Black Carp on the Flats
black carp fly fishing texas #flyfishing
Black carp photograph courtesy – Joel Hays.
I received this image from Joel Hays over at DFW Fly Fishing, of one of his clients who caught the illusive black carp Sunday. I also caught one of these the day before, and forgot to mention it in the previous post. These black carp have different behavior and appearance (obviously), and are pretty unusual around the Ray Roberts flats.
Here’s what Joel had to say, “Check it OUT! One of my clients yesterday caught the elusive “Black Carp!” I’m still trying to figure out the taxonomy of this fish. . . Is it just a color phase of the Common Carp or a subspecies (like koi and goldfish)? Hmmmmm. I’m leaning towards subspecies just because they act different – more aggressive feeders and swimmers, seem to hold in slightly different environs, slightly larger mouth, etc.
Anyway, this thing was hanging of the rocky end of a submerged roadbed, tailing like crazy. Two small “Commons” were right behind it (kind of like reds on a stingray). Thought it was a black buffalo at first. Weighed 6.5 pounds!”
If anyone else catches one of these, or can shed any light on the taxonomy of black commons, feel free to send photos and / or words.
Category: Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing For Carp, North Texas
I would say that is just a very dark colored carp. I have caught a few that color here in Japan. There is an actual species of carp called black carp, that is very similar to a grass carp. They feed on mollusks and snails and can get much larger than a common carp. they are more torpedo shaped with pointer noses.
We caught a very black/dark coloured carp here in Aus recently. Yes it did have a different mouth too. A normal carp is very light coloured here, was a surprise to pull out
Now THAT’s a hard one. It’s a carp koi hybrid but i’ve never seen anything that pure dark colored. Actually, wait, I have. They aren’t common at all in that color.
I’m gonna post this on Uscarppro forums, they’ll know better than I do.