First off they say carp are an invasive species. It is true that they were brought here from Europe. They were put in ponds and rivers by people. They are not natural to the environment of southern New England. All of these things are true. I do not dispute them. Also brown trout are from Europe. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are also not native to southern New England. Rainbow trout are from the west coast. None of those fish were here when the Pilgrims landed. Brown trout were introduced to America from Europe in 1884. Carp have been in America since the mid 1800's. To call carp a non native fish is true, but you would have to put those other gamefish in the same category. They have been here for 150 years, they will be here for a 150 more. Time to get over it.
Before I go any further, I want to state that I am happy that carp are in the lakes and rivers they are in but I do not want to see them spread into every water way in America. Why? Because each lake has a natural balance. Any time a new species is added, it does upset the balance. It doesn't matter if its carp or small baitfish things change. I love catching carp, but they do not belong in every water shed any more than alewives, smelt or lake trout.
People say that carp eat bass eggs. To be honest I suspect bass eggs may be part of a carps diet. They are bottom feeders, and eggs are laid on the bottom. You know who else lives on the bottom, catfish and suckers. Both have been in lakes since the ice age. Both are in just about every water body in New England. I do not know what percentage of carp would have bass eggs in there stomach during a bass spawn however I'd bet my savings account its far less than the number one predator of bass eggs...The number one predator of bass eggs and baby bass are sunfish. That's right sunfish. However sunfish are eaten by bass, so people think its just the natural order of things. Truthfully bass prefer minnow to sunfish because they have soft spines. Also most minnow eat microscopic things like plankton and plant matter. A pond would be much better off having bass and minnow such as golden shiners without having sunfish.
Carp dirty up the water... I've heard this forever, maybe its true in some places. I haven't seen it. Lake Tiogue is full of carp. The water is very clean. You can see very far down. Every other place that have carp that I know of, look like any other place that doesn't have carp. The Blackstone and Merrimack Rivers run dirty during big storms and snow melt, yet during normal flow they run plenty clear enough for smallmouth bass (Merrimack )and trout ( Blackstone) to find food. If they dirty up the water you have to prove it to me.
Carp can live in polluted water. This is true. They are very tough fish. They can live in extremely cold water, extremely warm water muddy water, clear water and polluted water. I think this may be where they got the bad rap. Because they can live in gross polluted mud holes ( like what we had before environmental regulations) at the turn of the century, they were considered a junk fish.
As I was saying before about non native fish, sometimes gamefish can ruin another fishery. Although carp are considered bad by some anglers consider this:
Lake trout were introduced into Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake was world famous for having a great fishery of cutthroat trout. The lake trout are decimating the population of cutthroat. Although lakers are prized in many lakes, they are more than a nuisance in Yellowstone. It is so bad that any angler that catches a lake trout is required to kill it immediately.
Our precious smallmouth bass has had a negative effect on trout populations in Maine. When smallmouth get into trout waters they almost always out compete the trout and take over the water.
Yellow perch are a valuable baitfish in Massachusetts, but up north they to can devastate a trout water. They will out compete the small trout for food and when they get bigger, they eat the small trout.
Northern pike and muskys are considered invasive by Maine Dept of Fish and Game. Pike love to eat trout. Pike are spreading in Maine very much jeopardizing the trout and smallmouth lakes in the central part of the state.
Point I am making here is carp are non native. Many of our so called glamour fish can and do cause problems when they get into watersheds they do not belong in. I do not want to see carp in Wachusetts Reservoir or Cape Cod kettle ponds, but I don't think they would do any more damage than other fish.
Many carp ponds are in urban areas. They give city fishermen something to fish for in lakes to polluted for anything else except catfish. That's not to say there aren't any pretty rural ponds without carp. They give people another option to fish for.
