The fighting power of carp

Although I don't do much carp fishing these days, there have been times in my life when I have fished for little else. One aspect of the species I have noticed is the enormous difference in fighting qualities of carp.

For example I caught a number of carp in Yorkshire during the 60s in a couple of lakes, and in those days carp in Yorkshire were as rare as hen's teeth. They fought like tigers - all of them did, often running at high speed for long distances. The hardest fighting Yorkshire carp I caught then, weighed 9lbs 15oz, a fully scaled lean mirror that took me the best part of 25 minutes to beat on a Mk IV 12lb line and no 4 hook that was baited with balanced crust and paste in the classic time honoured Walkerian way.

Then in '67 I moved to South Africa. I spent several years fishing for carp there and to tell the truth, most of the fish I caught came in like the proverbial wet sack, including the big ones. They were most disappointing. The exception were the long lean commons of the Vaal River which took off like underwater torpedoes, often taking in excess of 100 yards of line in screeching screaming runs at incredible speeds. I am not ashamed to say that I have had 15lb lines smashed with a crack like a gunshot on occasions with these fish, using Mitchell 410 reels.

Since returning to the UK my carp fishing has taken a back seat, but I have caught enough to be able to say that the few fish I have caught - up to 22lbs, have put up the most dissapointing scraps imaginable. All they have done is chugged or plugged around for a minute or so and have been landed quite easily.

The exception being an 18 pound common I caught from the Trent. Hell, that fish went like a bullet!!

There is no doubt in my mind that the carp in this country don't fight like they did way back in the 50s or 60s.

Have you found this?

the same can be said for ruffe slappers of course mate, some are like a wet sack

I thought I would have had a serious response from you mate.

you are slapper mad!

)

I was being serious mate,
I never joke about ruffe slappers

one carp though, the hardest fighting fish I`ve had is those of the St Lawrence, you can`t backwind those buggers, even fish at mid doubles went off like demons, I can rememberfishing oneof the back waters once, stalking them from a boat, we just let the boat drift over the pads and dropped the bait on their heads, boy did they erupt, pads flying everywhere and you would have to jump in the shallowmargins to land them, incredible fish, much harder fighters than the Frenchies

My honourable friend, the member for Rotherham, will be interested to learn that I had an intereting scrap with a nice seven pounder just last week that took well over ten minutes to land.



On a fly rod.




Cracking sport!

My noble and learned friend has twice now revealed his cunning plan for Clattercotes next year. Is he indulging in Blairite spin? The forum demands an answer.

Between 7 - 12lbs and commons.

And the best fighting carp I have ever experienced have been with commons in the 11 to 15 lb bracket.

The long lean types with big tails.

I think I quoted it in my trip report from last year, but the French venue we heading off to tomorrow has the hardest fighting big carp I've ever come across.

Most big carp you just bring in like a big dog on a leash and they givedeep plunges and head nods under the rod tip, but every carp hooked at Cas-en-Lac last year gave an amazing account of itself.

Anybody who has hooked a big carp at distance will know that the first 50 odd yards is pretty undramatic, not so with these beauties.
I had a 39 which I hooked at 140yds and on contact immediately started taking line.
I've only ever had cats do that to me in the past.
So is it down to the strain or the venue?

Most of the big SA carp I hooked at long range were just like pumping in a dead sack of spuds. They might chug around a bit when you got them under the rod tip but they never did anything all that dramatic.

It may be due to a variety of things Rik.

I am not quite sure what the reason is.

I had three carp today, to around 9lbs and one at 14. The fish in the 9lb range gave a much more exciting account of themselves then the bigger one.

The others scrapped all the way, lunged and took line. Where as the other one just ran round in circles under the rod most of the time.

Carp also vary in their build considerably. On the one hand you get those heavily gutted fish that don't appear to swim - they waddle. Their weight seems to be made up mainly of fat, or perhaps they are spawn bound or suffering from edema (dropsy)

Then you get another type which is deep in the shoulder, has a flat stomach and is mainly muscle. Even the mirrors of this type can fight very hard indeed.

A lot of French carp seem to be built this way. It may have something to do with their diet.

try 4lb line and a float rod

does temperature come into it ?

I had one about 10lb last winter on a 20 to 1.5lb that came in like a bream, doubt if I would have stood a chance in summer

the fighting ability of a carp is based on its fitness, worked out through shape and weight, muscle to fat ration, I cant remember the exact formula buts its called the Condition Factor, weight x weight x weight divided by girth x length x 1,000 = CF, I think?, the old Wildies usually had a CF of around 150, the large bloated kings about 3.50 - 400

A couple of years ago i had two commons off the top while smoking the same cig , the 1st was a 16 lb which went like a train ,the 2nd was a 25 lb which came in rather tame ,then i got too cocky and spooked the rest of them ,there must have been at least 30 carp on the top at that time ,doh !

Ive found that 16-17lb carp figth harder than most of the 20+ ive caught.

Throwing it open a bit more, why do ghosties (in my experiance) fight harder than commons and mirrors??

Having just returned from the venue I mentioned above, I think I know what it is and when I get some photo's loaded you'll be able to see the absolutely huge size of the fins on these beasts.
The pectoral fins are huge and the tails big and wide.
You'll see in the photo's.

Woody
What are you using at the end of your fly line? Are you using a baitsuch as pellet or an actual fly?

look forward to them Rik