Speaking on Finding the Carp

From Carp.net Mar 08-2001 AM

Yo BigDog

Does your bankspot qualify as a feeding grounds. Feeding area used by carp exist separately from rest and play areas. I got this concept from George Sharman and it seems to hold true. Sanctuary or rest areas are where they go during a cold front. You can catch them in their play areas, but bodies of water usually have areas carp never feed in because that portion of water doesn't have the food sources that a lot of carp need. If an insect hatch occurs on a swim, that's the new feeding area, otherwise find the sediments where the bottom of the food chain lives. Drag a little of the bottom in on your lead and check it for color, is it black and tenacious. Does it have a fertile odor to it. Old leaves and decomposing vegetation are good.

If the area I fish has produced fish for me, why would I want to look for the feeding ground? Could it be that the area I'm fishing is the feeding ground?

You may be fishing an area where carp feed in their greatest numbers. Like you said the area where you fish seems to have all the structures and cover that we want. Overhanging foliage means there will be sufficient organic material to provide for living forage beneath the surface. In rivers, the current deposits the fields of sediment in the channel. Also on the downstream side of underwater elevations, between the saddles of elevations, and where current slows near shore. Along these shore areas weed beds prove the fertility of the deposits.

In deeper water weed growth decreases due to subdued light and water clarity. But microorganisms flourish and provide the environment for insects in all their stages, copepods, snails, mussels,varieties of worms, sponges, crabs and crayfish. And detritus which they feed on, as well as carp. The tonnage of animals is considerable. Consider the mayfly hatch of one species which is able to darken the sky with their flight and feed fish, birds and bats to the full.

The middle of rivers are where big carp find sanctuary, and feed. The food is there. Big carp prefer darkness, cool temperatures, flowing water, and easy forage. All in the middle of the river. I write this stuff to entertain myself and reinforce my own thinking. HNV is important and so is attractants, and well constructed rigs and good equipment is helpful. But it won't do a bit of good if you cast into the rip rap.

Too much is invested in the mixing of baits, and little is considered of the carps biology and it's environment. Few people who fish for carp have an idea what it is that the huge populations of carp exist and grow on. The alchemy of baitmaking is popular, but the behavior of carp is assumed wrongly. It would not be popular to espouse that carp are carrion eaters, and the strongest chemoreception in carp is for putrefied animal protein. But that is the case.

Considering the natural forage of the carp. Carp farmers raise carp by feeding them a fish chow, harvest them at a proper time and make a profit at the market. In less wealthy countries, carp farming is done differently. In Eastern Europe the carp farming is not done in tanks but in large river systems. The carp are not fed pellets or chow. Rather the farmers engage in fertilizing the river system itself. Attention is paid to using fertilizers which are intended to support the plant growth, increase the sedimentary quality and nourish the benthic animals and the benthic predators such as freshwater crabs and crayfish. The carp living in this nutrient rich river system do what they do best, forage and grow according to their instincts. At the correct time long drop nets are dragged and the carp are harvested. The river is considered a living thing, and the carp is just a part of it.

Al Kowaleski