One thing to look at...the size of their tail. Big carp have big rudders.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Big Carp
I tend to define big carp as anything over 15 lbs. Granted, this is an arbitrary number, but a 15 lb carp out here is roughly a third bigger than your average fish, so it feels right. Plus, a 15 lber is always notable. I hear a lot about "big carp" from gear guys I run into, or random people...I guess I spend a lot of time asking "seen any carp around here?" so I shouldn't be too surprised when these "huge" carp turn out to be normal 7-10 lb fish upon exploration. Most people simply haven't held a lot of 10+ lb fish...heck, most fisherman (myself included prior to my carp days) haven't held that many 10+ lb fish. Word of advice to any serious carp guys...carry a scale. I only weigh fish I think will hit the "big" limit, but a scale is easy to carry and impossible to refute. Carp get big, and it is nice to know just how big that fish is...and difficult to figure out without a proper scale of reference.
One thing to look at...the size of their tail. Big carp have big rudders.
Another sure fire way to spot a really big carp is their shoulders. You aren't going to pick up a big fish with one hand.
Don't forget about that big mouth either!
When it comes to carp, length is overrated! The really big girls are big all over.
One thing to look at...the size of their tail. Big carp have big rudders.
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11 comments:
That is definitely a big carp!!! Nice catch!!
those are 4 different fish i think...i just dug out some old pictures. This has been a horrid spring, i've only caught one "big" fish so far (17 lbs). we need sun!
meant to email you RE: fishing in the grass brookfield. in those fields, i just heron stalk around and dap on fish. pretty impossible to cast more than a couple of feet.
Very nice fish! I agree with carp poundage estimates. I am probably quilty of that as anyone though I try to be careful. Plan on getting a digital scale to weigh a fish in my net, I'm tired of my guestimations that are most likely not valid.
Gregg
You are right on about the "big rudders"! There's a few small lakes I know of locally that have a few BIG carp. And that is often all you will see of these fish...just part of the tail stick above the water, slowly waving. One notable time I pulled off the road to watch the tip of a tail fin that I easily spotted while driving by at 55mph from 150 yards away. Big tails indeed!
You ask for sun and I will deliver. There's supposed to be quite a bit this weekend. And me with a warmwater itch to scratch. Should be a good weekend!
Hey John, What type of scale do you use? Any recommendations?
I use a cheap Berkeley digital. It goes up to fifty lbs, is light and easy to use. I weight my fish in the net and the scale zeros. It works fine for what I need.
The Berkley scale is a great deal and it is so cool that you actually NEED the 50lb version (comes in 30lb too I think?). 15lb sounds about right to me, that is where I start to find them hard to handle sometimes.
Scientific method would prove in a heartbeat that folks over-estimate carp weights. With regularity.
A season or two with a scale, and your eye is calibrated.
One thing that still intrigues me: it's a lot more difficult for me to estimate carp at a distance than it is when they're at hand.... as you've been witness to: once a carp is in the net we're at plus/minus one lb. The scale is used for verification if fish is > 15 lbs.
I can't really disagree with anything you've said here. I DO wish you might post length measurements on your big fish as well. In the waters I fish, carp can vary considerably in their "thickness", and therefore weight, throughout the year. Length would seem to be a good indicator of size and age (wisdom? ha ha) of a fish, regardless of seasonal variations in fitness. I don't carry a scale with me, but I do carry a tape measure. I'd be interested in having the ability to estimate the weight of a large fish based on comparisons to lengths/weights others are measuring. Maybe there is too large a weight variation for large carp of a given length?
I think you hit the nail on the head there Dave...carp absolutely weigh differently from body of water to body of water, and time of year. That is exactly why I carry a scale and use that instead of a tape measure. They have so many different body types that I just stick to weight for a measurement tool to keep from confusing the issue. A 30 inch fish could weight ten lbs, or more depending on time of year and where I catch it. The digital scale is a no brainer. Easy to use, easy to carry. Personally, I can't imaging carp fishing without a net so the scale is simple to use. I will try to take some measurements next time out.
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