Carp

[tiddlertamer]

Chris Yates, perhaps angling’s finest author, spent many years of his life chasing carp across the UK including Redmire’s monsters, before targeting other species. Much of his early writing was about the quest for monster carp.

 

The celebrated author Arthur Ransome, who wrote Swallows and Amazons, was also a fishing author of repute. He compared the feeling of striking into a carp to being "dragged out of bed by a grappling iron towed by an aircraft".

He stated that although the salmon may give a faster fight, no fish can compare with the dour, stubborn, raw power that a carp has.

 

Well I don’t think there would be many who wouldn’t agree that many carp fight like stink and are also a cunning species.

 

Carp have become the mainstay of modern angling. The majority of commercial fisheries stock carp and the fishing weeklies and magazines dedicate a lot of space to the species.

I don’t have figures but the rise of the commercial fisheries and the move of match fishing to such venues probably mean that the majority of fisherman target carp.

The tackle business certainly recognises carp’s popularity and many of the tackle shops I visit stock a great deal of gear focusing on carp fishing.

In the past thirty years it has become ubiquitous to the British angling scene.

 

However the amount of idyllic secluded ‘secret ponds’ stocked with ‘wildies’ are as rare as hen’s teeth.

 

I have also noted disquiet among some Anglers’ Net denizens at the rise of the all conquering carp.

 

The carp itself isn’t indigenous to these isles though it been here for over 600 years having been introduced by medieval monks for food.

 

Some resent their presence. Some lakes with high stocking densities take on a brown soupy appearance and completely change in character as a result of the carp’ feeding on the bottom.

Others don’t like to see them competing with natural river species.

 

So what do you all think about the subject? Potentially a subject it is possible to get hot under the collar about so let’s conduct the debate in the normal polite and reasoned way that Anglers Net is renowned for.

A case of donning helmet and entering foxhole! Just joshing. Keep it clean kids...

Carp – good, bad or a mixture of both?

Edited June 29, 2010 by tiddlertamer

[Peter M]

i like carp fishing on lily fringed lakes, mature trees all around, the sound of birds punctuated by the scream of the buzzer and feel of a carp pulling back with power. But, is it me? i am a little worried about thier spread into rivers like chalk streams.

[arbocop]

It's like all good things, they get overdone. It's not the carp it's the overstocking. All lakes that are overstocked become turbid and eutrophic.

 

Mind you there is a place for these sorts of waters, as lots of anglers like them - but enough now lads!

[daddypig]

ok i know a lot of anglers dont like carp but there is a world of differrence between digging a hole filling it with water and throwing in hundreds of pasty carp then charging people money to fish for these poor creature or a well run purpose made fishery which has a mix of all species run by someone who knows that the fish are as important as his bank account of coarse neither can compare to a natural lake with a healthy stock of carp and others.

carp may not be a true british species but neither are cat fish or zander and whilst they have had their critics they just like the carp have found a niche and they are happy

a lot of matches are won with big bags of carp and i know a lot of match anglers who will bemoan the poor old carp claiming that they are fed up with catching the things and they wish they could just catch a good bag of roach but come match day they are sent into raptures of ecstasy because they won the match with a 100pound net of carp

my point is that whilst carp are an import species they are here to stay and as a carper who enjoys catching other species too i think live and let live is the best option if you dont like carp then thats your choice me i love em long live the carp B

[Sportsman]

Carp are to coarse fishing as the Rainbow trout is to game fishing, cheap, accessible and obliging. The problems occur when they become the only option.

I have had many arguments with trout fishing purists who reckon that unless you walk for 3 hours to catch a 3 oz wild brown trout it's not real fishing, ignoring the fact that 3oz wild brownies are ridiculously easy to catch compared to educated rainbows,

Carp can be ridiculously easy to catch or as difficult as you like.

It aint the fish, it's the fishermen that I often object to

[Anderoo]

Once representitive of everything challenging, maddening, inspirational and mysterious in angling, they are now symbols of laziness, profit, selfishness and convenience.

 

[adjusts bobbin; sets baitrunner; waits for run ]

[tiddlertamer]

Once representitive of everything challenging, maddening, inspirational and mysterious in angling, they are now symbols of laziness, profit, selfishness and convenience.

 

[adjusts bobbin; sets baitrunner; waits for run ]

 

Nice one. If my original question was verbose, this was a succinct answer. And erudite. And made me lol.

[poledark]

Once representitive of everything challenging, maddening, inspirational and mysterious in angling, they are now symbols of laziness, profit, selfishness and convenience.

 

[adjusts bobbin; sets baitrunner; waits for run ]

 

Not from where I am sitting, but it all depends on your outlook. They still challenge me, and madden me, but I suppose they are conveniant...a bit like roach...and rudd....and pike.......and perch and all the other fish that share the water with them.

 

Den

[Tigger]

[adjusts bobbin; sets baitrunner; waits for run ]

 

 

 

Err...now that reminds me of a similar method used for targeting Tench...is it not ?

[AddictedToScopex]

Well as it has already been said i agree with the fact that when overstocked and the primary focus of a fishery they can gain a bad reputation through no fault of their own. I did a lot of carping in the past as it was easy to go and do being new back into the sport and you are always guaranteed a fish in many of the purpose built carp lakes.

 

As stated earlier its the greed and profiteering that is now associated with them that gets many peoples backs up.

 

I personally would much rather catch a wild river fish but in close season i still used to yearn to have something to fish for and most of the lakes and ponds i know near me are stuffed with them making them pretty much the only option Eventually i got sick of them and started piking and looking for big bream. Since the new season started i have become more and more afflicted with the river bug and dont think i will be doing any carping for quite some time. Even in the closed season i am thinking i will either hang up the rods or go piking. Im tired of carp now having caught so many and with them being so easy to catch. I dont want to be stuck on a lake with loads of noisy yobs who dont understand the pleasure to be had from peaceful days spent chasing wild fish. They just want the quick fix of a large carp which they can catch at will. Which they will always get for a price.

 

As for them competing in the rivers etc i dont really know much about this. I have never seen any instances of it becoming a problem. Plus in my mind i woud rather get one from a river where they have grown at a natural rate and are often far stronger than in a murky overstocked puddle.

 

But oh well. Each to their own and if we dont like it we can just avoid it like most things in life.

Edited June 29, 2010 by AddictedToScopex