05-07-2006, 12:16 PM
[cool][#0000ff]That's a biggun. And purty too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I have caught quite a few koi carp (goldfish) both in southern California and in Arizona. There are lots of warm water lakes where people have used them for bait and they escaped into the lakes. Some of them are the genetic mutants that never get more than a couple of pounds, but the koi carp are just regular carp with fancy dresses. They can get huge too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When I was a kid, my family used to go to Irvine Park for picnics. There was a small pond there (maybe a couple of acres) that had a rowboat rental concession, and benches around it for people to sit and feed the ducks. It also had some bluegills, bass, crappies AND a very few big orange koi. I fished with light tackle for the bluegills mostly, but every once in awhile one of those big koi would suck in the piece of worm under my bobber and go screaming across the lake. Burned out the drag on one of the cheap spinning reels I had. One also came up beside a boat with a guy and his girl and splashed water all over them. I never realized that teenagers could have heart attacks.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In many of the "planned communities" in and around Phoenix, there are small lakes that are stocked with fish for the residents. People dump all kinds of aquarium pets in those lakes, so some of them have a real assortment of angling prospects. There are quite a few multi-colored koi carp as well as the big amur (grass carp) that are planted to help control weed growth. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In many of the places where you find koi in a parklike setting, they will become "tame" and will swim up to people along the bank, looking for handouts. When they get used to slurping bread and other tidbits off the water they are prime for anglers. I have tied "marshmallow" patterns to use for hatchery rainbows, that like marshmallows, and also used them for carp. Koi carp will slurp in a trimmed white spun deerhair or hackle fly just like it was something good to eat. Then, hang on.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Those fish fight too hard and are too pretty to kill, so C & R all the way. Most of the koi in my old fishin' hole at Irvine Park were removed by bowfishermen.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I have caught quite a few koi carp (goldfish) both in southern California and in Arizona. There are lots of warm water lakes where people have used them for bait and they escaped into the lakes. Some of them are the genetic mutants that never get more than a couple of pounds, but the koi carp are just regular carp with fancy dresses. They can get huge too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When I was a kid, my family used to go to Irvine Park for picnics. There was a small pond there (maybe a couple of acres) that had a rowboat rental concession, and benches around it for people to sit and feed the ducks. It also had some bluegills, bass, crappies AND a very few big orange koi. I fished with light tackle for the bluegills mostly, but every once in awhile one of those big koi would suck in the piece of worm under my bobber and go screaming across the lake. Burned out the drag on one of the cheap spinning reels I had. One also came up beside a boat with a guy and his girl and splashed water all over them. I never realized that teenagers could have heart attacks.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In many of the "planned communities" in and around Phoenix, there are small lakes that are stocked with fish for the residents. People dump all kinds of aquarium pets in those lakes, so some of them have a real assortment of angling prospects. There are quite a few multi-colored koi carp as well as the big amur (grass carp) that are planted to help control weed growth. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In many of the places where you find koi in a parklike setting, they will become "tame" and will swim up to people along the bank, looking for handouts. When they get used to slurping bread and other tidbits off the water they are prime for anglers. I have tied "marshmallow" patterns to use for hatchery rainbows, that like marshmallows, and also used them for carp. Koi carp will slurp in a trimmed white spun deerhair or hackle fly just like it was something good to eat. Then, hang on.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Those fish fight too hard and are too pretty to kill, so C & R all the way. Most of the koi in my old fishin' hole at Irvine Park were removed by bowfishermen.[/#0000ff]
[signature]