When most American anglers think Carp, ugly images come to mind.  Carp, the big, ugly looking members of the Cyprinid family of fishes are an imported fish courtesy of Europe.  In England, believe it or not, the ever-so-popular carp is a transplant as well….of Asian origin.  Carp are incredibly popular fish in Europe, targeted both for table fare as well as sport.  Many English fishermen bask in the idea of catching carp on the fly, and would never think but to release these ’beauties’ after the catch.  In fact, the fish are so dear to many of our European counterparts that repeatedly caught fish are often given names! 

Fast forward to the United States, where carp were introduced in 1877 in Maryland and D. C. in attempts to provide an easily reared food source.  In subsequent years they became widespread throughout the country, to the point where they now present a serious problem to many aquatic ecosystems.  When present in a water body, carp tend to frequent the shallows, and feed on aquatic vegetation, muddying the water and destroying habitat utilized by other fish for cover.        

Carp control has been attempted in many areas in an attempt to restore habitat for game fish, but can be fairly expensive if a market for the fish does not exist.  Most of the market for carp in the U.S. is limited to local food markets, with some large scale industrial applications such as dog food production.  In a nutshell, carp are here to stay, and most people, especially fisheries managers, are becoming increasingly frustrated with the pesky critters.

However, the news isn’t all bad.  The American Carp Society states that sport fishing for carp in the U.S. is growing at a fast pace.  Some new bowfishing opportunities have also arisen with the presence of carp.  Bowfishing is a sport by which fishermen stalk their quarry with bow and arrow.  The arrow is attached to a length of string, which is attached to a reel on the bow.  Fish are shot with the arrow, which has a protruding mechanism that prevents it from being pulled back through the fish, upon which the target fish can be pulled in.  Those European carp fishermen would be shocked.  In fact, they are…..almost as shocked as we are that they flyfish for such trash!!!  Regardless, we have plenty of great native sport fish in this country, as well as some successfull imports.  While the carp may never succeed as a major sport fish, and its introduction ultimately did more ‘bad’ than ‘good’, it does offer some promise in quite a unique niche.