Leaderboard

The answer is long and complicated but I will start with the Europe. The Carp here are in their homeland, the closer to their[species] birth place the better they do, so carp in Hungary will do better than carp in Germany on average. Up until recently the culture in Europe was to catch what you can and eat it, so carp never grew big at all, but now the iron curtain has gone and people have more cash, they would sooner buy a lump of salmon, so the carp do get chance to grow and because they grow fast it does not take long for monsters to appear, this combined with a relatively new movement of pleasure carp angling has resulted in the catches you hear about. Next comes SA, the carp here are a mixed bunch bred from the original German fish and later aditions of Israeli fish and the can and do grow massive, somewhere in my files I have photos of 3 carp weighing in the 70-80lb bracket shot by two Irish lads at Umlilo. These came from a freshwater storage dam that was very deep with no shallows [very important]The carp were stocked by the bucket load and allowed to grow, no shallows so no breeding so plenty of food for the fish. However a lot of waters have perfect breeding for the fish and are then massively over populated. Australia had its fish from, Europe and Asia, so two different sub-species of carp, where only European carp live the same rules as SA apply and they can and do grow big, however the hybrids etc. don't grow so big and on top of this the constant harassment by people works against the carp. New Zealand had its fish from Asia and these were what we tend to call Koi, they reverted to wild type, small long and lean. But as already stated by others on this thread, the USA and Canada are a different ball game in that most of Canada does not have enough degree days to produce big carp, they get a great start because of warm water in summer but suffer in winter, so tend to grow quick for a few years and then slow right down, also they are mainly in rivers as the ponds, lakes etc are a predators playground, with Bass, Pike, Muskies, Trout, Sturgeon etc. and of course the otter. USA is the same in some senses with predators reigning supreme yet in other its the same as SA, they over populate and starve themselves out. One thing I will say is in quiet backwaters where carp can thrive there will be carp as big if not bigger than anything in Europe, but people have to fish to catch them. I think I've covered it all there in a simplified manner, although I could add a lot more.

My understanding is it is because the weight they put on is not the same as the weight we put on through eating. The extra weight is almost all eggs, it's not fat, and only partially due to natural increase in size with age. The food they eat during the build up to winter and the limited food they eat throughout allows for the eggs to be regenerated through the colder season. Hence winter/spring weights are banging.

Also, they grow bigger quicker, could be alluding to not so much of what top weights they can achieve but more to do with the fact they grow past a size that a lot of predators, like other fish, can take. After all, cm was questioning why they have higher populations. This is definitely one of the variables.

Probably because they haven't even started scratching at the surface of what carp might be in Cananda and America. Sure there is a little bit of carp fishing going on but compared to the opportunities available in terms of water volume and sheer carp numbers I cant imagine they have got anywhere near to catching their biggest fish. Most of the countries listed have been extensively carp fished (pressured) for decades. Just my take on it

Tench tend to bury themselves in silt over the winter too. Strange but they'll go deep under it. I was on a fish farm netting a drained pond, I was told to never step on the same footprint because the tench would hide in them. Every year it was fully drained and emptied of fish. Once refilled there would be the odd tench appear like some sort of miracle.

Thanks BC . It looks like Angling Direct have reduced their prices to bring them more or less in line with Cyprinus . I guess that Cyprinus only deal online , so I might be off to A.D. to " have a bit of a lie down " .

I was chatting on the bank the other day, a fella was telling me that one year he thought he'd had all his koi stolen, double figure fish, in a large pond. He spotted a tiny fleck of colour in one corner on the bottom. There they were, all huddled together under the silt with just the tip of the odd tail poking through the silt. I've seen smaller goldfish hide beneath leaf litter in ponds when temps bottom out.... I forgot to ask him the depth of his pond. I can imagine quite a few fish behaving like this.

Inside

Little bit of drizzle here at the moment, so decided to break it out. Not a breath of wind so haven't bothered to peg it down properly. Loads more room than my previous Solace, can sit much further under it. Doddle to put up with the new central bar. Loving it so far😀😀😀

Have a look at the offerings from Bank Tackle too. https://www.banktackle.co.uk/hooks-41-c.asp Absolutely brilliant hooks, pin sharp out of the pkt and really strong. I am using the "Continentals" and have no complaints at all. The curves look good too, but only go down to 6's where I personally prefer 4's. And the service from Bank Tackle is second to none. 1st class delivery (free) and I have never had a duff order from them. They are the only people I use nowadays for my terminal tackle.

Wychwood Tactical Flatbed .....2150mm Roughly 6 inches longer than 2m

They'll always go for the bigger i.e. slower fish cm.