Confessions of a Carp Fisher by BB

Author:BB [BB and Denys Watkins-Pitchford]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781913159023
Publisher: Merlin Unwin Books
Published: 2019-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

1 From the Vaal River, South Africa, there are recent records of carp of 75 lbs and 45 lbs, and a native was prosecuted for killing a carp which weighed 81 lbs. He clubbed it to death!

2 Beechmere

Chapter X

CARP GOSSIP

To grow to any size carp require deep water, but there are exceptions to the rule, as there are to every rule. Flt.-Lt. Burton has just described how he caught a 15 lb fish out of a shallow pond, but to find a carp of this size in such a water must be of very uncommon occurrence. Sussex by the way has always been famed for its carp and in that county there are many old moats, park pools and hammer ponds where some very fine specimens are found. The species does not appear to thrive in Scotland and I have no record of any carp north of the Border. It is a fish which delights in warm weather, it also requires plenty of mud in which, during the cold spells, it semi-hibernates, though no British fish ever hibernates in the true sense, they simply become lethargic. Any rise in temperature will tempt them forth and like the tench they may sometimes be caught in the depth of winter. I remember seeing a 4lb tench captured on Boxing Day.

Most shallow ponds, if inhabited by carp, have the typical opaque appearance which is caused by the fish routing about in the mud. Because of this habit carp are not recommended for garden ponds, though Crucian carp do not stir up the mud so much; it is only the common and mirror carp which do so. Carp from these muddy shallow ponds are quite inedible, indeed the fish requires expert cooking to make it palatable. But from a deep clear water one can very often catch ‘good eating’ fish, and my friend Jim the postman has often told me he has eaten the Beechmere carp, cooking them on the bank. He wraps them in several layers of leaves and lays them in the embers. When the fish is cooked, in about ten minutes or so, he takes them out, peels off the leaves which bring the skin with them and finds the fish white, tender, and delicious.

From my knowledge of Beechmere Flt.-Lt. Burton must have found it a very difficult matter to get his floating bread out to the basking carp as the oaks overhang the water at that spot, making even ordinary casting with bait a feat of skill. On a still day there is no helping wind and even when there is a breeze the place is so sheltered hardly a ripple moves the surface. The pike float method might be successful. Some carp fishers wrap a heavy ball of ground bait around the line to make it travel out, but the ball is apt to break asunder as soon as you cast and certainly, I have found that when it hits the water, it breaks up. But if you can get it out it will also serve the double purpose of ground bait.

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