[American Leather Carp?]

I looked into it, you right a leather can't have a single scale.

[good friends, good fishing, great weekend!]

Some nice fish there!

[American Leather Carp?]

Yours looks like it has a row of dorsal scales. Thus technically, its not a leather. Who the hell cares anyway, its a gorgeous fish!

here's a "near" leather I caught

Looks like a proper European carp! Very nice!!!

[American Leather Carp?]

So looking at that mine might be considered a leather or if not there are most likely some in the lake that are completely scaless since those other ones are linears.

Nearest thing I have seen to a leather , for the purists amongst us, or those just interested . This link explains some of the mystery about leathers http://www.traditionalfisherman.com/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=355

[American Leather Carp?]

I had a crazy day fishing sunday! The bite was on at a venue that is usually slow going. The crazy thing was catching a leather and two mirrors in a row! I'm going to call it a mirror but jokingly I was calling it a leather at first but now i'm starting to think it might actually be a leather after reading the description on wikipedia.

Contrary to popular belief, Leather carp are not Mirror carp without scales; there is a distinct genetic difference. Leather carp are permitted a few scales; however, the dorsal row of scales is either absent or incomplete. Leathers also have reduced numbers of red blood cells, slowing growth rates.

I know in the united states commons, mirrors, and leather carp were originally stocked but I haven't seen or heard of any leathers being caught. This carp did have a slight dorsal row of scales and that's it, but another reason I'm thinking it might be a leather is that the texture of the fins and tail were so different from the mirrors I had caught telling me it could be genetically different from the mirrors in the lake! What do you all think?

[Fishing Beltzville Lake, Pa]

Doug you fished Beltzville?