Additional Information
The Carp is one of the freshwater anglers most recognizable species. Carp can come in many guises (linear, big plated, common) but the one thing that you will notice on these stunning fish is the fact that they can grow to some big sizes. Carp are one of the most sought after species in the world with many anglers spending days on the banks to target these fish.
Name: Carp
Also Known as: Scaleys, Mirrors, commons, leathers,
Scientific Name: Cyprinus Carpio
Description
The carp can come in many guises with the 2 most common being Mirror Carp and their wild ancestors the common carp The mirror carp was the first genetic mutation of common carp where Common carp have a regular scale pattern with even sized scales on the body, mirrors have irregular often erratic scaling, making many fish unique and easy to identify individual fish by sight. This means that most Carp in the UK over 40 lb are now being named by anglers.
Average size for Carp
The average size of the Carp you will catch really depends on the water you are fishing, the average could range from 5lb to double figures depending on the stock of fish in the waters.
Where to catch Carp
Carp in general are found on every continent in fresh and brackish waters. The places we would recommend to travel and catch these scaley beasts would be Hungary (Paradise lakes), the River Ebro (these fish are wild and extremely hard fighting). Other well-known areas to catch Carp include France, Croatia and South Africa. There are many UK waters stocked with mirror Carp the most famous being Linear Lakes and Redmire Pool.
Fishing Methods for Carp
By a long way the most popular method used for Carp fishing is ledgering with one of the thousands of different flavoured boilies that are on the market. These flavours can range from the delicious fruity varieties all the way through to the super strong fishy flavoured offerings. Along with these flavoured boilies you will using one of the hundreds of different rigs designed for this exact purpose.
Other baits that can be used for catching Carp include worms, maggots, corn bread and Tigernuts, Other more natural ways to fish for Carp include float fishing using waggler tactics as well as fishing on the surface when the carp are in the upper layers using floating bait like bread crust and dog biscuits.