when is a wildie not a wildie

[Liphook]

Weight is pretty irrelevant to me generally, it's just that you mentioned weight to length ratio and that spiked the interest of the aquaculturist in me! Smashing capture Shaun

[Pallenpool]

Another long common from last night...

Now this is my idea of a perfect Carp - long, mean and fantastically good looking. What a fish - well done that man, just think if you hadn’t acted on your gut feeling it may never of happened - fabulous Shaun, simply fabulous.

[Shaun Harrison]

Weight is pretty irrelevant to me generally, it's just that you mentioned weight to length ratio and that spiked the interest of the aquaculturist in me! Smashing capture Shaun

Possibly badly worded as I never measured it either, I just wanted to get it back as it was not a happy fish at all. In fact it was furious with me which is totally understandable. Just visuals alone told me it had to be the longest per girth. I have caught longer carp but they have generally weighed 40 lb more than that one would have.
It is a 10 acre water I like to escape to, I rarely see others there as it is way off the beaten track and sadly for a lot of carp anglers these days the weights on paper wouldn't be impressive enough for most to bother to fish. The fact that in another few years most of these old strains will be gone, seems lost on many.

[Shaun Harrison]

Another long common from last night...

Now this is my idea of a perfect Carp - long, mean and fantastically good looking. What a fish - well done that man, just think if you hadn’t acted on your gut feeling it may never of happened - fabulous Shaun, simply fabulous.

Thank you. I feel honoured to have been rewarded with such a special carp from the land that time forgot.

[Dave Burr]

I know the picture's on a slight angle Shaun but that is one hell of a tail, I'm not surprised it can jump.

The fish matches your shirt perfectly

[Duckett]

Another long common from last night...

I was sat in my office as afternoon became evening last night and suddenly got the urge to wet a line. Okay, it wasn't a sudden urge, I had been listening to the wind in the trees all day whilst they swayed around in the corner of my eye.
Did I really need to work until dark again?
Would the world stand still if I didn't?
Would the carp be passing by my favourite evening pitch?
Before I knew it a flask was made, the 10 ft'ers loaded with centrepins were in one hand, my small canvas bag on my shoulder and The Land Rover was once again off on a mini adventure.
The wind was cutting into where I knew it would be cutting in. I had bait left from the weekend which was just starting to sour and knowing how much the carp seem to like it right at the start of it not smelling so great to me I emptied my bucket in the edge then did a full lap of the 10 acres with my gear on my back. The mozzies loved this!
Extra sweat built up with being only lightly laden with tackle seemed to ring the blood available here bell.
I found carp cruising the shallows, but so too were the coots, mallards and swans. I stood watching the carp for a while, but didn't fancy the feather warfare.
So, it was back to where I had tipped my bait in. Already the gin clear water had started to take on a milky tinge, something was on the bait already. I refrained from standing to see exactly what, for the water in incredibly clear. My 'Wallis' cast fortunately this time was just that and not a 'Wally' cast as can often happen when you are trying to be extra stealthy.
The line was flicking around almost straight away, I'd got the hook bait in without spooking what ever was feeding. Several times I reached for the rod thinking I was away, but each time managing to control the instinct to snatch back until I was sure it was a take and not simply the line catching on fins. Finally with a tightening of the line and a bulge in the water, I was connected. The rod bent much further than what you would describe as a healthy bend and line ripped from the reel against the palm of my left hand. 10, 20, 30 yards and a sudden turn in direction followed by a furious water smashing leap. in the 42 years I have been catching carp I had only ever had two carp leap during the fight until I started to fish here. For some reason these long carp take to the air which is such a spectacular sight.
With the speeds this fish was reaching it was so obviously one of the old strain which can't be too far removed from the old wildies. Finally in the net, my opponent still hadn't had enough and constantly charge inside the net, very grass carp like. What a furious creature it was. On the mat I seemed to be peeling mesh back forever before I revealed it's massive tail. I absolutely love these old strains and hopefully they will somehow manage to keep reproducing before they are lost for good.
It might not be a monster, but it gave me a massive kick and must be one of the longest common's I have had for length to girth ratio.
I was back home before dark, mission accomplished.

