The Carp

The common carp originated in Western Asia and naturally dispersed to China, Siberia and the Danube basin. The fish were later transferred to Europe by the Romans. Carp culture in China dates back to the 7th Century BC where some 90% of the current 11 million ton world production is grown.

The carp was spread throughout Europe by monks between the 13th and 16th centuries, as a food fish, and has now been introduced to all continents and some 59 countries. In Western Europe, the carp is cultured more commonly as a sport fish although there is a small market for the table.

Carp are omnivorous so will feed on insect larvae, zooplankton, snails and plants. They are primarily benthic feeders, in that they find most of their food in the mud at the bottom of the water they inhabit. The fish have a keen sense of smell as they spend much of the time in cloudy water where vision is impaired.

Female carp usually reach sexual maturity at 4-5 years of age, the males a year earlier. Carp are capable of living up to 60 years and commonly reach 30 years of age.

The carp is also a hardy fish, capable of withstanding poor water quality considered harmful to many other species, particularly Salmonids.

The main attractions to angling for carp is the power of the fish and the effort required to catch a specimen. Large carp are a wary fish and have an uncanny ability of ignoring anglers baits. Their feeding habits are greatly affected by weather conditions and the abundance of natural feed. There is nothing predictable about carp fishing! Probably the greatest attraction though is the size of the fish. Carp can grow very large. The current Irish record is just under 30lb, the current U.K record is just over 60lb and the world record is over 100lb.

At Fatanlingtours we have very recently caught a 51lb Carp. Click here to find out more. Also the fish we catch are all totally wild fish, they are not stocked from another lake and are totally natural.

There are 4 main scale types displayed by carp;

Fully scaled carp(Common or Wild Type)
Mirror carp (Small number of large, randomly clustered scales on body)
Linear carp(Usually a single row of large scales along lateral line)
Leather carp(Very few or no scales on body)
The scale pattern of carp offspring can be predicted from the patterns of the parents.

Below is an example of a mirror and common carp caught by Fatanglingtours out of the guadiana river.

All true carp are fully scaled but with the advent of semi-domestication around the 16th Century, varieties of carp without scales were bred. Different body shapes were also selected , with the aim of producing a scaleless fish with a deep body which would be easier to clean and fit nicely on a plate.

To find out more about our fishing packages click here.

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