There are a handful of carp species in the US. But regardless of which species, carp will probably be one of the biggest freshwater fish a US angler can target. Carp can get BIG, and are powerful fighters. I remember catching bluegill as a kid and seeing an occasional carp swim by. My heart would be racing with hopes that I could catch one. If you haven’t yet, you should try out carp fishing. It’s a whole new world that very few Americans have tapped into.
In this article, I want to take you thought the different carp species of North America, how big they can get, what they eat, and how you can catch them. Let’s get started!
Common Carp
The most common species across the US is… The common carp.
A 60 pounder would be a rare and likely record breaking fish for the US.
The world record common carp is held by Terry Harbert. The Fish weighed in at 101 pounds and 6 oz.
However the carp was not caught in the US. It was caught in Lake Serene in France.
How big Can Common Carp Get in The US?
This is tricky to answer because few people target carp in the US. Each state keeps it’s own records and they aren’t all according to the same rules.
This being said, people have recorded a few common carp in the 60 pound range. Unfortunately these were mostly reported by bow fishermen who kill the fish. Of course this doesn’t mean that there aren’t more 60 pounders out there. There may even be a carp over the 70 pound mark.
I think it’s safe so say that common carp in the US can reach 60 pounds. But even a 40 pounder would be a trophy fish.
What Do Common Carp Eat?
Common carp eat vegetation, bugs, worms, fruit, seeds, mussels, crayfish, and just about anything else that screams protein.
Common carp can survive just about anywhere and they do this by not being picky eaters.
How To Catch Common Carp
Common carp can be a bit of a challenge. Although they eat just about anything, they are pretty careful before sucking it into their mouths.
The trick is to feed them something they are used to eating. This is where chumming comes into play. Just make sure chumming is legal in your area.
Most people in the US chum with sweet corn, but you could use boilies, bird seed, feed corn, bread, or whatever you plan to use as bait.
This cheapest and simplest method is to both chum with corn and use it as your hook bait.
Chum in an area that you have seen carp before. You could chum over the course of a week, or just the day of. The more regular you chum the better.
Put a few pieces of corn onto a size 10 bait-holder hook on a sliding sinker rig. Cast to the middle of the chumming area and wait.
Make sure you aren’t wearing bright clothes, and don’t move around too much. Carp are always on the lookout for predators.
For more tips check out How to Fish For Carp.
Mirror Carp
The mirror carp is an incredibly beautiful fish. It is similar to the common except that it has huge scales, and sometimes missing most of them.
How Big Can Mirror Carp Get?
Mirrors average a little less than the commons but 40 pound mirrors do exist in the US, and would be considered trophies.
What Do Mirror Carp Eat?
Mirror carp are similar to common carp in that they eat just about anything bite sized that screams protein.
How To Catch Mirror Carp
Use the same tactics as you would for common carp. There isn’t a good way to target mirrors over commons, you just have to find a lake that contains mirrors and wait for one to bite. You’ll almost always catch a mix of commons and mirrors.
Make sure you bring your camera… these fish are amazing!
Grass Carp
The grass carp (aka white amur) can grow quite a bit bigger than the two carp mentioned above. They were introduced here in the 1960s as a way to control weeds in ponds.
These fish have since escaped and spread. Grass carp aren’t as harmful as their cousins the silver carp and are still used in ponds and canals.
How Big Can Grass Carp Get?
Grass carp can reach up to 100 pounds.
An Alabama man has the world bow fishing record for grass carp with a 92 pounder. Of course this carp was killed, but there must be more out there.
A grass carp over 50 pounds would be a trophy fish for the US.
What Do Grass Carp Eat?
Unlike the commons and mirrors, grass carp eat mainly vegetation. They like algae, moss, grass, and weeds.
They’ll also eat insects, leaves and grass clippings that get blown into the water.
How To Catch Grass Carp
My favorite way to catch grass carp is with bread on the surface. Just toss out some small pieces of bread to get the fish feeding on it. Then put a piece on your hook and toss it out.
You have to be very sneaky, as fish feeding on the surface are easily spooked.
