Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idellus A native of China, it has firmly established it self in our local ponds. Being one of the larger fish found in the ponds it is popular with anglers looking for a bigger catch than the tilapia or lampam jawa. It can often be seen cruising near the surface looking for tasty morsels. Throwing it an unweighted piece of bread often results in a hook up! Fishing dough is effective when the fish aren't taking bait on the surface. Being a herbivore, carp will also take certain types of leaves, like ubi kayu (tapioca) leaves and kang-kung (a vegetable that grows by water). I have also seen them eat shoots of grass and flowers by pushing their head above the water to eat the tasty green matter on the bank side. On occasion worms and crickets do take grass carp too. Grass carp grow to excess of 20kgs, but a catch of 5kgs or more would make most anglers esctatic! Most good catches are around 2kgs. I consider carp a very smart fish. With its large nostrils it has very sensitive sense of smell. This helps it to locate and identify food easily, but it also seems to the fish able to identify baits that have previously caught its mates. I find that on day one, I'd be able to catch them on a certain bait. Day two, maybe one straggler on the same bait, more if I change baits. This goes on till I run out of baits, and except for the odd straggler, it can be months before they will take baits again! It is certainly a challenging fish to catch! In this part of the world, carp is a food fish. When cooked well it makes a tasty dish. Like other fish in this family it has "Y" bones. However, when are carp bigger than a kilo the "Y" bones are easy to pick out.