posted on: April 4, 2010

The Same Mirror Carp on the Patuxent Year After Year

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Patuxent River

My name is Pat Kerwin, I'm a long time carp fisherman and member of the Carp Anglers Group. I currently live in Virginia but I frequent Maryland to carp fish quite a bit. My favorite waters for carp fishing are the tidal rivers, they are great places to be and the fact that there's some huge carp swimming in them is an added bonus.

I've fished the middle Patuxent for carp for well over a decade. The Patuxent holds some huge fish, at least one of which has been featured in the Maryland Fishing Report.

As you may know, some carp have large irregular scales rather than the typical uniform scales found on most carp. These carp are called mirror carp and their irregular scales make them readily identifiable. Biologically mirror and common carp are the same, it is just a genetic mutation that causes the irregular scaling. The gene that causes this is recessive, and as a result mirrors make up only a small percentage of carp in most waters.

Below is a picture of a mirror carp that I caught from the Patuxent in March 2001. Mirror carp are rare enough that their capture is almost always an occasion to take a picture. It went 19lbs.

I caught the same fish again almost two years later to the date. This time it went 21lbs. The fish received national attention, the photo below appeared in October 2004 edition of Field and Stream.

True to form the fish showed up two years later, this time in April 2005. In the interim, the fish had gained four pounds and now was up to 25lbs.

As you can see from the photo credits my good fishing buddy and fellow CAG member Phil Saunders was lucky enough to witness my three captures. In April 2008 it was his turn to catch it, this time is went 23lbs.

The fish made its most recent appearance in August 2009. Down a bit in weight again it came in at 22lbs but still looking pretty good after all these years! The lucky angler is my wife Lia Kerwin!

After a long cold winter we returned to the river in March 2010 for a couple of solid days fishing. We weren't too surprised to see our old friend come out! This time at 23lbs 8oz.

I think Catch, Photo, and Release is a great way to help sustain a fishery. I know there's no shortage of carp in Maryland but this mirror carp brought a big smile to the face of everyone who caught it! You might get the impression that this is a dumb fish but we fish the Patuxent River quite a bit for carp. Between the first capture in 2001 and the most recent this year we have fished literally thousands of man hours all year around in pursuit of carp. The fish has come out of several different spots but all from the same general area (within a few 100 yards of one another).