Grass carp...

[Alan Whitty]

I'm curious,do grassies breed in the UK,I have a water where there are around 15 good sized uncatchable grasses,biggest around 35lb(been netted and weighed),they have been in the water for many years,I wonder if they will maintain numbers or just slowly frizzle away....

 

[Peter Jacobs]

From what I’ve read grass carp don’t breed naturally in the uk but as they are available commercially they must be bred in heated tanks.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Sad really,they are lovely fish,even though I've never heard of one even being hooked on the water in question,it doesn't stop me trying,I've caught odduns elsewhere,I love watching them munching on big lumps of Canadian pondered...

 

[mikench]

That remains on my list of fish I have yet to catch and want to. I have never even seen one.

 

[Alan Whitty]

You can't miss these monsters Mike,over 3ft long missiles...

 

[Keith M]

You can't miss these monsters Mike,over 3ft long missiles...

And if it’s the ones I think that Alan’s talking about they seem to ignore everything we put in front of them; however I did hear that the very occasional one had been hooked but only once in a blue moon and not by design.

I was advised to try one of the ‘Zig bug lures’ that are fished ‘Zig Rig’ style either on the surface or just below the surface but although I went out and bought a few of the zig bugs I haven’t tried using them yet. Maybe I might try again this spring or summer.

Keith

 

[barbelboi]

My son and I managed three between us in the 00's from an RMC/CEMEX water (at least two of their waters held them at the time, one at Horton and the other at Yately). All were taken on popped up tutti-fruity boilies.

 

[bennygesserit]

Woop Woop I caught the only one at Coppice Fisheries Brownhills , they kept it in the lake that is mostly silvers , it hadnt been caught for a while when I had it , so the fishery owner was quite interested in it .

Took me a while to land it on a pole and (I wouldnt say light but not heavy elastic ) had to put a few sections on and then up in the air to land it , took about ten minutes but felt like longer.

I said woop woop cos Mike hasnt caught one , that makes it one to me and a few thousand to him - so I am catching up

TBH though lovely fish , long and strong

 

[Alan Whitty]

And if it’s the ones I think that Alan’s talking about they seem to ignore everything we put in front of them; however I did hear that the very occasional one had been hooked but only once in a blue moon and not by design.

I was advised to try one of the ‘Zig bug lures’ that are fished ‘Zig Rig’ style either on the surface or just below the surface but although I went out and bought a few of the zig bugs I haven’t tried using them yet. Maybe I might try again this spring or summer.

It would be the same ones Keith,two were found dead on the islands recently...I'm not sure if I believe the story about one being hooked,more likely foulhooked...🫢

As for catching them,I've caught a couple elsewhere,but these blighters seem totally disinterested in anything,ive caught them on floaters and paste baits,not here,in fact I've never really seen them eat anything apart from weed.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Going back around 35 years I caught two or three very small ones plus one about 2lbs at Longbridge Lakes near Romsey but it was a non breeding population. Those stocked decades ago have got big and few in number. Once witnessed a 17-10 one from the Frome (circa 1999) that had got in the river from a stillwater where there is an agricultural college.

 

[bennygesserit]

I find fishing for roach is the way to catch them

 

[Alan Whitty]

Lol,you wouldn't want to hook these things on roach gear,you'd feel like you'd done a grand prix,lol.

 

[@Clive]

I caught one on the Vienne a few years ago. The fight really started once it was netted. I remember Flight' saying that he once unhooked a grass carp in the next county to where he had landed it.

 

[barbelboi]

Same here Clive - found they did most of their fighting in the net..................

 

[Philip]

I have had some good ones including a cracker from a river. They certainly like particles and anglers fishing in Carp matches on places like Raduta (where Grassies counted as “Carp”) used to bait heavily with particles to draw them in and that’s certainly been my impression as well..they do like seeds & a bit of pigeon mix.

If its quiet floaters very early morning on a warm day is worth a try and as others have mentioned they can give you as much a fight on the bank as in the water !

PS I’ll let you into a super duper secret killer bait for them … heres a short video I took a couple of years back

 

[terry m]

i have caught several of these handsome creatures from a midlands water whilst carp fishing. All high doubles except one low 20. They seem to come alive on the unhooking mat. All were caught using bottom baits.

 

[Keith M]

The lake containing these huge Grass Carp was previously a Fly only trout fishery and the Grass Carp were originally stocked to help keep the tons of weed down. There is still lots of filamentous weed which also has lots of water insects in it which is probably why they don’t really need to take our more common baits, and they are very rarely (if ever) hooked.

Keith

 

[John Aston]

I caught one about ten years ago. I thought it was an odd looking common with a hare lip. I didn't even know they were in the water and only later realised what I'd caught. Annoying , as I'd have weighed it as a PB ; I guess it was about 7- 8lbs .

I was fishing waggler with a 16 and maggot . It refused to take much line off but swam up and down under the rod top for five minutes, dogged but dull .

 

[peterjg]

I've never caught one but my son had one weighing 19lbs 14ozs from one of our club lakes. Apparently they like sweetcorn?

 

[Alan Whitty]

I've never seen one move as meaningful as those in Philips clip on the water in question...
The biggest I had was around 7-8lbs if I remember correctly,that took thirty yards of 6lb line from me in seconds and took quite a while to land,I thought it was a big golden tench...