Here's a YouTube video on the largest common carp caught and released on the Chicago River.
The video is nicely put together on the fishing and music end, and makes a rather pointed point about fishing along the Chicago River. Or maybe just a point about fishing around Chicago period.
I think this is the same carp that Paul Pezalla caught and released last fall on a day he had invited me to go carp fishing. And the carp ended up as Fish of the Week.
And the music and video composition makes me thing a fishing acquaintance had a hand in it.
My question is, Why did he release it - that thing should have been left on the concrete to die.
Mike- Why would you kill a wondergul specimen which could possibly be the nicest fish in that whole stretch of river. The common carp represent the greatest fishing opportunity chicagoland has to offer.
what makes one fish better than the other?
That's one of the great questions of my world. The simple answer is some combination of fighting ability, tastiness and difficulty to catch.
But there is a cultural bias too. No matter how much I know in my head that carp are one of the great fighting fish, I cannot escape the ingrained notion from growing up in the country that carp are a common trash fish and you need to go away to find some more hyped species like native brook trout or smallmouth bass.
Thats not the same fish from the video.