Carp

[daddypig]

ok look i think that to lump every body in mcamgler grouping is wrong whilst i agree that they exist there are those who takre their carping seriously and indeed have made a living from catching them whilst i agree over stocked instant fisheries should be more tightly regulated or even banned the point is that there is or can be as much skill involved in catching a big carp as there is in catching a roach rudd or bream or tench they are here to stay so we have to learn to live with em

[tiddlertamer]

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

 

Whatever happened to all the 'wildies'?

 

Slimmer than normal common carp but with a reputation as great fighters, these fish appear regularly in Chris Yates writing about his early fishing days.

 

Have they interbred with normal carp?

 

Have they all disappeared?

 

Were they really, truly a separate strain of carp or just slightly stunted by the water they were in?

 

Or do they still exist but those lucky individuals who get to fish for them are not surprisingly a touch reticent to advertise their whereabouts?

[HERUTILUS]

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?

 

Greetings,

 

I couldn't agree with you more Tiddlertamer, every word true. In so saying, you're never too old to learn. I, upon occasion, fish a well stocked commerical here in Co. Durham & it's exactly as you suggest, the water is the colour of liquid mud & it appears to be 'thick a bit'. I often wondered why, now I know.

 

Being primarily a pleasure angler I'm of the opinion that it, carp fishing, can be a 'bit boring' inasmuch as one is mostly [Correct me if I'm wrong] 'fishing on the bottom' thus it's all bite alarms, 'drop-off' indicators & the rest of the gubbuns.

 

Give me 'other species' float fishing any time, at least one has something to look when one's at it.

 

Regards a lot,

 

Herutilus.

[Anderoo]

Whatever happened to all the 'wildies'?

 

Slimmer than normal common carp but with a reputation as great fighters, these fish appear regularly in Chris Yates writing about his early fishing days.

 

Have they interbred with normal carp?

 

Have they all disappeared?

 

Were they really, truly a separate strain of carp or just slightly stunted by the water they were in?

 

Or do they still exist but those lucky individuals who get to fish for them are not surprisingly a touch reticent to advertise their whereabouts?

 

They were (or, hopefully, still are) definitely different from small commons. They had big heads and tapered down towards the tail and fought like stink! I only ever had the pleasure of fishing one place where they lived, a village pond on Norfolk near where one of my grandmothers used to live. I haven't seen one for over 20 years now, and I doubt they're still in that pond. I expect there are still a few little pockets of them dotted around but probably not many.

 

We used to float fish luncheon meat in the margins to catch them, but I think my biggest one (8lb+ I seem to recall, but they averaged about 3-4lb) was on floating crust

 

Happy days!

[poledark]

In my youth, there were plenty of waters with Wildies in..some were stuffed full of the stunted buggers. Left overs from the Monks and farmers, the farmers loved to stock there little ponds with fish for food. The old strain of carp (all commons ) rarely grew beyond 8lb.

 

The "modern" strains of carp,introduced in large numbers in the 1930's and huge numbers in the 1950's,were the results of selective breeding on the continent (for food). These have interbred with the wildies, so they have all but dissapeared. Still a few ponds in Kent with what seem to be wildies in them though especially those deemed to small to be stocked as commercials.

 

There is no magic about them though, when I was a youngun I knew lots of ponds from which you could catch 20/30 wildies a day (or night) AND they coloured up the water Most were about 1lb or so, rarely a 5lb+ fish, except for Wadhurst which produced consistently high weights, up to 9lb on occasions.

 

I think my first ever fish (aged 11 yrs) was a small wildie, certainly a small brown fish and I caught another of 4lb+ when I was 13yrs from the same pond (alas now filled in). Started me off on the primrose path and I have never recovered

 

I love the phrase "I have noticed some disquiet among some AN denizens". I have also noted that, but also noted that it is always the same small vociferous little group, who seem to hate anything carp related anyway. Hence this topic being started

 

I have spent almost 60 years pursuing carp in all sorts of waters, even a short spell of commercial bashing (dreadful places) but these are not in any way to be used as an excuse to continually denigrate carp or carp anglers, there are many hundreds more where carp fishing is carried on in a peaceful and civilised manner. Are they really any worse than some of the match fishing venues from the past, where nets were stuffed with bream and roach every week? Most of these were rivers!

 

It is useless hankering after the "good old days before carp", most of the posters on here are to young to have experienced it, almost every large bit of water in England was stocked with carp in the 1950's, and to me, and the tackle trade, they have been the saviour of angling. Those same waters still produce fine specimens of other fish, big tench/bream/roach/rudd etc. Even,dare I say it, some of the AN denizens favourite fish are thriving in the muddy commercials. I refer to Perch of course

 

 

 

Den

[HERUTILUS]

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!

 

Hello there,

 

Sorry, but what does 'eutrophic' mean?

 

Herutilus

[watatoad]

Hello there,

 

Sorry, but what does 'eutrophic' mean?

 

Herutilus

 

They describe it far better than I can:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutrophic#Eutrophic

[Anderoo]

As I have said before Den (I assume you directed that post at me, although not by name), it's not the carp, it's the stocking decisions that are the problem. You yourself describe overstocked commercials as 'dreadful places'. I expect in time many will be forced to reduce their stock on animal welfare gounds, and I will be right behind it. I find it quite disgusting that we are allowed to treat fish like that.

 

As for carp anglers, I've seen plenty of lovely lakes that happen to hold some carp - not overstocked commercials - ruined by yobbish behaviour, and until that experience changes I will continue to hold that opinion. I am sure you are a quiet and considerate angler, but most in my experience are not. And they ALWAYS fish for carp.

[Peter M]

I am sure you are a quiet and considerate angler, but most in my experience are not. And they ALWAYS fish for carp.

I think saying most carp anglers are inconsiderate is a bit of an over staement IMHO. I am a competent but nothing special all rounder type angler. I do enjoy a bit of carp fishing bolies bite alrams etc and my PB (as of Sat 3rd July 2010) is ony 17 pounds. I fish Chelmsford AA waters which hold lots of larger carp and the carp anglers i encounter are all helpful and considerate people who don't cause any probs for anyone else including those fishing for other fish like tench and crucians which are also in abundencce in the waters i fish. The club is very strict on its angling rules and consideration to others is in the rule book. there are always those who spoil it for others which is sad but all should not be tarnished with the same brush.

[Steve Walker]

It is useless hankering after the "good old days before carp", most of the posters on here are to young to have experienced it

 

I don't think anyone wishes there were no carp, Den - just that things were more like they were even only twenty years ago, when there was still some balance.