Carp in rivers

[Kappa]

I've been thinking. Say you catch a carp in your local river, what do you do?

 

Do you think, the fish in this river are already suffering enough without carp eating them out of house and home? Afterall its next to impossible to find lakes not crawling with carp, the rivers are almost the last home of the non carp angler. Technically carp are not native to britain and they are spreading like wildfire like many pests. In which case it shouldn't go back.

 

Maybe you feel that with the increase in population of Britain many river fish will suffer the low water every summer as demand for water increases. As such it would be nice to have something left in the rivers to catch. So you slip it back hoping to meet again.

 

What do you think?

 

Rich

[Anderoo]

I suspect the 'right' thing to do for the good of the environment is to knock it on the head. The next logical step, to avoid waste, is to eat it or give it to someone who wants to eat it.

 

I would always return it of course. I love catching carp from rivers, when the odds are small and it's unexpected. Should a river really get over-run with them and there are serious knock-on effects for the rest of the ecosystem, it should be the EA who come up with a sensible plan to deal with it. Anglers taking things into their own hands is very rarely a good idea, even if it's well-meaning.

 

It's weird isn't it, I've caught and killed pike, zander and eels and eaten them, and I've caught and killed roach, rudd, perch, skimmers, etc. for deadbaits, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to kill a carp, even though I'm not a carp angler. (Or a tench for that matter!)

[wayne baker]

My local river has a head of carp but they are few and far between. And i don't feel that there presence is detrimental to the other species. I know there's a lot of rivers that have a larger head of carp and quite sure the other fish suffer. As for killing them personally i wouldn't unless it was made law. Like in Australia where they are considered a pest.

 

It would be interesting just to see just how many carp there are in the uk now, Compared to say 50 years ago

[Dick Dastardly]

Ive no problem with the handfull of carp in the rivers I fish in the UK.They make a nice challenge. I also think their relatively low numbers dont cause a great problem.

 

That said (IMO) the general fishing on the R.Saone in the area I used to work was ruined when (after the near elimination of the Catfish stocks) there was a massive boom in the smaller (pastie sized) carp.These made a bit of general feeder fishing for tench,barbel,bream etc almost impossible in some areas.It was just like fishing a UK commercial.A great shame.