Mirror carp in Texas are rarer than most would believe. Many of the mirrors that exist in Texas are former baitfish sold until 1992 under the name “israeli” carp. The small mirrors, likely closer related to strains of carp from Italy and France, were used for bait for bass, catfish, and other predator species up until it was made illegal to sell the small carp in bait stores. Many bait stores reportedly dumped their supplies of israelis into the surrounding lakes including Fork, Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, and others. The interesting part is many of the mirrors continue to live in the areas they were released from, as most captures (and even a few recaptures) tend to occur around the marinas on the lakes.