All about carp

By news@duluthnewstribune.com

June 20, 2009 at 11:00 PM

Here are some facts about the common carp gleaned from "The Great Minnesota Fish Book," by Tom Dickson.

Carp, native to China and perhaps eastern Europe, were imported to the United States in 1871 by the U.S. Fish Commission.

"So prized were carp [in Minnesota] that they went only to prominent citizens for stocking in private ponds," Dickson writes. "Minnesota actually built a carp hatchery."

By the 1930s, Minnesota had begun hiring commercial fishermen to remove carp from lakes. But it was too late. The efforts were futile.

Carp live throughout Minnesota, including in Lake Superior.

Carp will eat nearly anything -- vegetation, mayfly larvae, minnows, insects and seed pods.

Carp mate in "spectacular fashion," Dickson writes. "Hundreds of spawning carp can churn up a shallow bay until it looks like a kettle of simmering cocoa."

All about carp

Here are some facts about the common carp gleaned from "The Great Minnesota Fish Book," by Tom Dickson. Carp, native to China and perhaps eastern Europe, were imported to the United States in 1871 by the U.S. Fish Commission. "So prized were carp...