Carp in the news

[TubeDude]

[cool][blue][size 1]This was forwarded to me by my daughter in Sandy this morning.[/size][/blue]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]THURSDAY June 24, 2004
Kirby: I prefer to use a pistol when I'm fishing for carp
Robert Kirby - Salt Lake Tribune Columnist

One of the most challenging sport fish of North America is the lowly carp, or as it is known in Latin: Bottomus suckus.
The carp's relatively recent popularity stems from its reputation as the Mike Tyson of the fish world (large in size, small of acuity). Anglers now deliberately seek it out as a way of testing their skills.
Admittedly the carp is no marlin, pike or shark, but it does put up a scrap, something rarely found among local fish generally considered no feistier than a phone book.
The first time I caught a carp was terrifying. Not the actual catching mind you, although that part was a surprise as well. Judging from the way my line took off, I was pretty sure that I had hooked a U-boat.
No, the scary part occurred when I started to haul the fish aboard and discovered that I had caught perhaps the homeliest fish in the world, uglier by far than halibut or turbot. Add some wimpy whiskers and you have a carp.
The origins of the carp are something of a mystery, but biologists theorize that it occurred long ago when a pig and a Shopvac did some tequila shooters and went home together.
Americans do not esteem the carp in the same way Europeans and Asians do. Whereas we regard it with revulsion, they consider it delicious and raise them to the size of buffalo.
Much of carp's negative reputation stems from the fact that it is a fish and all fish need a certain amount of water, which is to say "some." The shallow, murky and drought-befouled local water produces carp that taste like Congress.
Some Americans will eat carp that are caught and prepared to exacting standards, most preferably with large amounts of dynamite. This brings us to the sport of carp fishing, for which there is, believe it or not, an international club.
Ironically, dynamite and clubs are just two of the ways carp can be taken, though neither is endorsed by the Carp Anglers Group, which considers the lowly carp the "world's greatest sportfish."
Among the professional gear needed to catch carp are such items as disgorgers, safety baiting needles, standard baiting needles, boilie punches and some assorted boilie stops.
Or you can just shoot them. This is how I caught carp at Utah Lake when I was a bored cop working the graveyard shift. For the record, it takes a bullet to the brain to instantly kill a carp. But since carp brains are just a theory, be prepared for a fight.
Other people use bows and arrows, pitchforks, machetes, hammers and even lawnmowers. I once saw a guy fishing for carp with nothing more than a 4x4 pickup. OK, and some beer.
Hundreds of recipes exist for cooking and eating carp. My personal favorite is a Bohemian one that uses bay leaves, molasses, walnuts and gingersnaps, though admittedly I have never actually put any of it in my mouth.
The good thing about carp is that we have billions of them, and there is no limit to the number you may catch and release (or not).
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Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby welcomes mail at 143 S. Main St., Salt Lake City, UT 84111, or e-mail at rkirby@sltrib.com.[/size][/font]
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[tubeN2]

Very interesting article. Do you still have the pictures around from our carp-fest days??? I think those were interesting as well.[cool]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][blue][size 1]You mean like this one...you carp killer you.[/size][/blue]



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[Out4Trout]

[cool]That's classic stuff there, TubeDude and Tuben2. That pic must be circa 1980 or so? Where was that, at Utah Lake? It's strange to see a trash can there. I've never seen any at Utah Lake except maybe near the boat lauches/restrooms.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][blue][size 1]So ya know yer old Chevy wagons, huh? That's about right. Somewhere around '80. TubeN2 was still a pup and I was still a fiesty hound. He's now older than I was when that pic was taken. [/size][/blue]

