Asian Carp are an issue in the river systems so in an effort to keep them out, Illinois has built an aquatic barrier that is basically an electric shock fence. We had to radio ahead and request permission to enter this area, and then wear life jackets the entire time we were in the area, not to save our lives but so that if we fell in, they could get us out easier! Yikes! You learn so much when traveling! I never knew these existed!
Shortly after passing through the aquatic barrier, we officially entered Asian Carp territory! We were just cruising along and all of a sudden we heard something loud smacking into our boat. Turns out it was the Asian Carp faceplanting into the bottom of the boat! They leap out of the water with a vengeance and some of them were not so lucky, smashing right into the bottom of our boat!! Crazy!! These fish jump so high out of the water (see photos below)!!! At times, we were looking them straight in the eyes because they would jump so high! We have heard stories from other boaters of these kamikaze fish jumping into their cockpits and bouncing around so much that they bled all over the boat! Yuck! Thankfully, that did not happen to us!