The story of carp fishing.....how carp got here in the UK

The story of carp fishing.....how carp got here in the UK

Contrary to popular belief, carp are not native to the UK or Europe either. They are an introduced species. It is believed that carp originated in Asia from the Caspian sea (left pic below) around 10'000 years ago. At the time of the last ice age, carp migrated into the black sea and colonised the aral system, Eastern Asia and China. Around 8000 years ago carp began to be found in the Danube. They quickly colonised these systems and spread into many of the rivers and lakes of continental Europe. The Romans were believed to be responsible for the introduction of carp into Italy and many other colonies from the Dunube area. The UK was not included in this initial expansion of the carps territory. Following of the decline of the Roman empire and the rise of monastic life , the early Christians used the carp as a domesticated food source. It is also believed that around these times selective breeding programs were in place. The date of these events are in some doubt but it is commonly written that this was between 1050- 1480. These first fish were bread in stock ponds like this one (pictured right) at Newsted Abby. These monks were without doubt the first carp fish farmers and carp anglers, probably using the most crude tackle to catch their supper (they certainly didn't have delkims or 10'000's)It was during the monks selective breeding attempts that are though to be responsible for much larger fish and possibly the reason we now have mirrors and leathers, (pictured below left) These fish were bread not for added weight gain but to make the fish easier to clean for the table. Certainly by the late 1800's mirrors and leathers had been introduced into many of the uk's waters. However these fish were still quite rare and the commons dominated most areas. this was until the 1920's when mirrors and leathers could be purchased for stocking purposes from English fish farmers. Some of these purchased fish were introduced into the river Themes, the great Ouze, the crystal palace boating lake and many many more. One of the most notable importers of these fish around these times was Donald leney of the surrey trout farm. These fish were imported from Holland and were though to have originated from the galicia region of (pictured right). They were sold to many angling clubs across the which latterly became famous for the size of fish they would later produce. It is many of the offspring of these original fish us modern carp anglers now pursue.