Now that I have defended carp by throwing other fish under the bus, let me say some positive things about them. What other freshwater fish can you catch that averages over 10 pounds. The only other fish in New England that even approaches that standard is pike/ musky. Leaving out muskys since they only live near the Canadian border in Maine and the Lake Champlain area of Vermont ( tiger muskies are a stocked sterile hybrid so they don't count) that leaves only pike. I guarantee if you fish every day in the best pike lakes of New England and I fish every day in the best carp lakes I will catch many more trophies over the course of the year. Big carp are very common and fun to catch.
The most popular fish in New England is probably striped bass. They are my favorite fish. I would fish for them every day if it were not for the long drive. Yet I can tell you for sure that a ten pound or twenty pound carp will easily outfight a striper of the same weight. Carp may not jump when hooked, but they fight extremely hard. A typical fight of a fifteen pound carp last several minutes and that is while using twenty pound line. If you have never caught one, I beg you to catch one before you call one a trash fish again. You will be surprised at there strength.
So to finish up, carp are here to stay, you may as well get used to it. They are a tough fish that can survive in places where glamour fish wouldn't last 15 minutes. They do not belong in many waters they are not in. You may as well enjoy them in the waters they are established in. They are a large tough fish that put up one hell of a fight. Those of you that are "to good "to waste your time fishing for them, I tell you this, carp fishing is much more difficult than bass or trout. Its not even close. Carp are much more skittish and nervous than bass or trout. When you hook one though or hear line pouring off your reel there is nothing like it.
Do you catch and release the carp? I'm curious because I have heard they aren't as tasty as bass or trout. I once dined on a Norwegian Wolf Fish and the flavor was far too wild and musky for me to stomach, and I have heard the same goes for the Carp. I respect your article here and would love to hear more on the subject. Here where I live, in Southern California, we have giant sized carp lurking in the reservoirs with the channel cats and Bass. I'd love to hear what kind of rig/bait you use to fish for the carp. Have a great day. ~Daniel
ReplyDeleteHello Daniel, I'll start with your last question. I use what is called a hair rig. I use a size 6 hook for huge fish and an 8 for everything else as carp have small mouths for their size. The bait doesn't go on the hook. It goes on the "hair" which is basically a piece of braided line attached to the hook. If you google it, you will see what I mean. Easier to see than describe. I usually use a one ounce sinker ahead of the hair rig. I wrap a combination of oatmeal/bread/ and water to make a paste. I wrap this around the sinker. This is called a method ball. The hope is the smell of the bait attracts the carp. For actual bait, I am pretty basic, I use sweet corn from the grocery store when the water is still cold. When it warms up and all the pests are around, I use maize. This is the corn you would get at a livestock feed store. It is hard, but if you boil it 35 minutes, it softens up enough to use, but stays on the hook better than sweet corn. Some guys swear by flavoring the maize. I have had good luck with liquor flavored maize and pineapple flavoring, but now I usually just use corn. Flavors can outfish nonflavored corn. The problem is, it can turn the fish off also. So if you stay with the unflavored stuff, you are neutral.
ReplyDeleteFor the next question, I get asked it a lot at the shore. I have never eaten carp. I catch and release everyone I have caught. Every carp guy I know practices C+R (as you can imagine, they do not like bowfishermen). That said, I kept one once that another guy accidentally killed. If you hold a carp by the gill plate, it will almost certainly die. They are extremely tough in many ways, but their gills are super sensitive and it will bleed to death. I figured, since it died anyway, there was no point wasting it. I filleted it. The coloration and the smell of the meat was horrible. I don't get disgusted by much. I have raised and slaughtered my own chickens. I have been in my cousin's locally owned slaughter house. However, I could not bring myself to even cook the carp. It looked so nasty. Maybe in the right hands it tastes good. I don't tell you this in the hopes of "tricking you into letting carp go". This was my one and only experience of dealing with carp meat. I'm sad to say the fish ended up in my garden.
If you do try to eat one, I suggest you try a small one. First off, if you find it disgusting, you a) did not kill a trophy and b) do not have dispose of thirty pounds of carp. Also, as you know, they are bottom feeders sucking crap off the bottom, the smaller the carp the less contaminants.
Hope this helps.