You can also use corn or cherry tomatoes as bait if you want to fish with a sliding sinker rig.
A Japanese man named Mitsuru Ichikawa caught a record for the 6 pound line bracket at over 53 pounds. His bait… a leaf.
To learn more, check out this article about How To Catch Grass Carp.
Silver Carp
These are the bad guys taking over our rivers. Silver carp were also brought over in the 1960 but have escaped into the wild and taken over.
They are a major problem in the Illinois River. Silvers reproduce incredibly fast and are crowding native fish out of the waters.
Silver carp are the fish you see jumping out of the water by the hundreds when a motor boat drives past. As you can imagine, this is quite dangerous for recreational boaters.
How Big Can Silver Carp Get?
Silver carp can grow up to 100 pounds under the right circumstances. In 2004 a 106 pound silver carp was caught in Germany by snagging.
What Do Silver Carp Eat?
Silver carp are filter feeders, which means they eat plankton and algae. This makes them very difficult to catch via a baited hook. But it’s not impossible.
How To Catch Silver Carp
The most popular way to catch silver carp is by bow fishing. As I mentioned above, it’s very difficult to catch these carp on a hook since they are filter feeders.
Snagging is another common way to catch these fish. Just find a school of them, tie on a big weighted snagging hook. Cast out and reel in with fast hard jerks.
If you want to try to catch a silver carp with bait and hook, you’ll have to use a special type of bait.
A Japanese bait company called Marukyu sells a type of bait called barake-esa.
It’s specially designed to be formed into a ball around the hook and slowly let off a cloud of particles which filter feeding fish can suck in. Eventually the carp will suck in the bait ball and you can set the hook.
I haven’t tried this method on silvers because there aren’t any silver carp in my area. However I have used this bait very successfully on other carp species.
Bighead Carp
Although bighead carp don’t have the obnoxious habit of jumping out of the water, they are still causing a negative affect on our waters ecosystems.
How Big Can Bighead Carp Get?
An average bighead carp is around 30 to 40 pounds, but according to the Department of Natural Resources, they can reach up to 110 pounds.
In 2013, Larry Sparks snagged a 93.5 pound bighead carp in Iowa. This could be a world record.
What Do Bighead Carp Eat?
Like silvers, Bighead carp are filter feeders. They swim through the water with their mouths open and filter out the plankton. They will also eat algae.
How To Catch Bighead Carp
The same methods used on silvers should be used on bighead carp. Bow fishing is the most popular, but snagging works as well.
Below is a picture of a rig that some people use for bighead and silver carp.
Smash a bait ball onto the spring and as it dissolves, carp will gather around to suck in the particles. Then by accident, they’ll suck in one of the hooks dangling around it.
You’ll need very sharp hooks, an an extremely sensitive float to detect when this happens.
If you want to learn more about invasive Asian carp, check out the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website
What Makes a Big Carp?
Carp are very hardy fish. The common carp in particular can live just about anywhere. This is partly due to the fact that they aren’t too picky.
In Japan I would sometimes see carp swimming through the storm drains, and in small rice field canals. As long as they have water and a good source of protein, they can survive.
However, in order to really grow into trophy size fish, they need lots of food.
In warmer climates, ponds and lakes are likely to have good amounts of vegetation. This make an easy meal that doesn’t take a lot of energy from the carp.
In colder climates, carp might have to live off minnows, bugs, and crawdads. These are high in protein which helps grow big fish.
So whether you live in a warm or cold climate, you can still find big carp. You just have to find a body of water with a great enough food source.
The UK is home to a lot of large carp. This is in part because of the commercialization of carp fishing. In the UK many anglers will pay to fish at certain private lakes stocked with large carp. These fisheries will feed the carp often to grow them as big as possible, which in turn attracts paying carp anglers.
In the US, pay lakes are big in the Carolinas. But outside of that culture, our carp grow naturally. Because of this, we don’t have as many 70 pound carp being caught. However, there are 30, 40 and even 50 pounders out there waiting to be caught. And being that carp in the US are relatively low pressured, your chances of catching them go up!
