Name: Carp
Other names: Bavarian, Hungarian, savage, carp from the Danube
Latin name: Cyprinus carpio

Description: There is no chance that the carp has given its name to the famous numerous family. This nice giant inhabiting the freshwaters actually is one of the most desired fishing objects – strong, clever, cautious but combative.
However it is so unfortunate for that fish for being so delicious. Because of this culinary fact the carp nowadays is one of the most important fish-breeding objects worldwide.

But as a breeding-fish object itself the carp is forced to split the throne with the salmon to a certain distance. In countries like ours, however, where there are no abilities of fishing salmon for that moment, the carp is the absolute leader in fishing achievements both in our dreams and for real. Its exclusive adaptation and its impressive stability to all the changes in the inhabited environment have made this fish the most widely distributed kind all over the world. Nowadays, after around 500 years of selection, countless carp races and breeds exist. However it is ichtyologically accepted that there are three basic carp races – wild, entirely scaly with lengthened body carp; smooth – decreased in number but having large scales; bare scarp which body is covered only with its skin, where accidentally you can see a few large scales. In general everyone has seen how large one carp is but not all can accept that it can reach length up to 120cm and weight up to 30-35 kg. There is some information that in the past there were even bigger kinds but it seems their time has faded away for good. However in 1998 the fishing guild saw an incredible world record. The Australian master Christian Baldeman caught in Romania, at the Robert Raduta’s rented reservoir, a giant carp which weight was 37.3kg and length 115cm. using only protein marble. What is typical of that fish is the obstacle that the height of its body can be brought in 4 times in its length. Carp’s body as a whole is sideward flattened.  Its head is small. Its mouth has strong, forward movable lips on which sides there are two pairs of barbs each.  The color of the scaly river carps is greenish-gold, with dark back which can be brown, olive-green or even bluish-black. Its sides are covered with large, evenly arranged scales which have dark line at the end. The carp’s stomach is light and together with the side fins their color is almost yellow. What is peculiar about the carp are the two barbs pairs and thanks to which that fish can be distinguished from the Carassius. Carp’s back fin is vastly longer than most fishes from the carp’s family. What is peculiar for that fin is the strong, sharp and saw-toothed inside frontal hard ray. The same but smaller prickle exists where the anal flipper is. Thanks to these armaments the carp conquests its freedom battles because thanks to that flipper the fish can cut both fishing nets and fibers. The carp belongs to the fast growing fishes. The reason is in its constant and greedy appetite. It stops eating only through the hottest summer days but then it waits for the cool night hours when it can make up for the missed.  In our conditions carps stop eating only through the coldest winter months but recent ichthyology and fishermen research in West Europe dispute that fact. What they think is that carp does not stop eating even during the summer as long as the reservoir, where it lives, has deep holes in it (over 20m). The water there stayed hot enough so that carps could settle themselves near the bottom and ate the organic remains. Whit such conditions for 2 years in England carp grows from a hard roe to 200gr fish, in our country up to 500gr and in China up to 1kg. However, after all this conditions fulfilled,  it should be known that artificially bred carps grow 2 times faster than the carps which live free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name: Sheat-fish
Other names: Sheat-fish
Latin name: Silurus glanis

