Just Because They Can

I remember fly fishing for carp before it was cool. It was something to do when there was nothing else to do, like chub fishing on steroids.

Now that we target this shallow water, skittish invasive specie, should they become food for the table, or do they become food for racoon, skunks and the like, or released back to the water to continue to invade? I tried the food for the table thing once, when my then 5 year old son landed a 10lb carp and insisted it come home with us. Good memory, not so good taste.

There are places that if it weren't for carp there wouldn't be any fish at all. Their adaptability allowed them to fill a niche not occupied by other fish. But should the effort be on improving water quality or on preserving carp. I guess sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

Carp thrive in some very clean wild trout streams too, and in all places in between the pristine and the grimy. They don't live in the grunge because they prefer it. They live there just because they can.