Baby Carp

[fishin_musician]

Any of you ever seen a juvenile carp? I have been watching fish for most of my life and never saw one smaller than 12 to 14". There must be millions of the things in a river but where are they?

[Powerworm]

I don't know, but if you find 'em kill the little wankers.

[rgfixit]

I find them all the time while dipping crayfish in local creeks. They usually inhabit the weedy edges of small warm water spots.

 Don't be so harsh on Ol Liver Lips. They're a favorite sport fish of much of the world and gaining popularity in the USA as well.

Take a trip flyfishing for them on the Chemung River this summer. It's very much like flats fishing the keys. They're strong and take some skill to catch...tons of fun
RG

[fishin_musician]

So I'm still curious, do they resemble  the adults or are they disguised?

[stream walker]

they look just like the adults--caught a 2.5 incher while netting minnows in the niagara river,i took it home and put it in a gold fish bowl.when i came home from work it was gone, i found it behind the couch dried up and stiff,i put it back in the water and within a few minutes the darn thing was swimming around like nothing happend


they have carp derbys at a lake in chatauqua county to thin out the population-NO CATCH AND RELEASE--

[howey1176]

I've never seen one smaller than a foot either.

[TroutFishingBear]

Once when catfishing I caught one of chicken liver that was about 10"

[MikeMo]

I caught one once about 7 inches. Thats the only one I have ever seen below 14-15 inches.

[buzzbomb]

Yeah, sometimes that's all we get are the little ones...they're cute little devils 6 to 10 inches, some of them.  That's one of the interesting thing about carp fishing, trying to understand what turns them on or off. F'rinstance why they migrate between the river system and the lake when they do and what effect heat and current will have on their bite pattern.  I read that they'll grow to 2 or 3 pounds in the first year under ideal conditions and that exempts them from most predators in lakes where there's smaller bait.  I guess that explains why tiny ones aren't seen as often.

[Jigwiggler]

Any of you ever seen a juvenile carp? I have been watching fish for most of my life and never saw one smaller than 12 to 14". There must be millions of the things in a river but where are they?

FM,
     2 years ago while walking out onto the ice I saw literally thousands of them tucked right up as close as they could get to shore.  They were 5- 8 " and packed in there so tight they were on their sides squirming around on top of one another.  They looked just like the larger ones.  I figured they may have been there trying to avoid becoming dinner.  I chopped a hole right along shore and within 5 minutes they were flopping around in it.  I scooped a few out and put one under a tip- up but had no luck.  It was really strange and haven't seen anything like it since.

[EscapeIsNever]

ive caught a few baby carp this year....also caught a some 5-10 lbers.  as far as i know this is a baby one:

[Thriller]

We got into a bunch today.  I believe them to be this year's crop with many in the 3-4 inch range.  We didn't have really small jigs, so they were tough to catch...I did manage to get one hooked...



My wife figured she would try fooling around with the net...



The kids had a blast taking turns with the net too...they managed to corral a few...I'm surprised we didn't encounter any big predators there as there were lots of tasty little fish there.  They were jumping all over.

[bigredfishing]

I find them schooling in tight balls in river backwaters during the warmest sunny days in early spring, the only other small ones i have found i believe to be goldfish (they were silver and in a small neighborhood duck pond)

[MikeThePike]

I've only seen 1 under a foot myself. I got it while attempting to snag bigger carp. Funny how I had no trouble snagging one about 6" but couldn't snag any of the 5-6lbers swimming around.

[bigdave1018]

baby carp, baby seagulls,baby blue herons? you think maybe they come out full grown? lmfoao!!!!!!!!!!!!!