>>633517Yes, they are. As a kid I recall seeing big, fat brown leathery carps with only 4-5 huge ass bright scales on their sides. I used believe they were "shields" and that the bigger ones had less because they because they'd lost them fighting other fishes or escaping lines. I honestly thought they were scarred up, badass carps haha.
But they're just a weird strain of leather carps. And bright scales don't do much for survival so I guess the less they have the longer they live.
Fisher here like them because they're good fighters. But imho carp fishing is boring and disappointing.
>bait for weeks at the same spot>end up losing your lines anyway because fish is 2fat/2furious>spot is ruined>if not fish tastes like crap if you don't leave it live in clean water for a week or so>I actually once stole a carp that had been left to "clean" in an enclosed stream in some farmer's yard>tasted meh anyways>mfw 