# Grand Lake St Marys Roughfish double threat



## Garyoutlaw77

_While fishing the recent Grand Lake st. Marys Carp tournament we caught excellent numbers of Carp and quality Channel Catfish but the real bonus of the trip was the high volume of mirror scale pattern carp we caught in the mix. By far some of the highest densities I have ever encountered in a true wild water setting.
(Mirrors were 100% CPR by us)



































_


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## fishwhacker

Gary,
Im ignorant to the carp game but fish glsm oftern. Whats do you mean about mirror scale pattern and what causes that?


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## Garyoutlaw77

fishwhacker said:


> Gary,
> Whats do you mean about mirror scale pattern and what causes that?


Mirror scale pattern is a recessive genetic scale mutation in Carp that gives them broken highly irregular scale patterns that typically is quite rare. (don't quote me) but have been told they are said to be 1 in 10,000 fish so catching them at any size is a trophy in the (wild) American Carp fishing world.
They also come in various forms - 
Full scale: large miss-shaped closely stacked scales (most common)
Linear : large shield like scales that run the entire lateral line similar to Israeli carp sold as bait fish.
Leather: little to no scales - smooth skin like a catfish ( uncommon in America)
Muddlers: similar to full scale but only small portions of tiny irregular closely stacked scales.
To give you frame of reference - I have caught only one in over 30 years of fishing some Creeks yet have caught quite a few in others. So have suspicion that habitual inbreeding in closed systems may be linked to higher densities but just my opinion


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## Garyoutlaw77




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## 1MoreKast

Wow what was the weight on that big one ? That's a healthy looking fish ! Congrats


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## zaraspook

Garyoutlaw77 said:


> Mirror scale pattern is a recessive genetic scale mutation in Carp that gives them broken highly irregular scale patterns that typically is quite rare. (don't quote me) but have been told they are said to be 1 in 10,000 fish so catching them at any size is a trophy in the (wild) American Carp fishing world.
> They also come in various forms -
> Full scale: large miss-shaped closely stacked scales (most common)
> Linear : large shield like scales that run the entire lateral line similar to Israeli carp sold as bait fish.
> Leather: little to no scales - smooth skin like a catfish ( uncommon in America)
> Muddlers: similar to full scale but only small portions of tiny irregular closely stacked scales.
> To give you frame of reference - I have caught only one in over 30 years of fishing some Creeks yet have caught quite a few in others. So have suspicion that habitual inbreeding in closed systems may be linked to higher densities but just my opinion
> View attachment 238809


Not often we hear any positive attributes about GLSM's carp population. Thanks for sharing and reporting!


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## Garyoutlaw77

MKslammin said:


> Wow what was the weight on that big one ? That's a healthy looking fish ! Congrats


Sorry that fish was not from GLSM - was just for scale comparison @32 pounds


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