[#0000ff][size 1]Ya got the spot wrong, though. It is near the inlet at Willard Bay. We had gone to fish crappies with small chartreuse jigs (back in the day when there were lots of crappies there). Problem is that the carp decided to take over the inlet and were slurping the little jigs as fast as we could toss them out. There were times that all three of us, including Mike...T2's older brother...all had bent sticks at the same time.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Just so nobody gets miffed about wasted resources, all of the carp we kept were donated to a group of folks who were extremely happy to have them. Plenty more were released unharmed or arranged their own "long line" release by breaking the 4# mono we were using for the crappies. I landed one mirror carp that day that went about 25#.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]A good had was timed by all. Gotta love them ugly mothers for the fun they provide.[/size][/#0000ff]
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[Theekillerbee]

Very nice TubeDude. The article is appropriate. However, just be careful, some people take offense to those of us that pick on Carp....me, I just like to talk to them[]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][blue][size 1]What? No dinner and dancing?[/size][/blue]

[#0000ff][size 1]I followed the recent hullabaloo about "be kind to carpkind". It reinforced my opinion that some folks have far too much time on their hands and far too little to occupy their minds.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]As an angler, I truly appreciate the potential provided by carp. They are great for keeping your stick bent on otherwise slow days. And, there is no better quarry for teaching new anglers how to properly play larger fish. [/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]As a half-baked environmentalist (no tree hugging), I despise carp for their destructive habits and what they do to the ecosystem. It is okay to say that carp have rights, but their rights do not extend beyond the point that they are destroying the right to survive for other species.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Utah Lake is a prime example of the adverse affect carp can have on a body of water. It is a pure miracle that the other species in the lake are even surviving...much less providing a decent fishery.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Even I, of ancient years, am not old enough to remember the introduction of carp into Utah Lake. I have to rely on old writings and the observations of others about what the lake once was before carp (BC). But, I have seen other smaller bodies of water (in California) virtually destroyed within a few years of carp finding their way into the system. In short order they ate or rooted out all of the vegetation and either killed or drove off all other species.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]So, my opinion is that carp are indeed entitled to life and the respect due any living creature. However, I also believe that when mankind has allowed something (like Utah Lake) to get out of whack, measures should be taken to restore it as much as possible. Fat Chance.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]I won't say bad things about you "ventilating" a few buglemouths. And, I got yer back. Anybody wants to slam you for doing your part to thin the herd, then let them come after me. [/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]Kinda makes you wonder if there is such a thing as "human carp". Some people are about as useful as those ugly scaly critters.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]There, that oughtta get something going.[/size][/#0000ff]
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[redlight88]

The Trib had a package on carp. Here's the other story.

Guides say a fight's waiting at Flaming Gorge






By Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune

FLAMING GORGE RESERVOIR, Daggett County -- Although he hates carp poop in his boat, guide Jim Blackburn is trying to convince anglers, particularly fly rodders, that the exotic animals from Asia are a great sport fish.
"I hear it all the time: 'You guide people for those bottom-sucking, mud-sucking and good-for-nothing fish?' and I tell them carp are wise, strong and worthy game fish," said Blackburn.
Saltwater anglers have long known the thrill of spotting and casting to fish cruising the flats. Now Utah anglers can experience the excitement in their home state.
For 25 years, Blackburn has been guiding saltwater anglers in the Florida Keys for bonefish, permit and tarpon, to name a few. He started guiding anglers to carp last summer at Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
"The Gorge is one of the best destinations in the world to sight fish for carp because of the clarity of the water. You can see them 300 feet away," said Blackburn, who prefers to call his quarry "golden
bonefish." "This is a new frontier for fishing overall and at the Gorge."
Reports of anglers actually seeking carp at the Gorge came more than a decade ago, when Green River fly-fishing guides living in Dutch John spent days off casting to the cruising lunkers from their dories. Instead of pictures of clients holding up trophy trout, the walls of the trailers on guide's row were covered with the guides themselves holding up giant carp.
"Fishing for carp is really still in its infancy, but it is taking off. Once people have fish break them off a couple of times they are hooked," said Byron Gunderson of Fish Tech Outfitters.

