Wild Carp

  • Thread starter Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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I had a couple hours fishing last night on a little fished lake.First cast in after prebaiting with a bit of hemp and pellet earlier in the day was a pristine 5lb or so mirror which looked as if it had never been caught.

I then had 5 small fully scaled carp all around a pound and a half.They were long for their size with large tails again out of proportion to their size.

I presumed at the time they were all small commons but then got thinking they could have been wildies.Can anyone give me a pointers to tell the difference the next time I fish there.I did not take any photographs.
 
The Bone Collector

The Bone Collector

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Very long and lean, more barbel shaped, extremely long dorsal, large head for their size. If there are chunky commons in there as well could well be wildies.

Scale count unsure of, check on google may be there.
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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Thanks BC.I'll photograph one next time and stick it up for comment.
 
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The Monk

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not many waters still hold true wild carp, this is because essentially they are the same specie as the king varieties and they interbreed, most of the original wild carp in the UK have been bred-out by the king strains, if the water contains no king carp varieties, it may be possible that these are true wild carp, but if king varieties are present, then it is highly unlikely, no genetical diffence apart from the phenotype (the way they look visually)is recognisable in the many carp varieties.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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I think The Monk is right. Very few waters in Britain today hold carp that might be ancestors of what the Romans may have introduced or what the Monks put in monastry stew ponds many hundreds of years ago.

And in any event where breeding takes place, both mirror and leather carp will in time revert back to the wild form of scaling or what we know as common carp. We have examples of this in parts of the world such as North America and Southern Africa.

I don't think I have ever caught a true "wild carp" in my life. However I do remember catching a small common carp many years ago from the Chesterfield canal that weighed about 2 1/2 lbs. It fought like a little tiger, was long and lean and had a large tail compared with the carp you see today.

Who knows.
 
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The Monk

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yes quite right Ron, they do revert back over time, the king varieties are actually natures misfits, particularly the leathers which were created through mans interference with nature, genetically modified for the table with no scales to descale prior to cooking, line, mirrors and the rest are carp on their way back to their natural Wild form, some divert slightly and you get oddments like fully scaled mirrors, and koi, they are all of however Cyprinus carpio Rex, the one and same specie, just varietyised by man.
 
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Graham Marsden (ACA)

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I caught what I'm sure were true wild carp many years ago from a Shropshire pool that eventually dried up. At the time we were catching them if it hadn't been for the deep silt you could have walked across it in wellies.

I'm not entirely sure but this fish I caught from a French river could have been a wildie; it is certainly the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught. It took over 100yds of line on its first run, so fast there really were wisps of smoke coming from the spool. And that was in slow water, and it left me wrecked by the time the net was slid under it.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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I did investigate the introduction of carp to South Africa in the early 70s.

They sent some mirror carp of the Aischgrundt (excuse spelling) German strain from a fish farm in Holland in 1896 to a fish farm near Cape Town. These fish were taken to a small lake near Johannesburg where they bred and were distributed to a number of dams in the vicinity. The whole idea was that the early gold miners could have fresh fish to eat.

As far as I know, ALL these fish were mirrors or leathers, there were no commons.

Today, especially in the rivers, common carp is virtually all you will catch.

Today, I doubt if there is a still water in South Africa that does not have a population of carp. The Vaal and Orange river systems are stuffed with them. They are found in Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and as far north as Zambia.

Carp have in the past achieved some astronomic sizes in Southern Africa. I remember a rather faded photo of a 45 kg fish found dead in the Bon Accord Dam hust north of Pretoria. In the years I fished there, a 20lb fish was a big one although the biggest carp I knew of were found in a large farm dam in the Eastern Transvaal Highveld which was also stocked with trout and bass. I caught a monster there one day.........!
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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I don't doubt that that fish of yours fought so hard Graham. It certainly has all the qualifications as being a wild carp.

Many years ago I used to fish a stretch of the Vaal River near to the famous diamond town of Kimberley. One morning I caught 20 carp all over 10 lbs, the biggest weighing 17 1/2 lbs. They were all long lean commons, just like the one in the picture. The fights those fish put up were incredible.
 
Graham Whatmore

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Cuttle Mill by the Belfry had some wildies in the coarse pool years ago, frightened the life out of you when you were targetting the roach or tench and one of those grabbed the bait, lean mean fighting machines they are.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Yes, they are proper carp aren't they? Not some horrid boilie gutted monstrosities or piddly F1s.

I think it would be a good idea if we could isolate the strain of fish to give us some proper carp. Then you would see some action on the carp puddles. Imagine one of the pole anglers thumping into something that teararses 100 yards across the lake at 40 feet a second. That is the speed that old **** Walker estimated this strain of carp could travel at!

Imagine all the pole sections being towed all over the water.

I would laugh my head off!!!
 
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The Monk

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I used to fish a small Monastry pool locally to me, I wrote an article about it in carp world many years ago and published a photograph of one of these wildies, the article from memory was called the Chapel Pool revisited, the place has dried up now, but upto the early 70s it contain a small head of what I believe to be true Wildies and yes they fought like demons, the only other time I have experienced fish like this has been on the St Lawrence system on the US/canadian border, although king strains are present in the St lawrence system
 
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The Monk

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caught a nice carp[ the other week, it was thrashing all over the place, I`m not saying it was wild, but it was pretty mad
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Yes they are proper carp aren't they mate.

Did you wear your habit when you fished for these wildies?

One of the hardest fighting river fish I ever caught was an 18lb Trent common carp in 1999. I was barbel fishing at the time and thought I had hooked the barbel to end all barbel! At one stage that fish had well over 100 yards of 15lb line off my reel!

It took me the best part of 45 minutes to land and when I finally put the net under it, I was so dissapointed I nearly drop kicked it back into the river.

No I didn't really, but I have complete respect for such fish. In my book a double figure "wild" carp that zooms off at 40 feet a second is a far better catch than any gut bucketted 40!
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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We happen to be discussing the merits of wild carp mate, not ruffe slappers!
 
pcpaulh

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I used to fish somewhere which contained carp and were stocked when the lake was built 150years or so ago. The only fish to be stocked since are perch and that was about 5 years ago.

I've got a few pictures in my photo album of them but the only one on here isn't the best example. Many of the fish had seriously out of proportion tails and all were pure muscle. If they took for the middle of the lake you could have a 4 or 5lb fish take 15yards of line. Dad said he hooked one which took nearer 50 and he estimated it at about 10lbs when he got it in. We weren't fishing with light tackle either, using 6 or 8lb line for float fishing.

Anyway I reckon these fish are wildies but could be wrong, heres the only example I've got on the pc. http://www.fishingmagic.com/gallery/image.asp?sp=&v=1&uabn=358&uin=1148
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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Nice picture Christian and though not huge is still a worthy fish.

The Carp I had were of a similar shape though much paler as the lake is clay bottomed and always holds quite a bit of colour.
 
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The Monk

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haha, hey some of them ruffe slappers can do some thrashing mate
 
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The Monk

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Nice fish Cristian, however it does look like a lean king variety, the Wildie phenotype usually has the higher shoulders and thinning rear body tapering off into the tail, quite distinctive really. The fish you are holding looks like it has come from a hungry water with a high head of similar sized fish present
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Well worth catching though, because of the fight they give.
 
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