Carp fishing

Carp is a common name for various species of freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. They have been introduced to various locations around the world, though with mixed results.

Izaak Walton said about carp in The Compleat Angler, "The Carp is the queen of rivers; a stately, a good, and a very subtil fish; that was not at first bred, nor hath been long in England, but is now naturalised".

Good carp fishing can be found in many different types of water. Many find rivers to provide some of the most challenging, but rewarding, fishing. For rivers that connect directly with the ocean, the largest carp often reside in the stretch between the beginning of the tidal influence and where the salinity becomes intolerable to the carp. For example, a carp of 42.03 pounds was caught from the tidal stretch of the lower Connecticut River in southern Connecticut.

Bowfishing for carp is a fast-growing sport. When properly used as part of an integrated management plan it may help limit the negative impact of carp. Dr. Sorenson U of Minnesota is completing the common carp management plan which will also advocate catch-and-keep carp sport fishing. Carp bowfishers often view themselves as ridding the water of undesirable fish, however this can have unintended consequences with the number of carp actually increasing while the average size decreases.

In the US, Texas is the only state with managed carp waters, (Lady Bird Lake).

Popular baits include canned corn and homemade doughball concoctions in the USA. In the UK and Europe anglers commonly use a bait known as boilies, which are made from milk proteins, eggs and artificial flavors, these are then boiled in water hence the name boilies. Tiger nuts are also commonly used as a bait. In South Africa the most popular form of carp fishing is using a "mielie bomb", it is a spring shaped frame with crushed corn and maize pressed onto it. Baiting is often performed using baiting tools to increase accuracy and range.

However, in some countries, due to their habit of grubbing through bottom sediments for food and consequential alteration of their environment, they destroy, uproot and disturb submerged vegetation causing serious damage to native duck and fish populations. In Australia there is anecdotal and mounting scientific evidence that introduced carp are the cause of permanent turbidity and loss of submerged vegetation in the Murray-Darling river system, with severe consequences for river ecosystems, water quality and native fish species.

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Wikipedia