- So carp are actually terrible for the water quality in Utah Lake and for the June sucker, which is a native fish there.

So the more we remove, the better the water quality becomes.

- And that's probably why the June sucker implementation program also helps remove them as well.

- Correct.

They are a huge component when it comes to removing carp from Utah Lake.

- And I hear that you recently got a lot of funding in order to continue doing this.

- Yes.

So recently we received about $1.2 million through the help of Senator Curtis, and all of that money is gonna go towards invasive species mitigation, most of which will go towards carp removal.

- So kind of paint the picture for me.

What does The Great Carp Hunt, the day, look like for people who attend?

- It's really fun.

You check in, you just tell us are you on boat or shore, and then you go out for several hours, and then for every fish you, carp you bring in, we'll give you $3 at the end of the tournament, so.

- I bet it can get pretty competitive.

- It does get very competitive.

We have teams bringing in hundreds of fish, and then we also have shore fishermen who are competing for, you know, who has, you know, just four or five more than the other team, so.

- [Liz] That is incredible.

- Yeah.

- And it sounds like it's also something that families participate in as well?

- Lots of families participate.

It's kind of like their annual thing.

There's this one father and daughter team that come almost every week, and she is probably 70 pounds soaking wet, but she catches 15-pound carp easily each time.

- So it's something for everyone, and probably bragging rights too.

- Yes, lots of bragging rights.

A lot of playful jibing of the other teams.

And so they just, everyone has a good time, and it's really, really helping the environment as well.

- What do you hope that people will get out of coming to this year's event?

- I hope they realize that they are part of the conversation when it comes to helping Utah Lake become a better lake, and that they can help make the Utah Lake a better lake.

- Well, thank you so much for sharing this information.

If you would like to participate in The Great Carp Hunt, it's happening June 27, 7:00 a.m.

to 5:00 p.m, at Utah Lake State Park.

For more information, just head to the website that's on your screen.

I'm Liz Adeola and thank you for watching Contact.

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