Clarissa the Carp

[walshie 2,804]

I was just reading about Dick Walker's record carp he caught in 1951. Clarissa weighed 44lb when he caught her then she spent the rest of her life in London Zoo and died in 1971 weighing less than 28lb. Why would a carp lose 1/3 of its bodyweight? She wasn't exactly one of the fat bloaters you see nowadays to begin with. 

I was under the assumption that monster carp were massive because of eating all the high protein baits, but did they even have them in 1951? 

[walshie 2,804]

3 minutes ago, W. Katchum said:

stress

Can't be as stressful as wondering if your next bite to eat will result in being dragged out of the water by a hook in your face.

[Greyman 28,501]

4 hours ago, walshie said:

I was just reading about Dick Walker's record carp he caught in 1951. Clarissa weighed 44lb when he caught her then she spent the rest of her life in London Zoo and died in 1971 weighing less than 28lb. Why would a carp lose 1/3 of its bodyweight? She wasn't exactly one of the fat bloaters you see nowadays to begin with. 

I was under the assumption that monster carp were massive because of eating all the high protein baits, but did they even have them in 1951? 

Size of its environment  and available food, even without moving them to a fish tank bigger fish loose weight if you move them from one lake to another through stress but they will regain it and more, If you are interested in that era of carp fishing may I suggest you obtain a copy of quest by jack Hilton I have moved old carp from overstocked waters in the past into under stocked waters and seen them double in size in a year as would have Clarissa had she been put back in a lake, sad way to end the life of such an iconic fish really,

 

 

 

[Greyman 28,501]

4 minutes ago, W. Katchum said:

I don’t think many animals caught in wild do well in captivity, could be wrong tho, just can’t see any other reason 

Bigcat fact coming at you, cheetahs live shorter lives in captivity than any other cat because they can’t run

[Greyman 28,501]

My son with a fish bigger, funny how things have changed, 50 years ago one fish over 40lb in the whole country now you would struggle to count them

[Nicepix 5,650]

Redmire Pool  is only about three acres but it produced three consecutive British carp records. It is said to be a very fertile water with lots of weed growth which in turn creates a lot of aquatic insects for fish to feed on. That is why the carp became so big in such a small water. Also, the strain of carp put into Redmire Pool were from a strain known as Galician and were known for their high growth rates.

Carp grow throughout their early life, peak and then lose weight as they get older. So Clarissa, or Ravioli as Walker and his friends Christened her would probably have been at the peak of her life in 1952 when it was caught. As well as the natural weight decrease through age, as others have pointed out; stress and a change of environment also affect the health and well-being of fish. Back in the early 1950's Redmire Pool had been barely fished. The first angler to gain permission to fish caught a record carp prompting Walker and the Carp Catchers Club to mount a campaign on the water starting in mid-June 1952. He caught the fish three months later. Up to then the large carp had been relatively stress free and living in a bountiful environment.

There are carp to mid-forties in the river near to me and these are all wild fish that are not reliant on anger's HNV baits.They are living in a fairly fast flowing section of river so they are lean and mean.

[Lenmcharristar 9,810]

Interesting topic this

[walshie 2,804]

I've never fished for, or caught a decent size carp. Nothing over 10lb that I've caught while fishing for other stuff. It's good in one way there are more monsters around to catch if that's your thing, but it's a shame to see the state of some of them. They look disabled

I'd love to catch something like Clarissa, but look at the state of this monstrosity. If it was human, it would be on one of those programs on telly about fatties that can't get out of the house. I don't know what this weighed, but it must be at least twice as much as a fit fish of similar length and age.

[Chaff 3,622]

Donald Leny stocked redmire along with a lot of well known waters back in the 50s.

He kept a stocking record book of every transaction he made, including every water.

Think he gave to Chris Yates and now I believe Chris Ball has it.

Many carp anglers consider this book the holy grail of carp angling.

 

[Daniel cain 45,556]

Not far from me, can get on to fish it through a sharing scheme with the club I'm involved in...... There's a few old boys on the committee in their 80's with some interesting tales about that place... Always enjoy listening to them.... I will make the effort one day and get a few sessions on there. 

[Nicepix 5,650]

Yes, some of the large carp caught today are like different creatures compared to the wild strains that are still true to type. Its basically like humans who eat nothing but fast food and sugar rich drinks.

The way I see it is that carp anglers have become blinkered into thinking that they need HNV baits to catch the biggest carp. It is often said that the bait has to be at east 30% protein content to be successful, but that figure was arrived at by copying fish farmers who are rearing carp for the table as quickly and as cheaply as possible. The 30% protein relates to young carp packing on weight as quickly as possible and with no other source of feed. It doesn't relate to many waters that we fish. In the natural state a carp cannot find anything over around 12% to 15% protein.

Even though Redmire produced some cracking carp it didn't stop some anglers from introducing carp illegally taken from other waters. Now, the new owners of the pool have drained it, took out all the non-native, i.e. not the original Galician strain stockings and only re-stocked the water with the original fish. There was a ghost carp in there for God's sake that some idiot had put in without asking.

Even with wild strains there are differences in body shape. These two were a pound or so either side of 20lb, one from a barbel swim in a local river and the other from an un-fished arm of a 100 hectare public lake where it had about 4 or 5 acres all to itself. Surprisingly that one is the leanest. But in same river as the first one I've caught doubles that were as lean as chub and in the same lake as the second one other 20lb+ carp are more stocky. You never can tell.

 

 

 

[Daniel cain 45,556]

Some fun them on the pin

[walshie 2,804]

36 minutes ago, Nicepix said:

Yes, some of the large carp caught today are like different creatures compared to the wild strains that are still true to type. Its basically like humans who eat nothing but fast food and sugar rich drinks.

The way I see it is that carp anglers have become blinkered into thinking that they need HNV baits to catch the biggest carp. It is often said that the bait has to be at east 30% protein content to be successful, but that figure was arrived at by copying fish farmers who are rearing carp for the table as quickly and as cheaply as possible. The 30% protein relates to young carp packing on weight as quickly as possible and with no other source of feed. It doesn't relate to many waters that we fish. In the natural state a carp cannot find anything over around 12% to 15% protein.

Even though Redmire produced some cracking carp it didn't stop some anglers from introducing carp illegally taken from other waters. Now, the new owners of the pool have drained it, took out all the non-native, i.e. not the original Galician strain stockings and only re-stocked the water with the original fish. There was a ghost carp in there for God's sake that some idiot had put in without asking.

Even with wild strains there are differences in body shape. These two were a pound or so either side of 20lb, one from a barbel swim in a local river and the other from an un-fished arm of a 100 hectare public lake where it had about 4 or 5 acres all to itself. Surprisingly that one is the leanest. But in same river as the first one I've caught doubles that were as lean as chub and in the same lake as the second one other 20lb+ carp are more stocky. You never can tell.

 

 

 

Both fit and healthy looking fish though. I bet they could put up a fight on that tackle. I wonder do the freakish fat ones put up a fight or just feel like reeling in a shopping trolley?

[Waz 4,262]

The zoo conditions would have been ideal for viewing the exhibit, whereas the place where she was caught was obviously better suited to gains as history has shown.

 

[Waz 4,262]

1 minute ago, W. Katchum said:

Imagine reeling in a Tesco bag

I was on a callout a couple of year ago to this massive lake that was a commercial carp fishery until a few years previous, when it ha been run into the ground. The new owner caught a few fish while I was there, the fish looked hollow & the new owner said it was like reeling in a carrier bag. Quite disgusting really, like being force fed for gains just for photos. When the supplemented feeding stops theirs not enough natural food to even maintain.