Carp On The Frontpages

[jscheetz]

I know many of you are familiar with the European side of fishing or have read myself or someone post about how Carp is the only white meat worth pursuing to most across the pond. I just got back from a few weeks in Europe and while I was in a drug store in the lovely old Roman city of Chester, UK I walked by the magazine rack and saw this - so I took a photo to prove to some of my buds back here that they really do hold the "golden one" in high esteem there - no fishing mags about anything else!!

Of course as a side note - over there they also always eat corn on their pizza - coincidence??

JS

[zander]

The state of Arkansas is actually spending a decent sum of money marketing their carp fishing to British anglers, they started that last year I believe. My wife is European and there they are all fanatics about it. I have to convince my brother in law to take me fishing for something other than carp while I am there. It is odd to me too since they have trout, grayling, pike, zander (European walleye) and all other sorts of fishing there.

[RiverRunner]

They need to bring a ship load of carp enthusiasts over here and require them to take at least 500 lbs each back home. The Asian carp have quickly destroyed all sport fishing in any lake connected to the Mississippi River down here and I'm sure its only a matter of time before they make their way up the tribs and mess them up too. Its a good thing that the White River has those three old dams above Batesville and the Little Red has the small dam here at Searcy. If those barriers did not exist, there would be nothing to stop the carp from destroying the trout fisheries on those rivers. I do worry that they will make it up the White and Black Rivers to the Current and Eleven Point, because I don't think there is anything to stop them.

[Project Healing Waters]

Most of the game fish streams in the UK (and several other European countries) are PRIVATE. But there is quite a bit of accessible rough fish water in canals, ditches, sloughs, and highly impaired rivers. Thus, you fish for what you can cast to. And the rough fish such as Carp are everywhere.

FYI, when you see the rough fish populations increasing in a particular spot, that is a definitive indicator that water quality is on the way down. Rough fish can tolerate far higher levels of pollutants than most game fish can. And when the rough fish move in, the game fish tend to move out. We really don't know if it is the chicken or the egg: is it just the water quality that causes the game fish to leave and the rough fish to arrive, or is it the presence of the rough fish that triggers the flight of the game fish? But we know there is a strong correlation. A HUGE amount of Europe's surface and ground water is highly polluted. And what isn't is mostly in private hands with very restricted access.

Thus...CARP!

[RiverRunner]

The reason that we have the Asian carp down here in AR is because they escaped from a fish farm and are prolific breeders that have no known natural predators. They eat the plankton that the shad eat and destroy the population of forage that the sportfish depend on. The water quality in the lakes affected is pretty good, so I am pretty sure that had nothing to do with it. Lakes that were good for bass and crappie last year have been totally taken over by the carp this year and very few sportfish can be found. Of course, these Asian carp are different than the ones they pursue in Europe. They are very similar to Gizzard or Threadfin Shad when young, but grow to huge sizes. If these things get into your favorite body of water, the fishery will be destroyed, end of story.

[jscheetz]

PHW - you are so right about a lot of private waters. I was in a village on the coast of Wales and saw a little literature stand in a coffee shop - like the "Branson's finest" tourist kind of stuff. I looked at it and it was full of private carp lakes ads. I thought there would be more sea stuff and a few rivers ads - but it was almost all of these small ponds and lakes where you could pay to go catch carp.

One time I was over there and a friend said he might take me fishing - I had seen a really nice looking river just a few miles from where we were staying and I said "down to that river in the valley"? and he replied "No - there's nothing but trout in there"!! hehehehehehe He wanted to go to a pond and catch carp - different strokes....

JS

[Project Healing Waters]

PHW - you are so right about a lot of private waters. I was in a village on the coast of Wales and saw a little literature stand in a coffee shop - like the "Branson's finest" tourist kind of stuff. I looked at it and it was full of private carp lakes ads. I thought there would be more sea stuff and a few rivers ads - but it was almost all of these small ponds and lakes where you could pay to go catch carp.

One time I was over there and a friend said he might take me fishing - I had seen a really nice looking river just a few miles from where we were staying and I said "down to that river in the valley"? and he replied "No - there's nothing but trout in there"!! hehehehehehe He wanted to go to a pond and catch carp - different strokes....

JS

What I was getting at is that carp fishing has become high sport among European (especially British and Dutch) anglers as a result of accessibility factors. But nowadays it is, indeed, what a great many prefer to do. Carp get big fast. I think that's the main draw. I've caught a few. I don't think they fight all that hard most of the time. There's a reason why we revolted against those folks.

[oneshot]

When I was a kid growing up,until after I was first married people paid to fish for Carp,and you would find it in the Stores.Here in Missouri.

oneshot