Carp, the habitual individual
David John Lovell
copyright ©DAVID JOHN LOVELL
In carp, the nature of the beast I wrote of the creatures habits in a social role, and its interaction with other members of its species. Here, I will take you into other aspects of the carp in an individual, solitary behavioural role.
Today, many writers in many publications are simply not equipped to write deeply about the species at this level, simply because they have been educated in a parrot fashion, rewriting that which has been written before from publications they have read throughout their years of carp fishing. As I write this I can tell you a live experiment has just been completed and I now have another item for my own personal use in my armoury to use at will.
Firstly, how many times have you watched a person catch a carp across the other side of a large lake, and yet a short time later you have caught, and perhaps gone on to catch more? This shows that carp do not all swim together.
What I am to write here may astound you, but there are other anglers who know what I am about to write to be true, and I write it not ever having read it in any publication, yet, it is known to me and one other angler to the best of my knowledge.
Many factors determine carp behaviour, size of water, numbers of carp, weather, and time of year to name but a few. The time of year to you may mean summer, autumn, etc. No. I refer to time, the day, the hour!
Carp leaders, the larger fish, have a desire to go off alone and spend time alone away from other members of its species. They do this from time to time, but they also do this at certain times to the hour! This behaviour allows the angler to catch an individual fish almost by the clock to within the hour! The problem is that these fish do this on a yearly basis. You have to be at the same spot to repeat a catch of a year before, and often the same fish will be bigger which is nice for the angler. I once had the privilege to take a picture of a lovely 25lb mirror for an acquaintance who ensured he was at the required spot after taking this fish the previous year, to the half hour! This was not a patrol area for this fish.
Many things are written about carp today but most have been written before, to any budding carp angler I would simply say use your eyes, contemplate the information, form your own theory and prove the theory out, then, you have knowledge, and an advantage, but more than that, you have understanding of an alien species on this good planet!
The carp is a sociable creature, it enjoys company, but sometimes it does become a habitual individual.