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Gunderson said a wave of interest in carp is sweeping across the fishing world, led by fly fishers.
"Trout fishing is fun, but having backing on your reel is a joke. You really don't need it," he said. "Carp are so powerful you have to have backing and you will use it. Once you hook these fish everything begins to bust loose. They are very powerful fish."
Knowing Blackburn is guiding anglers to carp is one thing, but seeing his 18-foot Hell's Bay Boatworks Whipray skiff on the water is another. A guy standing on a platform over the outboard motor using a 22-foot pole to push a boat around is not something Utah anglers are accustomed to seeing.
"One time I had these two old-timers saying 'look he has a roof over his motor so his engine doesn't get wet'. I didn't say anything. It would have been too hard to explain it to them," Blackburn said.
In addition to giving Blackburn a better view of fish feeding in the distance, the platform allows him to silently approach the carp.
The best time to sight fish for Cyprinus carpio at the Gorge is July to September, when the water is warm and the fish are actively feeding in the shallows.
On this mid-June day, the fish were scattered and spooky, but a few were feeding in the flats. Several unsuccessful attempts to get the golden bones to snarf up a Hoover fly went without results. Then a fish actively rooting on the bottom -- commonly called tailing or standing on its head -- was spotted. The fly landed next to the fish and was quickly taken.
The race was on, with line stripping from the reel faster than a nearby pronghorn antelope -- North America's fastest land animal -- who abandoned the shoreline due to the ruckus.
The big-shouldered fish was heavy and put up more of a fight than most trout caught on the fabled Green River on the other side of the dam. Once at the boat, Blackburn did not ask if the angler wanted to touch the fish, but held it quickly up for the mandatory trophy pictures and then returned it to the water.
Blackburn's Flaming Gorge clients have landed carp ranging from 9 to 27 pounds, with the average running about 14 to 16 pounds. That is substantially larger than the 8- to 10-pound
bonefish caught in the Keys. Blackburn tells stories of fish that took the fly and did not stop when the backing screamed off the reel. He knows there are carp 35 pounds and up in the reservoir.
Novice anglers may hesitate to try sight fishing because of the long casting they believe is required, but Blackburn says the fish can be caught at short distances.
"You don't need to be able to make a 90-foot perfect cast," he said. "A first-time fly fisher caught our biggest fish as her first fish on a fly rod."
[url "mailto:bpretty@sltrib.com"]bpretty@sltrib.com[/url]


If You Go
Grand Slam Backcountry Charters, owned by Jim Blackburn, guides out of the Lucerne Valley Marina with a permit through the Ashley National Forest.
The cost is $350 for a 8-hour trip. The price includes one or two anglers.
Anglers will need a Utah fishing license and reciprocal stamp to fish in Wyoming or a Wyoming license and a Utah stamp.
Call Blackburn at 970-846-1734 or visit his website at [url "http://www.grandslamfish.com/"]http://www.grandslamfish.com.[/url]
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[tubeN2]

They truly can be fun on light tackle. Even more fun when you are expecting much smaller fish. I can just see the old carp being built up in fame to be the next freshwater version of the Tarpon. NOT!!!

Every fish has it's place in the ecosystem. Some find them as table fare inwhich you can find recipes on the recipe board and others find them as excellent fertilizer for their gardens.

Either way we are supposed to have some kind of fun with them.

Look in the picture above. We had somewhere around 30 for the day and they were all 15lb on up to 25lbs. Now that is fun.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][blue][size 1]Good article. No doubt about it, carp can be every bit as tough to fool on artificials as a wily brow trout in heavily fished waters.[/size][/blue]

[#0000ff][size 1]There are more and more fly flingers around the country who are honing their casting and big fish fighting skills on carp. In clear water reservoirs, stalking them is not at all unlike looking for bonefish or reds on the flats. And, like cautious fish in skinny water anywhere, carp don't tolerate close approaches and sloppy casting. You gotta be good to get the opportunity to do battle on a fly rod.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 1]I got into a bunch of small to medium carp in a shallow bay on Willard Bay one time that smacked little red tube jigs and ran like bonefish. Stayed out too long and got a nice springtime sunburn for my enjoys.[/size][/#0000ff]
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