Crock of Gold - Seeking the Crucian Carp

Here's a taster from the book I'm most proud of, because it helped to change people's thinking about this neglected and endangered fish. So if you're wondering whether it's worth paying out for a book on crucians, the snippet below may help you make up your mind. I'm pleased to say that 'Crock of Gold, Seeking the Crucian Carp', currently the only book devoted entirely to the species, is being reprinted and you can get a copy from Amazon or from the publishers, MPress (Media) Ltd., on 0845 408 2606 or at Calm Productions. The First Edition is now out of print and already collectable.

CONTENTS

Prologue

Introduction

Meet the Crucian Carp

Chapter One:  Crucian Trivia

The Crucian Carp Experience: Reflections

Chapter Two:  The Subtlest Carp by Chris Yates

Chapter Three:  The Crucian Carp Conundrum by Hugh Miles

Crucians in Books: 300 Years of Crucian Carp Writing

Chapter Four:  The 18th and 19th Centuries

Chapter Five:  The 20th Century

Fishing for Crucian Carp: From Field Pond to Baltic

Chapter Six:  Fishing in Small Ponds

Chapter Seven:  The Victorian Estate Lakes; Including Winter Night Fishing by David and Bryan Matthews

Chapter Eight:  Gravel and Sand Pits, by Mark Wintle, Alan Stagg and Martin Bowler

Chapter Nine:  Marsh Farm by Peter Wheat

Chapter Ten:  Swedish Shangri-la by William Wyatt, Stefan Burnert and Dr. Henrik Ragnarsson Stabo

The Crucian Carp Fishery: Creating and Managing Crucian Carp Waters

Chapter Eleven:  First Steps: the Crucian Nursery

Chapter Twelve:  Moving On: Two Kinds of Fishery

Chapter Thirteen:  Practical Management: How to go About It

Chapter Fourteen:  Well, We Can All Dream...

Study and Speculation: Some Knotty Problems Unraveled

Chapter Fifteen:  Identification and Variation

Chapter Sixteen:  Alphabet Soup: Brown Goldfish and Crucian Hybrids; "Prussian Carp"

Chapter Seventeen: Native or Introduced?

Epilogue: Two Little Fishes: A Fable for Crucian Conservationists

Contributors, References, Notes, and Bibliography

...and this is the end of the introduction, promising a lot of good things!

"So please read on if you want to know what makes a crucian carp different from a brown goldfish or a hybrid, or if you want to know what a Prussian carp is or was. If you're puzzled why crucians from different waters don't always look the same; or why stocking with crucian carp can be such a gamble - why they sometimes disappear for years or, at the other extreme, why they sometimes run riot and take over a pond - then read on. Come fishing with me and my guests and read some theories, if no certain answers, about those difficult bites: why a successful strike is sometimes impossible and at other times so easy; and why sometimes you can't buy a bite when the surface of the water fizzes with bubbles from feeding fish? If, oh sad reader, you want to find out how it is that a crucian doesn't need oxygen to survive and still wriggles when its head is cut off - then please read on."

"The crucian carp is an elusive fish in more ways than one, but well worth the effort of discovering - hence the title of this book."

Below are a few of the pictures from "Crock of Gold"