Description: Without any reservations and referring to the “gloriously past” today the Sheat-fish is the biggest freshwater fish in general. No other spices can boast with the sizes of caught representatives over 3 meters long and over 100kg of weight. This strange fish with its big head, whiskers and wide mouth is the absolute natural limit and it exists in the bravest fishermen’ dreams.  The sheat-fish can reach length up to 5 meters and weight up to 300kg. Nowadays the catch has more modest sizes, but sheat-fish over 2 meters and 60kg is often caught in our waters during the past 10 years. Its head is vertically flattened but still huge for its body. The head turns straight into cylindrical soft flesh with no scales. The color of that fish is according to the place inhabited, but mostly its back is grayish-black, greenish-blue or dark brown. The stomach is quite light. From its fore-part to the back the Sheat-fish has vertically flattened body but reaching the back fin it traverses to laterally flattened. Its spinal fin is very small. It is constructed from couple of rays. Its breast flippers are powerful with a hard bone ray and the anal flipper is lengthened and reaches the caudal flipper. Its eyes are too small for animal like this. What the experts think is that their brilliant hearing makes up for the eyes and its sense of smell and sense or touch are excellent. Its teeth are fine, a little bit declined inwards. They cover the whole inside part of its wide mouth. On the upper jaw there is a pair of strong and long whiskers reaching the breast flippers and on its lower jaw – two more pair of small whiskers. They like warm waters and they are getting more active when the waters begin to warm up and spending winter time having a nap. In our country the Sheat-fish is a natural inhabitant of “Danube” River and the lower reaches of its feeders.  You can see them also in “Maritsa” River, “Struma” River, “Tundja” River, in system of canals, in swamps and lakes. It’s been spread in artificial way and has found excellent conditions of living in some of the older Bulgarian reservoirs such as – “Batak”, “Ivailovgrad’, “Alexander Stamboliiski”, “Kardjali”, “Ticha” and even “Iskar”. The sheat-fish prefers still waters or waters with low streams. It loves deep waters because it feels safe. Some sheat-fishes live in reefs or dwelling cuts in the rocks of the river, others build their nests on the bottom itself. In practice after its baby age the sheat-fish has no natural enemy or rival among the fish kingdom. Only some other, bigger sheat-fishes can chase away smaller ones from their reserved place. The predatory manner and good appetite of this water giant can be satisfied by a long list of provisions – small fishes, frogs, birds, mussels, crayfishes, sometimes flesh, insects, worms, leeches and even small larvae from the bottom slimy which the sheat-fish percolates /just like the whale does/when it is very hungry.
The sheat-fish experts of the Danube River add some other foods – starting from hominy and oil-cake to the incredible bait-a bit of home maid soap. The reason for all that is that sheat-fish just like the Great Powers impose peace by using force. It can be said that in front of the great congregation of the sheat-fish everybody is equal – perches, pikes, white fishes, grey mullets and other water warmongers. Without having canine teeth the sheat fish is perfectly coping with quite big baits. Swallowing one kilo perch is just like swallowing a candy. The sheat-fish strongly holds the prey into his mouth to stun it and then immediately swallow the whole of it. This fish has the enormous need to feed its huge body and that is why it can not afford the luxury to hunt only at night. Early in the morning or at nightfall it swims in the upper layers of the water to catch small fishes. If however the food is plenty the sheat-fish prefers not to wear itself out by hiding somewhere and ready to attack. In our country, however, in 1959 is imported and aclimatizated the American channel sheat-fish – Ictalurus punctatus. It inhabits “Ovcharica” Reservoir. It can be differ from the ordinary one by the presence of the extra lardaceous fin between the pectoral and caudal flipper.    

 

 

 

     

Name: Freshwater Trout
Other Names: Balkan Trout, Balkanka
Latin Name: Salmo trutta fario

 

Description: Trout fishing is the symbol of sports fishing in general. This just must be said in the beginning without any hesitation or reservation. In this case it is not important which one of the trout fishes you are going to catch – salmon, sea trout, balkanka, arched trout, siven or lipan. They all have common characteristics – they are perfect swimmers, they are fighters and they are extremely beautiful. The freshwater trout or the balkanka has an incredible ability to adapt itself to the place inhabited. Sometimes they change that quickly that even the ichthyologists are amazed. The disputations about the different spices of the Trout fish between the scientists become even comical – for example some think that the sea and lake trout descend from the freshwater one. Some insist on the opposite – that the freshwater Trout has descended from the sea migration to the rivers. Constantly one of the two parties proves its victory in this dispute then the other one takes it from them. In either case there is something to dispute for, because the Trout family – Salmonidae includes 9 genuses with 35 species. In our country there are only some of these spices from the different genuses that can be met.

Name: Arched (book trout)
Other names:
Latin name:  Salmo gairdneri irideus

Description: Arched Trout is described for the science by Dr. Gardner in 1836 in the United States of America. Its home land is the West coast of that country. In 1880 it was spread in Europe and in 1934 in Bulgaria. Comparing to the Balkan Trout the American one is somehow more filled out. Having equal sizes the American one is tree time heavier than the Balkan Trout. Its back is greenish blue and its sides are very light with a pinkish but shading into the colors of the rainbow stripe along its length. The dots are fine and black. Along its length it can reach up to 70cm and weight up to 8-10kg. In our country it’s been propagated only in artificial way. Its main difference from the freshwater one is that this one can bare much hotter temperature of the water which means that it can be bred in many more reservoirs and rivers. Arched Trout is also a big predator but it rushes upon doughy baits more than the Balkan Trout. In Bulgaria it can be mostly caught at the “Dospat” Reservoir or the “Vasil Kolarov” Reservoir. It is also settled in other suitable reservoirs and rivers.