The Mirror Carp is one of the easiest ways to start filling your catch list at Weeping Willow, and it is a good looking fish while you are at it. Its patchy, oversized mirror scales make it stand out from an ordinary carp, and it takes plain corn on a simple bottom rig without much fuss. I landed a Trophy at 17.485 kg and 106.0 cm on Sweet Corn, and pulled a smaller Young one on regular Corn in the same session. This guide covers the Cave Lake spot, the exact rig, the bait, and one honest note about a piece of tackle you do not actually need for this fish. If you have not read it yet, start with my Weeping Willow Fisheries setup guide for the full map overview.
What to Expect from the Mirror Carp
Let me be straight about the money first, because this is not a coin farm. My Trophy at 17.485 kg paid 3,442 coins and 638 XP, and the Young one earlier in the session paid just 248 coins and 38 XP. Those are small numbers next to the saltwater giants I have written up elsewhere. If coins per hour is all you care about, the carp here are not your target.
So why fish it? Three reasons. It ticks the species and its Trophy class off your Weeping Willow list. It bites readily on cheap bait, so it keeps you busy and steadily earns XP while you learn the map at Level 50. And it is a genuinely handsome fish to land, which counts for something on a relaxed carp venue like this. Treat the Mirror Carp as the reliable, good looking filler that teaches you the map, not as a payday.
About the Mirror Carp
The Mirror Carp is a genetic variant of the Common Carp, easy to tell apart by its irregular, patchy scales that look like scattered mirrors along a fuller, rounder body. It is a schooling bottom dweller that likes slow or still water with plenty of vegetation, which describes almost every lake on this map. Most run 40 to 80 cm and 2 to 14 kg, so my 17.485 kg fish came in as a Trophy, and the class ceiling goes higher still: a Unique can reach around 32 kg, with a real world record near 45 kg.
The practical takeaway is simple. This is a bottom feeder that wants a bait sat on the lake bed, and it is not fussy, taking the same sweet carp baits as every other carp here. It comes in Young, Common, Trophy, and Unique classes, so there is always a bigger one to chase once you have the spot dialled in.
Where to Catch Mirror Carp at Weeping Willow
I caught both of mine at Cave Lake, near coordinates -201.21, 33.69, over by the Kimiri Harbor side of the water. This is bank fishing, so you pick a swim on the shore and cast out rather than taking a boat, which you cannot do on this map anyway. Drop a marker buoy when you find a productive patch so you can drop back onto the same line, and fish the rig hard on the bottom, because that is where the carp are feeding.
Treat the coordinate as a starting area rather than an exact pixel. Cave Lake has a varied bottom with plenty of features, so give yourself room to recast around the buoy if bites go quiet. The carp move, but this general water produced two Mirror Carp for me in one short session.
Timing: A Daytime Fish
I took both fish at Midday, around 14:37, in clear sun at 25°C air and 18°C water with a light westerly around 1.1 m/s. That is the nice thing about carp on this map: they feed well in daylight, so you do not need to sit up for a night session the way you do for the tench or the catfish. A normal daytime trip is plenty.
Check the map activity chart when you arrive and use it as a loose guide to when the bite is strongest overall, keeping in mind it is a generalised read rather than a Mirror Carp specific graph. Whenever you are fishing the bottom in daylight here, the carp are a candidate. Use Forward Time to reach a busier window if it is slow, and avoid Next Day, which sells everything in your storage.
The Rig: A Bottom Setup
This is the exact rig that landed the fish, a simple bottom setup:
- Rod: Mokonzi 360 (bottom rod)
- Reel: GiantSpin 10000
- Main line: Fluoro 0.87 mm
- Leader: Titanium Leader 0.48
- Hook: Cap’n Hook #7/0
- Sinker: Sinker 250 g
- Bait: Sweet Corn
The Rig Is Heavier Than a Carp Needs, and That Is on Purpose
Being honest here: the Mokonzi 360 is an X Heavy bottom rod, and paired with a titanium leader it is more gear than a Mirror Carp strictly requires. Carp have no teeth, so a titanium leader does nothing for them that a fluorocarbon leader would not do just as well, and arguably a lighter carp rod would be more fun to play them on. I run this heavier outfit because it doubles as my all-rounder for the whole map, where the toothy Northern Pike and the 90 kg Wels Catfish do justify the titanium and the backbone. If you are only fishing for carp, do not feel you need to buy a titanium leader or an X Heavy rod. A dedicated carp rod and a fluorocarbon leader will land these fish perfectly well.
Bait: Corn Is All You Need
Sweet Corn caught my Trophy and plain Corn caught the Young one, which tells you most of what you need to know: you do not have to spend on expensive boilies for these fish. Corn is cheap, it sits on the preferred list, and it works. If you want to vary things, the Mirror Carp also takes the usual carp spread of Semolina Balls, Peas, Pea dough, Sweet Peas, Marshmallows, Bread with Honey, Boilies, and Pellets, so use whatever you already carry. But if you are starting out, a tin of corn is the simplest, most reliable way in.
Landing the Fish
A 17 kg carp pulls harder than its size suggests, but on the X Heavy rig above there is huge margin, so there is no drama here. Set the hook, keep steady pressure, let the rod absorb the runs, and bring it to the net. This is a bank fish that comes to hand or landing net rather than a crane, and it goes straight into the keepnet. The main risk is simply losing focus, because the tackle is doing most of the work for you. Once it is in, open photo mode and enjoy those scales.
Common Mistakes
Expecting big money. A Trophy paid me 3,442 coins. This is a species tick and an XP earner, not a coin farm. Fish it for the collection and the fun, and go elsewhere for a payday.
Buying tackle you do not need. A titanium leader does nothing for a toothless carp. Only run one if the rod is also your insurance against the pike and catfish. For carp alone, fluorocarbon is fine.
Overthinking the bait. Plain corn caught both of mine. You do not need expensive boilies to tempt these fish.
Fishing off the bottom. The Mirror Carp is a bottom feeder. Let the sinker settle and keep the bait down where the fish is.
Pressing Next Day. It sells everything in your storage. Use Forward Time to move the clock instead.