Carp: The facts

[OnTheFly]

Hey John, believe me when I tell you Jimmy's got some fish stories!!!! Some day he'll tell you about lung fish and giant asian catfish!!!!!!

(quack quack):lol:

 

[TTFishon]

Carp are not related to goldfish, nor are they related to Koi. all three are very different species.

here is a nice Koi I caught a few years ago.

People pay good money for koi. I wonder what someone would pay for that one. Nice fish BTW.

 

[GrillMaster]

I am not really new here but it has been awhile, Carp; what a great fish. I live on the outskirts of Valley River Center and trek after them on a regular basis, fun to target and once you understand the rhythm of this species you won't soon forget the fight. Misunderstood fish and for me that is a bonus.

GM

 

[ChezJfrey]

Misunderstood for sure. You can teach them to fetch!

My first cast this morning and I netted one...albeit slightly small at 25" But, when I got it to the net, I saw that it brought back a floating Rapala that I had lost (a bad cast misfortune) several weeks ago in that same lake.

Before:


After applying some ketchup:


The ketchup thing I learned from this place...I love the things you can learn on this forum!

 

[GrillMaster]

That is just too cool, thanks for the hint on the ketchup. I enjoy chasing them, a real four season fish.
Nebraska has a state Carp Turny, big bucks.
Still like that they fetch, nice.

GM

 

[OnTheFly]

hah...yeah, he was easy to see, but remarkably hard to catch. i guess being that big and bright orange, you learn to be a tad bit spooky![/QUOTE]

Wait a second....are you telling me that your orange Koi carp is aware, or it learned of it's vulnerability to predators because it knows how easily it can be seen by it's color? You gotta be kidding me.

 

[john montana]

All I have is anecdotal evidence, whites means basically nothing. But, that fish spooked easier than anything I have chased by far. It took me 7 months to catch it and I learned to keep my posture low and hide behind bushes etc. Basically if it was aware of human presence it stopped eating. I caught it casting from my stomach. I doubt the fish knows it is orange, only that it needs to be careful and stay in close proximity to deep water.

It has been proven that carp learn and retain info for up to two months though. They did a test in England and carp hooked on certain baits refused to eat that same bait type for up to two months. I don't think you can really take much stock in that test though...the carp in England all live in ponds and are basically pets that are caught over and over again.

 

[OnTheFly]

Com'on John, carp aren't any smarter than any other fish. Fish are very low on the food chain so they are born spooked. You ever catch fish living in beaver dams? Stealth is the only way you can do it and once something strange happens in the water, such as a couple fish being caught, then bite's off and it's over. Some one told me once that trout remember everything they eat. Whether that's true or not is only anecdotal evidence. However, larger fish don't get that way by eating anything in sight. Brown trout are a perfect example. They are selective just like your carp on a fly.

 

[john montana]

I am not the only one that thinks carp are smarter than most fish. Dig around the web a bit and you'll find that carp are widely accepted as one of the smartest freshwater fishes, general with large mouth bass in second place. Smart is probably not the word I would use, but all fish are instinctive and carp seem to learn and adapt better than most.

 

[john montana]

No time to hunt up the source documents (diazo vs noons on the DVR!) but a quick search came up with this:
Carp are smarter than freshwater bass, which is probably a shocking revelation to avid sport fishermen. In lab tests measuring the rate at which fish can learn things, carp have figured out simple tasks almost twice as fast as bass. That will explain, in part, why carp can be so hard to fool with a fly.

Article is interesting.
The Ultimate Guide to Fly Fishing for Carp | Field & Stream

It makes logical sense to me that some fish are smarter than others...why not carp?

 

[bigdog]

I don't know man I'm thinking using the word smart might be a bit much here though. More think of instinctive or something like that. Wouldn't want to refer to any fish as smart, does that make any sense to anyone?

 

[Sinkline]

.

 

[OnTheFly]

From the book I have quoted several times in this thread (Carp in North America), they claim carp are the smartest, most evolved fish that swim. For comparison, that book claims a carp's intelligence is on par with the average bovine. Think about that for a second...., the smartest fish that swims has the intelligence of a cow in the pasture! Now..., how smart is the average angler that struggles to catch a lowly "dumb" trout? Hehehehe!

Regarding the intelligents of carp I am and always will be a skeptic.

 

[john montana]

All the studies out there point to carp being more intelligent than other fish. Are they smart? Heck no, I agree with big dog. Smart is the wrong word. But used in a competitive tense as in "are carp smarter than bass?" tha question seems to have been answered in favor of the carp. I have found no studies testing carp against trout, though in general trout seem to rank pretty far down the list for most biologists in terms of "smarts". I read the reports and they agree with my experiences, so I for one buy the idea that carp are well above average for fish. I understand being skeptical, heck, look how long it took for people to admit the earth rotated around the sun? Hah hah!

 

[brandon4455]

troutdude,i know what you mean my favorite bass area of the willamette has no bass whatsoever in it it's just carp and chubs..they suck everything off the bottom.. they need to make a kill oregon's trashfish day :/

 

[OnTheFly]

Check out john montana's blogspot under his signature. Great stuff!

 

[ninja2010]

Check out john montana's blogspot under his signature. Great stuff!

yup... great read.

so whatdya think, jim? give carp a try?

 

[OnTheFly]

Nope. Don't think that would happen. Unless by some mistake I catch one in steelhead waters.

 

[Hawk]

People pay good money for koi. I wonder what someone would pay for that one. Nice fish BTW.

I think i saw that Koi at Marine World.

hahahaha
:lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

[Hawk]

I've caught Carp all over our Great Country (growing up an Army brat), when i was mostly targeting Bass,,,then i released them back into the water.