carp feeding through the winter?

[jamie gal]

do the carp feed through the winter season because i went fishing yesterday and it was really dead not even a sniff!!!! i seen this bloke and he reckons they start to settle down round about this time of year? surely they still need to feed tho?

[jason.p]

Depends on the water. Well stocked commercials will produce Carp every day of the year (including Christmas!), generally though they do slow down in cold weather. For some reason F1s seem to feed all through. Does anyone know why?

[jamie gal]

Depends on the water. Well stocked commercials will produce Carp every day of the year (including Christmas!), generally though they do slow down in cold weather. For some reason F1s seem to feed all through. Does anyone know why?

isi thanks butt, whats f1s?

[larsagi2010]

isi thanks butt, whats f1s?

 

They are a type of specialist Carp ''Common and Crusian cross'' or something of the sort. (I think!) I am pretty new to F1's myself.

[Renrag39]

Their feeding behaviour results from heterosis, or hybrid vigor and the need to feed to sustain their accelerated metabolism, also resulting in harder fighting fish besides the extended feeding cycles.

 

To be exceedingly correct an F1 Hybrid is the first generation of a cross between 2 different species of animal such as Common and Crucian Carp and stands for Filial 1 in context. However many so called F1's could actually be F2's or even F3's either due to natural breeding within the body of water, incorrect or misleading parent lineage or just plain disregard/lack of knowledge of the Filial numbering system and what it actually stands for.

 

Renrag

Edited September 23, 2010 by Renrag39

[jason.p]

Their feeding behaviour results from heterosis, or hybrid vigor and the need to feed to sustain their accelerated metabolism, also resulting in harder fighting fish besides the extended feeding cycles.

 

 

Renrag

 

Thanks Renrag, I've always wondered why. It seems they grow fast but not particularly big, so ideal for matches. You can tell a hybrid from the real thing by the lack of barbules. I wonder if this means they feed differently from a true Carp.

[Renrag39]

Also it is not uncommon for F1's to be sterile, with roach and bream hybrids, sterility is in the high 90%. Not entirely sure of the figure and its far too vague to be truly accurate anyway. I wonder what the fertility of the F1 crucian/common stacks up as?

 

Then there is the re-evolution theory (stop now if you want to stay awake but it interests me at least). Given enough time and generations in an enclosed body of water, a fully stocked lake of F1's may well successfully breed, F2's being significantly more successful at breeding than their F1 parents and so on to infinity until fertility is optimum. Plus from this single generation of F1 hybrids it would, in theory, be highly likely that 2 sub-species would evolve, one being more crucian like, but maybe comparable in size to the 'original' common (to allow for gene swapping probability) and one bearing more genetic resemblance to commons. It also goes without saying that the possibilty of further sub species being developed, especially in a single species lake, further specialized for an environmental niche that goes unfulfilled, such as Predominant Piscivores.

 

Renrag

[poledark]

Ordinary carp feed well right thro even the coldest weather/water. When I was a young man, we all thought that they hibernated and so we stopped fishing for them took a couple of brave souls to prove us all wrong. I have caught big (25lbs +) in water which was only 1 degree above freezing (33F)

 

Even a partial covering of ice didn't deter them. This was not on some overstocked commercial, but a large gravel pit.

 

Now that is the most extreme example I can give, but I have had steady success right thro every winter for the last 25 years at least.

 

So the answer is YES, they do feed thro the winter.

 

I am a bit puzzled at your reference to the fish "starting to settle down" there is another old saying, i.e. "if you can't catch a carp in September, then you will never catch a carp" Once again, I am referring to "proper carp waters"

 

Den

[Anderoo]

As Jason says, it really depends on the water. Deeper lakes are more likely to shut down, especially if the stocking level is not high. Shallower lakes are more likely to offer a bite or two as they warm up quicker if you get a bit of winter sun - especially if there's a bit of shallow, snaggy, sheltered water that gets the morning rays. I used to fish a small lake that had such an area, and used to catch quite a few carp throughout the winter by fishing PVA bags of over-flavoured bits and pieces with a 10mm fruity boilie, cast tight to the shallow, snaggy margin.

 

There was a deeper lake next to it, and I remember once finding a couple of carp deep in some snags in the middle of winter that were so torpid we could push them around with a landing net handle! You're not likely to catch one of them...!

[jamie gal]

As Jason says, it really depends on the water. Deeper lakes are more likely to shut down, especially if the stocking level is not high. Shallower lakes are more likely to offer a bite or two as they warm up quicker if you get a bit of winter sun - especially if there's a bit of shallow, snaggy, sheltered water that gets the morning rays. I used to fish a small lake that had such an area, and used to catch quite a few carp throughout the winter by fishing PVA bags of over-flavoured bits and pieces with a 10mm fruity boilie, cast tight to the shallow, snaggy margin.

 

There was a deeper lake next to it, and I remember once finding a couple of carp deep in some snags in the middle of winter that were so torpid we could push them around with a landing net handle! You're not likely to catch one of them...!

[

thanks all for the info exspecially the f1 because i didnt have a clue what it was!! and as for that bloke saying carp settle down he,s on his own then ha now i can go all through the winter aswell happy days