What A Load Of Carp

Residents driving down Rochester Road in Oakland Township this morning witnessed an unusual sight: almost 40 dead carp – each one 2-3 feet in length – piled up near the side of the road.

Oakland County Sheriff's deputies responded to the scene this morning; there appeared to be no crime and "no land fish invasion," said Oakland Township substation commander Sgt. Tony Spencer. Spencer said the fish likely fell off the back of a vehicle.

“We’re speculating about this," said Craig Bryson, public information officer for the Road Commission for Oakland County. "We thought maybe they were sport fishing with a bow and arrow … but there were no obvious holes in the fish.”

Bryson, who thinks the fish were probably caught with a net, said all but two of the fish were piled up in front of one resident's home on Stoney Creek Road near Rochester Road, and two more large carp landed in a ditch on nearby Rochester Road.

“This is just pure speculation," Bryson said, "but I wonder if someone living on one of the local lakes around there didn’t like the idea of having that many carp in the lake and maybe wanted more bass or whatever other fish, and they maybe caught them and disposed of them.”

Bryson said the resident buried most of the fish in his yard, though at least one remained on the side of the road Thursday afternoon.

"One of my concerns was on a nice hot day, 40 dead fish might not be aromatic, you know?”

Bryson added that the resident said he did not believe the fish were dumped in front of his house on purpose.

“The homeowner couldn’t think of any reason somebody would want to dump them at his house," he said.

"He said his wife was Italian," chuckled Bryson, "and maybe it was the mafia.”