# Carp and the police.



## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Well I'm glad that nobody accepted my invite to fish with me on Wednesday night. I arrived at 7 pm and had my lines in the water at 7:30. A few minutes later I had my first carp. The second carp, caught about 20 minutes after the first one was a pretty mirror that I estimate at about 8 or 9 lbs. The action was fast and furious. I was getting constant line bites - an unreal number of line baits. Evidently, my three day prebaiting/chumming campaign was paying off big time. Before night fell, I already had four carp. Between 9:30 and 12:15 I added 5 more carp and lost four more  

I knew things were about to go downhill when I saw the police arrive at the gravel pit and start searching the shore with a spotlight. I was reeling in the 15 lber when this occured. The police saw my car and came down the hillside. The police came to within 30 feet of me and told me that people were not allowed to be there after dark. I explained that I had a good fish on and that I would leave as soon as I got it in. So under the glow of two flashlights held by the police, I landed and released the 15 lb carp. At least they could tell that I was down there fishing and not causing trouble. They were nice and I was nice back to them. 

I have no idea how many fish I would have landed. Other fishermen had told me that the night fishing ban was not enforced - well, it was enforced on me.I guess I'll have to write some letters and see if I can get fishing access legalized at night.


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## Fastlane (Apr 11, 2004)

Shoot, sounds like a great night to me even if it was cut short.


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## littleking (Jun 25, 2005)

why does that fish look so weird? like its scales are missing


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## Fastlane (Apr 11, 2004)

littleking said:


> why does that fish look so weird? like its scales are missing


 It is a mirror carp. Also sold in bait stores as Isrealie carp. Many populations were started by escaping bait which grew, spawned and ........ well the rest is history.


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## MarrakeshExpress (May 9, 2005)

What are they used for when sold as bait? We sell them at Gander Mtn. but I don't know of anyone who has bought any.


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

They are mainly used as bait for flathead catfish.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Like Fastlane said, it is a mirror carp. There is nothing wrong with it. There are some some carp that have no scales at all, those are called leather carp. Linear carp only have scales along the lateral line. Some people will tell you that Israeli carp are a different variation of the mirror carp, that there body is more compressed, higher, compacted, but I'm not an expert on these matters. The important thing is that they are all the same species, cyprinus carpio. From what I understand, you could take a bunch of common carp, all fully scaled, and eventually, through selctive breeding, produce all the known variations. 

If you think about it, all people on this earth are members of the same species, **** sapiens. Yet there is substantial variation among our own species, with people from different geographical areas possessing distinctive looks.

A lot of people use Israeli carp for flathead bait. I personally prefer to use goldfish for flatheads because they seldom have ever left me skunked.


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