What's with the Carp hating?

[Steve Walker]

Spot the water overstocked with small carp:

 

Edited May 20, 2008 by Steve Walker

[norfolkfisher]

That looks a tad worrying to say the least!

 

But an all too familiar sight.

[Peter Waller]

One picture is worth a thousand words!

[happymondays]

Salt and Vinegar anyone will that be in newspaper large fork.......

[John S]

The red dots show the whereabouts of the anglers....

 

[poledark]

So how much do the anglers on the brown lake pay, compared to the one or two on the big lake?

 

Den

[Neil G]

The red dots show the whereabouts of the anglers....

 

 

lol class

 

Be interesting to draw in the anglers lines

[gozzer]

The posts by JohnS and Den, prove my point about the state of angling today.

 

I wouldn't mind if the carp etc, were kept in their specially built muddy little holes but they're not.

Because of this 'sickness' the same stocking policies are being used on old estate lakes, association waters, mill ponds, canals, in fact just about everywhere there's water.

Then there are the escapees that infest whole river systems, (as the floods of last years showed).

I've been 'harping on'about this for over 20yrs, to water owners, club officials, anglers, just about anyone who would listen, (and those that didn't want to listen). The answer I usually got was "it's what the punters want". It might be what they want, (or wanted, because there are many that are starting to 'wake up' to the situation), but it was a manufactured 'need' that was created with money in mind. Money for themselves, not to be spent on 'saving angling'.

Anglers have always been their own worst enemies when stocking levels were mentioned.

Whenever a water was 'hard' or the fishing 'poor' the answer was always "it wants stocking", regardless of the reasons for the situation.

Well someone gave them the waters with high stock levels so they need never blank again, ( angling heaven ). They only need to 'learn' how to fish one way, for one fish, and if they try a more 'natural' water (if they can find one), shock horror! "what do I do?", "I've blanked", "this place is crap, it needs stocking", and so the cycle goes on.

And what happens if the bubble bursts and angler do start to look for more reasonable waters to fish? Do those muddy holes get filled in? What happens to the fish? Do they do a what Peter's mate 'Charlie Carp' would do, and use them for fertilizer? No we can't kill them, we'll put them in another water, (it's happened near me recently), and so the cycle goes on.

 

It's a bit like having a garden where you want to grow a mixed variety of flowers, but your neighbour likes to grow some invasive plants. The law says you can't kill those plants of his, or weed them out, so you just have to watch, while your land with your prized mixed blooms are slowly smothered by your neighbours plants.

 

Anyway, got an appointment with the Doc soon so I'm off, but I'll be back.

 

John.

[Steve Walker]

So how much do the anglers on the brown lake pay, compared to the one or two on the big lake?

 

The group of three are all on the same club card at £50/year, along with a number of other lakes in the area. The two smaller ones may be fished on a day ticket for £7. The fishing on the large lake to the right is held by The Carp Society and costs £385 a year with limited numbers of permits. All the lakes you see there hold carp, but only the brown one is very heavily stocked with pasties. The other small lake is a very easy mixed coarse water.

 

Not all of the club's big carp waters are open all year round, and when some of the other big pits are closed it's not uncommon for every peg on the larger of the group of three to have a bivvy on it. I like fishing that lake for tench, but I find it gets a bit crowded and a bit noisy for my tastes, and have started to fish one of the less popular waters instead.

 

 

The red dots show the whereabouts of the anglers....

 

Not far off!

Edited May 21, 2008 by Steve Walker

[poledark]

Steve, so it is a good mixed fishery then?

Something for everyone

 

Same old story really, "you pays your money, you take your choice"

 

Gozzer, the cry for more fish has been going on for all my fishing life (more than 60) Used to be for more silvers (roach/rudd) then bream became the king. They were the only fish available in numbers and at a reasonable price. Most clubs only charged a couple of pounds a year, so money was tight.

 

I think I can say that had anglers had the transport/tackle that we have now, added to the availability of lots of carp being sold, then the carp fishing explosion would have started a long time ago.

 

I'm off fishing now, got the bug for a big roach.......................

 

Den