A Tale of Two Fishes

The carp is a draft horse, while the brown trout is a thoroughbred.

In the late 1800s, two fish species were brought from Germany to America. Back then, the first fish was considered a prize. They adorned the ponds of European palaces, and were considered among the most “worthy” and treasured species on the planet, primarily for their heartiness.

They were brought to America with the great hope that they could become a viable food source for a growing nation–the answer to a major challenge at a time when native fish stocks had already been depleted in many areas, and refrigerated shipment wasn’t possible.

Julius A. Poppe brought five of these fish to California in 1872, and within four years, they had proliferated into a successful fish-farming operation. Then, in 1877, the U.S. Fish Commission initiated a major effort to cultivate these fish throughout the country. The first government shipment from Europe was deemed so valuable that the fish were guarded around the clock after they had been planted in Druid Hill ponds near Baltimore, and efforts to transport and plant these fish in other carefully selected waters throughout the country were carried out with painstaking precision.

The second fish–also a prized species–was introduced into the Baldwin River in Michigan in April 1884. This fish was held in high esteem more for its “sporting” characteristics than any widespread commercial potential. But this fish couldn’t just be dumped anywhere. Comparatively speaking, this fish was fragile, requiring relatively cool, clean waters with ample natural food sources (like insects and other aquatic invertebrates) in order to survive, let alone reproduce.

Flash forward to the present day, and the contrast of where these two fish species–the common carp (fish one) and the brown trout (fish two)–ended up in terms of “social status” in the eyes of anglers is remarkable. The carp took hold in American waters immediately, and within a few decades, had multiplied with such success in a wide range of waters that by the turn of the 20th Century, they were already considered a nuisance species.

Brown trout, on the other hand, are revered to this day as the very foundation of fly-fishing culture in America, despite the fact that browns aren’t “native” to any American waters (or the rivers in countries throughout the world like Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, where they were also introduced). Anglers also sometimes overlook the fact that the brown trout essentially “kicked out” some native trout species from various watersheds by outcompeting them–eating them and their food, and reproducing more efficiently than, say, brook trout in Michigan or certain cutthroat trout species in the American West.

Still, one of the most effective grassroots conservation organizations in the United States, Trout Unlimited, of which I am proudly a member (partly because I learned to fly fish on the Baldwin River and am still very much enamored of brown trout) was established in 1959, not far from where those brown trout were first planted. TU’s mission, while primarily focused on native salmonid species, still supports significant efforts to preserve and protect those cold, clean waters where the relatively fragile Salmo trutta swim. Brown trout will never be native fish, but anglers have adopted the reverent euphemism “wild fish” to describe their beloved browns–at least those that weren’t reared in a fish hatchery.

Carp, on the other hand, well they’re considered “invasive species,” which is perhaps a by-product of their own genetic superiority. There is no “Carp Unlimited” because this über-fish doesn’t need any help. The carp has suffered the same stigma of the working class, blue-collar human immigrants who worked the docks, cleared the fields and built the transcontinental railroad, while the brown trout fell into favor with the genteel, sporting elite. The carp is a draft horse, while the brown trout is a thoroughbred.

And no doubt, in some places, carp are making a harsh impact on rivers and lakes. The threat that Asian carp (a name that envelops many species, like silver carp and bighead carp) pose to the Great Lakes is one of the most significant pending environmental catastrophes of our time. Yes, there are many situations where carp species of all sorts should be eradicated if at all possible, in order to preserve American fisheries.

But to call the common carp “invasive” while holding the brown trout in high esteem is a bit unfair. They’re both immigrants.

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This chapter is excerpted from The Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing for Carp: Tips and Tricks for the Determined Angler (2013).

Also, check out KD’s new book: A Fishable Feast: Fly Fishing and Eating Your Way Around the World–out this year and published by Rizzoli in New York. (order at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million.) If you want a personalized copy with an inscription from me for yourself or a gift recipient–e.g. “to Susie, the greatest fly angler ever to grace the rivers of the Americas”–sure, I’m game. Just visit kirkdeeter.com to order and tell me what you want me to write.