So many of you will know that Carp belong to the species (Cyprinus Carpia). A fish whose natural habitat was Asia, but is now found on most of the large land masses, like Europe and North America.
Carp have had a chequered career. They were once considered to be an undesirable element in fresh water lakes and rivers. This resulted in a lot of activity aimed at getting carp exterminated.
Why were they undesirable? Because they are omnivorous – they eat both animal and plant foods indiscriminately. To ensure they miss out on nothing in their diet, carp roil about in the water, stirring up the sediment, rooting about for food. This increases the turbidity and creates an environment which affects the well-being and growth of many of the plants and animals found underwater.
A nice word – roil. It also means to vex, disturb and irritate, which bring us back to the verb ‘to carp’. This means to find fault, to complain unreasonably, to niggle or be critical. There seems to be a connection here between ‘carp’ and ‘to carp’ – don’t you think?
Carp’s fortunes began to turn when it was discovered that they are an easy fish to raise for food. If they are farmed, large amounts of fish meat can be produced per acre. This is done most successfully in Europe and Asia. To fish-farm successfully, the oxygen in the water needs to be replenished regularly. This can be done fairly easily when the fish are kept in tanks and the water is continually circulated by means of a pumping system. The food is fed directly into the tanks, though it’s unclear what exactly happens to the waste the fish produce.
This mass food production is a little at odds with the fact that they are not a particularly edible variety of fish, except perhaps to Polish people, to whom they are as important at Christmas time as the turkey is elsewhere. You will not find Carp appearing regularly as a dish on 5 star menus anywhere in the world.
To anglers though, catching Carp is a great sport. They can be very wily, putting up a great fight to avoid being removed from the water. At present the world fishing record for a Carp is more than 90lbs 15ozs.
And then, how about:
C for Carp
A for Anglers
R for Ready mades – boilies which have already been manufactured, sold in bags.
P for Pod, a folding stand where carp rods are placed.
Check out an ebook UK Carp Fishing Secrets which includes recipes for bait and tips on rigs, at the website below.
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