A BALLARAT fisherman is calling on other anglers to help quell carp numbers in Lake Burrumbeet, after claims the fish species are running rampant.Long-time fisherman Bill Hammond has proposed a monthly carp competition to help bring down numbers, which he estimated at being somewhere in the vicinity of 50 tonnes of the fish.Mr Hammond says carp are taking over the lake because of the drought, which caused the Skipton Eel Farm to quit fishing for eels using giant nets. The nets also helped reduce carp numbers, he said.“It’s up to the public fishermen of Ballarat and district to get out here and try and stop the waters from becoming a fish pond,” said Mr Hammond, who has been fishing in Lake Burrumbeet since 1969.“And me fishing out here and catching four fish is no good. It’s four fish and there are several thousands of them.“But if you’ve got 100 people who take 10 out each, that’s 1000 and that’s significant.”Mr Hammond said the lake had long been known as one of the best spots in Victoria to catch redfin, but he hasn’t caught one in more than a year.“The problem is carp sieve the bottom of the lake and get out the shrimp, small white bait and other bugs,” he said.“When redfin lay their eggs these things come along and vacuum them up.”Should Mr Hammond’s proposal eventuate, the carp competition will take place on the last Sunday of each month between January and June.“The lake needs to be cleaned out or otherwise it will become a carp lake and that will be the end of it,” he said.Using revenue raised from the sale of Victorian recreational fishing licenses, Fisheries Victoria have stocked more than 5000 rainbow trout in the lake since it returned to capacity, but carp are a declared noxious species.