carp weights... can you help?

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Trevor Sawyer

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Hi Lads (and Lasses?),
Although I usually view (and occasionally post on) the Coarse thread, I knew that you experts on the carp thread would be my best chance of a sensible answer to my question...
For some species of fish (especially typical cylindrical fish like chub etc), there is a formula for working out a ROUGH idea of the weight of a fish from it's length and girth measurements. Obviously for carp, this is more difficult as they are sometimes almost spherical! ;O). Do any carp anglers routinely take length and girth measurements of their better fish and if so, could anyone give me a ball-park weight for a fish of 45" long by 39" in girth.
Maybe anglers used to French carp waters would be more likely to catch such bulky fish, but do our own bigger carp occasionally reach these sort of dimensions. Any ideas anyway? PS: Before anyone asks, I don't know where the fish mentioned above was caught, but assume it is was a foreign fish. I would just be interested in knowing what it could have weighed.
Cheers,
Trev
 
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Stuart Dennis

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Hi Trevor is the 45 inches run from the nose running across the back to the tail ori s it run from the mouth to the tail across its scales so to speak? i.e. a straight line or a curviture measurement?
 
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Stuart Dennis

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the title thread states carp weights? is it a carp though? if it is what type was it? grass/mirror etc?
 
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Trevor Sawyer

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Stuart,
Yes, a carp... It would have been either a mirror or common (which should probably give about the same figure I would have thought).
The measurements would have been taken with a soft tape measure from the mouth, along the contour of the body to the fork of the tail, not across it's back. It IS therefore a curvature measurement.
Trev
 
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Trevor Sawyer

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Thanks Frothey, but that must be much too heavy... the figure you give is the same as the one I get with my "cylindrical" formula (can't open the Koi thread to see it unfortunately) but I don't think it would apply to carp?...
The general formula for a chub-shaped fish ie one which stays approximately the same girth along much of it's body is girth (ins) x girth (ins) x length (ins) all divided by 800. This gives the weight in lbs and is used by Swedish fish scientists for approx values for trout, salmon etc.... ie the figure for this carp would be 85.5 ie 85lb 8oz! So, the formula is obviously NOT true for a carp-shaped fish.
What I want to know really is what sort of length and girth would a "real" 40lb or 50lb carp have I wonder? I know it's difficult and you will get only VERY rough weights, but has anyone ever actually measured fish of those weights I wonder. I realise that most carpers don't want to stress the fish any more than necessary and will therefore not measure them, but if anyone has, and knows roughly, that would be good.
Trev
 
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Frothey

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another formula works out at 57 pounds - part of the problem is the shape of the fish, some carp (like some leney's and the origional savay fish) are like torpedo's, italians are dinner plate shape, simmo's could be either.

see if you can find a picture of "big bollocks" from darenth - where would you measure the girth from?

i think we can just deduce its big!
 
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Stuart Dennis

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although Wol would probably give it 70lb based on us knowing how he weighs his fish, right Rik?
 
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Trevor Sawyer

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Thanks for the guestimates so far boys - rest assured if I ever catch one that size, this website will be the first to hear about how much it actually does weigh... I live in hope, but please don't hold your breath.
Trev
 
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The Monk

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there used to be a standard formula for working out what was then termed as condition factors of cyprinus carpio, I cant remember the exact formula, but it was something like Length X girth X weight divided by 1,000 = a CF, in a healthy king symetrical variety this would average around 200, in say a Wildie, a more torpedoed shape of 150 would be calculated, the weight could be assumed from the shape, if no weight was available and all other calculations taken into account
 
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Big Rik

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didn't Walker have a ratio thingy for working out carp weights?

I'm sure Ron would know if it's to do with Walker.
 
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The Monk

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the CF may have actually come from the walker era, we tapped into it through the BCSG circa 1970?
 
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