Thanks for sharing this Shaun. That is indeed a magnificent carp - Usain Bolt rather than a Sumo wrestler! I think that, between you, you and Snape may have reignited my interest in certain carp. An impressive feat as I had gone off the whole idea by the early 1990s.

[Shaun Harrison]

Another long common from last night...

I was sat in my office as afternoon became evening last night and suddenly got the urge to wet a line. Okay, it wasn't a sudden urge, I had been listening to the wind in the trees all day whilst they swayed around in the corner of my eye.
Did I really need to work until dark again?
Would the world stand still if I didn't?
Would the carp be passing by my favourite evening pitch?
Before I knew it a flask was made, the 10 ft'ers loaded with centrepins were in one hand, my small canvas bag on my shoulder and The Land Rover was once again off on a mini adventure.
The wind was cutting into where I knew it would be cutting in. I had bait left from the weekend which was just starting to sour and knowing how much the carp seem to like it right at the start of it not smelling so great to me I emptied my bucket in the edge then did a full lap of the 10 acres with my gear on my back. The mozzies loved this!
Extra sweat built up with being only lightly laden with tackle seemed to ring the blood available here bell.
I found carp cruising the shallows, but so too were the coots, mallards and swans. I stood watching the carp for a while, but didn't fancy the feather warfare.
So, it was back to where I had tipped my bait in. Already the gin clear water had started to take on a milky tinge, something was on the bait already. I refrained from standing to see exactly what, for the water in incredibly clear. My 'Wallis' cast fortunately this time was just that and not a 'Wally' cast as can often happen when you are trying to be extra stealthy.
The line was flicking around almost straight away, I'd got the hook bait in without spooking what ever was feeding. Several times I reached for the rod thinking I was away, but each time managing to control the instinct to snatch back until I was sure it was a take and not simply the line catching on fins. Finally with a tightening of the line and a bulge in the water, I was connected. The rod bent much further than what you would describe as a healthy bend and line ripped from the reel against the palm of my left hand. 10, 20, 30 yards and a sudden turn in direction followed by a furious water smashing leap. in the 42 years I have been catching carp I had only ever had two carp leap during the fight until I started to fish here. For some reason these long carp take to the air which is such a spectacular sight.
With the speeds this fish was reaching it was so obviously one of the old strain which can't be too far removed from the old wildies. Finally in the net, my opponent still hadn't had enough and constantly charge inside the net, very grass carp like. What a furious creature it was. On the mat I seemed to be peeling mesh back forever before I revealed it's massive tail. I absolutely love these old strains and hopefully they will somehow manage to keep reproducing before they are lost for good.
It might not be a monster, but it gave me a massive kick and must be one of the longest common's I have had for length to girth ratio.
I was back home before dark, mission accomplished.

Thanks for sharing this Shaun. That is indeed a magnificent carp - Usain Bolt rather than a Sumo wrestler! I think that, between you, you and Snape may have reignited my interest in certain carp. An impressive feat as I had gone off the whole idea by the early 1990s.

There are still some very special waters and very special fish around. There are many places I would never consider angling, but fortunately a few that I just can't get enough of.

[Aitch]

https://www.wildcarptrust.org/wild-carp/identification/

I found this today, I think it may clear up a couple of queries, or perhaps add a few more... couple of the TFF bretheren in the link too...

[Pallenpool]

Interesting stuff regarding this new trust. Thanks for the post.

[Catfish.017]

These look more like lean common carp due to the rounded shoulders and size of the hump - still great to catch though.
Wild carp have blunt heads with small mouths and short barbules.
Feral carp which maybe called wildies will be somewhere in between.

see https://www.fennelspriory.com/rural-lif ... nel-hudson

A recent outing with Gary Bills produced a Sazan type wild carp and a wildie.

The fish in the bottom photo is exactly like the carp in the Park Lake of my youth. They were already old fish when they were moved from an old pond that was being filled in after one too many drownings! The club record was held for many years by a fish of 8lb 12 oz. I have written on here about these fish in earlier posts, mainly alluding to their virtually uncatchable status. I targeted them infrequently and only ever caught one of 5lb and that in a match on a single caster on fine tackle.