Along with sunfish, the carp of the Concord River abound. Fishermen troll up and down the river hoping to catch that elusive mother of all carp. Tales are told about five foot fish pulling duckings to the depths of the river. These were always fish tales to me until I met the carp along my retaining wall. Six of them – one at least three feet in length! I’m now a believer.

Three feet of fish meat.

I’ve been told one way to catch carp is to put a hook through a small ball of bread instead of a worm. I haven’t tried the hook but my carp certainly do like bread, balled or not. With the stealth of sharks, they come swimming into the mass of feeding ducks, creating nervous quacks and fluttering of wings. After a while, the ducks refuse to come close to the retaining wall, even when there’s plenty of bread waiting. No sir. Not when hungry carp, the size of Texas, are swimming nearby.

Battlelines have been drawn.

No self respecting duck would want this mouth on its tail feathers.

Some cool facts about carp include: they’re slimy, often called “oiley.” I guess this means it would be hard to grab hold of one in a wrestling match (something like pig wrestling?); when carp were first introduced to North America seems to be open for debate, although some experts believe it was during 1877; carp, like salmon will swim upstream to spawn; one of the strongest freshwater fish, carp will put up a good fight when hooked; the carp in my river are called the common carp, aka Cyprinus carpio; and, last but not least, the Chinese are credited with the discovery of carp, about 4,000 years ago. The discovery took place in the Yellow River.

Ghosts of the abyss chomping on some bread.

All totaled, I’m going through six loaves of bread a day, between the ducks and now the fish. Oh well, some people buy lottery tickets, I buy bread. Of the two, I’m definitely the wealthier individual. Blessed be. :}

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