Texas Carp Frenzy

[MoCarp]

in the Texas Conservation Publication by a fisheries person

World According To Carp

http://www.tpwmagazine.com/

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/14081218.htm

Prized carp casting off its trashy image

By BOB HOOD

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

They are big, bad and ugly.

They have been called everything from a trash fish to the queen of rivers.

So what makes the common carp not so common as a sport fish in the views of many anglers?

"In Europe, the carp is the No. 1 game fish, but a lot of people over here still look at it as a trash fish," said veteran carp angler Mark Villanova, who lives in Irving. "We hope to change that. There are a bunch of fishermen called the Carp Anglers Group who are working at promoting carp fishing and changing the image of the carp from being a trash fish. Slowly, more and more Americans are catching on."

Some attitudes are changing, thanks largely to highly competitive carp tournaments like two that will be held this month in and around Austin.

The Carp Anglers' Austin Team Championship is March 24-25 at Austin's Town Lake, followed by the American Carp Society's Texas Cup Challenge individual event March 26-31.

The rules are much different from those in largemouth bass tournaments, where the fish are kept in boat live wells, transported to weigh-in sites, weighed and later released. The carp anglers do everything possible to assure the quick release of their fish.

Fishing is allowed from the bank only and each team or individual must fish in a pre-determined area marked by "pegs."

Also, carp contestants are permitted to use only landing nets made of soft mesh material, carry their own pre-checked weigh scales, weigh their fish on a well-padded unhooking mat and weigh "sling," and release the fish immediately after the weight has been verified by an opposing team member or tournament official.

The Texas Cup Challenge rules specify that only one hook may be used and no treble hooks are allowed while the Austin Team Championship rules call for "one hook per rod and no treble hooks, double hooks or grenades allowed."

Villanova said many veteran carp anglers consider Texas one of the top states for producing large carp. It isn't unusual to catch carp weighing 10-30 pounds. The world record is an 82-pounder.

"We have some of the biggest carp there are anywhere," Villanova said. "There is a group of us called the Lone Star Carp Brigade that hopes to organize a carp tournament trail and hold tournaments on about five lakes a year just like the bass tournament trails. This sport really is exploding."

That's saying a lot for a fish that was brought to America for its food values and not as a sport fish. Villanova says he thinks how it all happened is one of the most interesting stories in fishing.

Carp are indigenous to Asia but could be found in Europe by the 13th century. Their trek to America is credited to the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries established by the federal government in 1871 to oversee the nation's fish interests.

At the time, Europeans considered carp a delicacy. Izaak Walton wrote in his famous 17th century book The Compleat Angler that the carp was "the queen of rivers."

In 1877, after commission studies indicated the carp would be a valuable food source in the U.S., the commission stocked more than 300 carp acquired from German fish culturists in a Baltimore pond and small lakes in Washington, D.C.

By 1879, numerous states, including Texas, were applying for fingerling carp produced from the original stock. Texas' first freshwater hatchery was a carp hatchery built in 1881 at Barton Springs near Austin.

By 1896, the U.S. Fish Commission had distributed more than 2.4 million carp to various states, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico and Ecuador. By the following year, the prolific carp were so plentiful in so many places that the federal fisheries officials dropped their program and the existing populations of carp spread on their own.

Various reasons have been given for why the carp's early reputation as a fine food source soon dwindled, and it became known as a trash fish. One theory is that pollution of many lakes and streams increased as the human populations expanded and the carp acquired its reputation as a "trash fish" because it can tolerate polluted waters better than many other species.

But Villanova says the bad reputation for fish known to be capable of living as long as 47 years is changing.

"In the carp tournaments, you will see anglers wearing their sponsors' patches on their shirts just like in bass tournaments," said Villanova, who is sponsored by Lone Star Baits. "It's weird how it is going in that direction, but that's what is happening."

IN THE KNOW

Carp fishing associations

American Carp Society

P.O. Box 1502, Bartlesville, OK 74005-1502

(866) 518-4227

www.americancarpsociety.com

Membership: $45 for one year, $80 for two years, $100 for three

Carp Anglers Group

3804 Yacht Club Drive, Arlington, TX 76016-2560

(888) 227-1118

www.carpanglersgroup.com

Membership: $20 for one year, $35 for two years, $50 for three years

Tournaments

2006 Carp Anglers Group Austin Team Championship

March 24-25, Austin Town Lake

Two-person team competition

Fishing hours: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. each day.

Field is already full

Texas Carp Challenge

March 26-31, around Austin

Individual competition

Entry fee: $250 per angler; entry deadline is March 20

Field: Limited to 275 anglers; contestants must be 12 or older.

Fishing hours: 5 p.m. March 26-5 p.m. March 31

Awards ceremony: 8:30 p.m. March 31

Rules

Each angler must have a cellphone to call in caught fish to a tournament official.

A GPS unit is recommended to give tournament officials the angler's location.

Bank fishing only.

Fishing allowed within a 50-mile radius of Austin (for field up to 150 anglers) or within a 75-mile radius of Austin (for a field of 150 or more anglers).

Three rods per angler, only one hook per rod (no treble hooks).

Must have one accurate set of scales.

Only soft mesh carp-friendly nets may be used.

Any type of bait is permitted as long as it is not detrimental to carp or the environment.