Lake Hennessey last Sunday afternoon

I took my boys out on Lake Hennessey last Sunday for a little bass fishing.  We found a few up to around 3lbs and had a good time on the water.

While fishing back in a shallow flat with some matted vegetation mixed with tules I saw something that was a first for me.  A fish swam out of the grass directly at me and I'll be darned if it wasn't a koi!!  It was bright orange with a white tail and must have weighed 25lbs!  This was no carp either!!  It was definitely a koi!  We ended up seeing two others that were grayish in color with a little white in each of them.

I'm wondering if these were former pets that were dumped or whether they were "stocked" in the lake?  Anyone have any insight on this?

Dumped pets.  "Dumped" aquarium items (pets & plants) have had some demolishing effects on waterways across the country. 

Yup, dumped pets. There's a pretty good sized population of them in Hennessey as well. They tend to congregate with th carp in the shallows at the north end of the lake this time of year. They're definitely a sight to see ... all combinations of orange, gold, white and black and some as long as your arm.

Some of them are worth a lot of money

Great sleigh ride if you hook one of these big boy!

People are clueless!!!  releasing fish like that can be very destructive to a fishery. Just look at all the trouble the idiot that released pike in Davis caused. Same reason you can't use minnows caught from another body of water.

Holy crap, I thought I was seeing things a few months back. A white and black one swam by my kayak near the rules close to the launch. It looked to at least 12 inches though.

Dumped pets.  "Dumped" aquarium items (pets & plants) have had some demolishing effects on waterways across the country.

There is a school of (pet) piranha living in Lake of the Ozarks. There are a few caught each year. For a long time it was an urban legend, but National Geographic did a study on them a few years back. The conclusion was when the water temperature dropped below 55F the school would congregate around a natural spring that was 65F and go into a sort of hibernation to survive the winter. The piranha have not done much damage to the fishery since the winter does seem to control their numbers; other wise they could be devastating.

Would it be illegal to sell a Kio caught from here? Doesn't sound like breaking any rules concerning DFG. Wondering how they would taste in a taco? 

Yup, dumped pets. There's a pretty good sized population of them in Hennessey as well. They tend to congregate with th carp in the shallows at the north end of the lake this time of year. They're definitely a sight to see ... all combinations of orange, gold, white and black and some as long as your arm.

There's a bunch of huge ones in Lake Mendo, as well.