Why are they deformed?

[Teo]

The camsite I fish can be really fun for a couple of hours on the surface, which can result in 9 or 10 fish, but Around half of the carp are deformed in there. I fish this water every now and again but when i catch almost half of the fish are deformed. One i had last time had no lips, and a mouth on the side of its head, just a stub where the mouth would be. The others I have caught there bleed really easily in their mouth even though I am playing them in with care. Some carp have deformed mouths about the size of a thumbnail and have finrot. This water is an easy runs water with anyone on the busy campsite fishing it, but does anyone know why these carp are so deformed?

[emmcee]

I'd say some of the fish are deformed because some of the people fishing the lake have no idea about fish care. The other reason is I expect the owner brought a job lot of stunted fish. 

[framey]

Match anglers

or

anglers who don’t know how to remove a hook 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2019 by framey

[muftyboy]

Overstocked.

Get caught far too much .

 

[bluelabel]

Actually it's not strictly true that the fish's mouth issues are caused by anglers... a member of our family has a large Koi pool and he got some fish from a local fish farm for the pool as fingerlings, they have never seen a hook in their lives, but a couple of them have deformed mouths... it's a genetic thing caused by selective breeding for size and growth rates... using a small gene pool often throws up mutations and this is why you'll often see young fish with deformed mouths.... yes I do agree that bad unhooking, using overgunned rods, too large or too small a hook, and overstriking can cause damage... but it's not always the case 

[framey]

Exceptions to every rule lol

[yonny]

On 27/10/2019 at 15:22, bluelabel said:

small gene pool

Agree.