Myth Busters :: Carp Are Ugly

I recall a fishing session out at Marine Creek in Fort Worth, Texas where I was setup on the bank near a couple families who were enjoying the water nearby.  An older gentleman strolled over with a curious gaze and a question on his lips.  As he marveled at my gear he asked, “What’cha fishin’ for?”   Of course I proudly replied with, “Common Carp.  I had a friend catch a really pretty one out here.”   This guy looked at me like I was an alien from another planet and I watched as his face contorted into one of pure disgust.

“Carp, man, those things are ug-ly!”  He even shuddered in his skin just in case he hadn’t communicated his revolution clearly enough.

This gentleman’s reaction is actually pretty common among curious anglers.  Most American anglers have a very negative view of carp and allow old generalizations and popular opinion to determine their own opinion, as opposed to making up their own mind regarding what is actually a beautiful species of fish.  When asked what’s so ugly about a carp, the feature people point out the most is the carp’s mouth — it’s most distinguishing feature.

But They Have a Gross Sucker Mouth:

Is the common carp’s mouth as repulsive as you’ve heard?   I always like to joke with folks when they point out how ugly carp are because they have a sucker mouth.  I like to ask, “Is a woman’s mouth ugly?”  Of Texas fish species the common carp has the closest mouth to our own.  If you see some guy walking around with a catfish-like mouth just stop and run the other way as fast as you can.  In “Carp Eat Nasty Stuff” we learned that carp are clean eaters and have an appetite for food items that we humans like.  So that makes two things we have in common.

But They’re Fat:

Yes, they are. They get big too and the bigger they get, the more fun it is to catch them.  A bass fisherman can fish his entire life and never catch a bass of 12 pounds.  A seasoned carp fisherman can catch twice that weight in a weekend.

A Common Carp’s weight isn’t the only thing that makes it special and a joy to catch.  Carp also come in variations that are exceedingly exotic and beautiful.  In a lake near you, you could catch a common, a mirror, a fully scaled mirror, a linear mirror, a fan-tail hybrid or a wild koi (a koi that has been released into a water body).  Looking at the variants below I see a canvas of color, style and grace that you just don’t find in other freshwater fish species.  Add 20+ pounds and you have a truly spectacular catch of a lifetime.