Jump to content

Size at which carp grow ?


Bradford Angler

Recommended Posts

Can anyone answer a rather crude coarse anglers paranoid worry when looking at stocking carp and attempting to make a club version of a bite a chuck day ticket water in a new lake.

 

Whenever the word carp and stocking appear in the same sentence or in the written line it is usually followed by huge intakes of breath with comments like - they double in weight each year you know.

 

For a carp to double (could it be possible in the 1st years, could it ? and in latter years with aid of some welding equipment : - )

 

in very basic terms, imagining the water stayed moderate all year round with little temp drops (I will get to the question eventually - stick with me) how much food a day measured in maggots/casters would have to be introduced to create the required weight gain ?

 

how quick do they grow in the Farms ? and how much is portioned per fish ?? anyone know ???

 

also the phrase - they'll take over and totally dominate the water, push everything out - has anyone any views on this

 

I am trying to stay unbiased on this subject

 

ps - god bless all carp

hey waddaya know I can spell tomato !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only question I can answer for you is that carp DO bully out almost all other fish when It comes to feeding. But for a more detailed answer Bruno may be able to help?? He's certainly given our committee at Brighouse something to think about on this and many other subjects!! Not too expensive either I think

 

Chris

Chris Goddard


It is to be observed that 'angling' is the name given to fishing by people who can't fish.

If GOD had NOT meant us to go fishing, WHY did he give us arms then??


(If you can't help out someone in need then don't bother my old Dad always said! My grandma put it a LITTLE more, well different! It's like peeing yourself in a black pair of pants she said! It gives you a LOVELY warm feeling but no-one really notices!))

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I put 4 carp into a pond of about quarter of an acre. The biggest was about 5.5 lb. They seemed to have spawned every year since. 5 years later someone caught one 19 lb 2 ozs. There also appear to be dozens, perhaps hundreds, between a few ounces and 10 lb.

Hardly any food, other than that naturally occurring, was introduced for the first 4 years. There has been very occasional angling for the last 3 years.

The pond was dug about 10 years before the fish were put in.

About 10 small rudd were put in at the same time as the carp and there are now thousands of them.

About 120 fingerling tench were put in a year after the carp and rudd but I have only seen 2 caught since (2 years ago). There was a bit of cormorant activity soon after the tench were put in.

 

The pond is on the UK south coast but up until last year, has frozen over each winter and feeding appears to stop. (Water clears)

 

The water warms up early and I have seen carp spawning in March some years.

 

Hope you can get something out of this.

 

Jim Roper

https://www.harbourbridgelakes.com/


Pisces mortui solum cum flumine natant

You get more bites on Anglers Net

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It all depends on the quality of the stock fish. The strain of which it has been born from etc.

Some strains of carp grow like the clappers. You can buy a 10lb carp that will be a 30 in 10 years. [usually imports] and you can also buy a 10lb carp that will probably never see 20.

However the amount of food going into a lake does have an effect as does the size of the lake. Each lake has a certain bio-mass, many match waters overstock the puddles they use and exceed the bio-mass with fish. Thus the reason why all the fish are mainly small and why they stay so small. High stock densitys can ruin small waters, especially if their isnt anything like mussels, crays, pea mussels, weed, pads etc for the carp to feed in or underneath. For example:

A water near me was created as a match water, and was stocked with far too many carp, amongst tench, bream, perch and roach. Somebody took it upon themselves to put a few pike in the water, and mussel beds spread when a nearby canal flooded. Now some of the fish are over the twenty mark. the lake record is 26lb and the lake is no bigger than 50 yards long and 30 yards across.

You look at waters with the largest carp in britian in...absolute fountains of natural food. Snails, caddis, mussels, crayfish, you name it and it's there and a sweep through the weed with your landing net will give u a good idea.

Bear in mind that most stock fish are stuffed with pellet based foods. So they do have the potential to grow large if that feed keeps coming. But most of the time it cannot. Thus the reason why carp born and bred in a lake are much sought after over your average stockie. Can't beat a good english original. Like the Leany Strain Carp. Bit of history and heritage in your hands. Pukka!

 

I've rambled on a bit there

Dunno if i've helped but i hope i have in some way.

 

Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah - but didn't Donald Leney introduce 'Foreign' Galician Strain carp into the UK ?

 

An interesting little paper on Carp growth can be found Here

 

Chris

 

[ 15. November 2002, 08:19 AM: Message edited by: Chris Plumb ]

"Study to be quiet." ><((º> My Blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all --- > and for the link to big als

 

well impressed with this site, used to belong to a newsgroup long time ago (3 years . .) it finally became over run with spam . . sales and general junk . . so I copped out . . I was aware of this one . . but lurked for a bit and pondered then joined glad I did . . .

 

looks like I have found a gold mine of knowledge here for free . . you are a credit to the angling community (now watch a bill arive :rolleyes: )

hey waddaya know I can spell tomato !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bradford Angler

 

Not sure who you are, but I guess we may know each other (done lots of fisheries management work in and around Bradford).

 

The weight gain of carp depends on (i) water temperature, and (ii) the amount of food each fish receives.

 

Believe it or not, under the RIGHT conditions indoors, it is possible to rear a carp from an egg to 20lb in between 11-13 months!

 

More usually, the growth of fish in outside ponds follows aa pattern similar to this:-

 

end of 1st growth season: 30g (about 1oz)

end of 2nd growth season: 250g(8oz of so)

end of 3rd growth season: 1kg (2lb+)

thereafter: 1.5-4lb/year

 

After about 12-14 years growth slows, and true growth (i.e. in length) usually ceases at ages of 15-20 years.

 

The daily ration for growth varies greatly, and it is larger per pound for smaller fish. During the summer months, small fish may need 2% of body weight/day, whereas this may be 0.5-1% for older fish. In winter, of course, the food requirement is virtually nil.

 

On the best, complete food, 1lb of food will provide a 1lb weight gain in fish during the growing period. With most anglers' baits, you could probably double or treble that. So, a 20lb fish that grows 3lb in one year may have eaten 40-60lb of food (maybe more) to achieve that growth during the course of one summer.

 

Don't get mislead by good growth figures from venues where there is little natural food (apparently). If carp are the only fish, the contribution to their diets of consumption of their own offspring may be very important... it happeens far more than most people realise.

 

Small deadbaits for carp? A mate of mine gave up a catfish hunt on a cats 'n carp venue because the carp just wouldn't leave his deadbaits alone.

Bruno

www.bruno-broughton.co.uk

'He who laughs, lasts'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We and our partners use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences, repeat visits and to show you personalised advertisements. By clicking “I Agree”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent.