Is there something in the air?

[poledark]

There are a couple of threads running at the moment, and every one seems to be moaning about carpers and carp fishing, and even the poor old carp themselves.

 

You want to float fish then just do it..if YOU feel inferior then that is your problem..don't blame it on the carp anglers.

 

You want to fish a river, then just do it...don't look for imaginary problems which you can blame on carp fishing.

 

So many of you take great pleasure about recounting the odd occasion when you caught a few more than the carper with all the gear....well I can recount dozens and dozens of times when I have outfished the tiddler snatchers...and seen their faces green with envy.....ha! ha!

 

It is actually getting quite unpleasant on AN at the moment, there seems to be an element of river fishermen, probably who use 'pins, who never miss the chance to have a dig at carpers,and pole fishers.............probably 'cos they are no damned good at either.

 

Live and let live, and be grateful for all the license money us carpers contribute with our 2 licenses each, and all the tackle shops that only manage to survive due to the money carpers and match anglers spend.

 

Den

[Dick Dastardly]

There was a time when I felt that I was constantly having to stick up for carp angling and carpers.As we were in the minority but getting more popular than before people were a bit wary of it and were always criticising and trying to stop the use of multi rods and bivvies abd boillies etc.In all honesty though these days the table has turned and I now find my self often criticising other carp anglers ! Also carpers are now in the majority!

 

No where else can this "change of power" be seen more than at club level.I remember when carp anglers got a real raw deal at my local working mans club pit.Everything was match orientated and the club was run by match anglers who hated carpers! Now its carp carp carp! ran by carpers for carpers and the matchmen/pleasure anglers just tolerated!

 

Now I personally dont think that either situation was right.Fishing is fishing is fishinbg.If more people werent so narrow minded and at least tried a bit of everything then they would hopefully be a bit more understanding and tolerant of each others preferences.

 

Now no ones going to like this veiw! but IMO a lot of the problems in the old days were that the inexperienced anglers who didnt know about carp angling were the ones in the majority complaining.These days as (well so it seems) everyone is starting off with carp fishing it has reversed and most of the less experienced are carp anglers.

 

Add to this the "instant" expert and superiority that far too many new carp anglers exhibit its quite clear where the problem lies.

 

Of course not all carp anglers are like this and I dont think many would disagree but as carp anglers are now the majority it obviously apears this way.

 

Also I think its just a reflection of the changes we have in society in general.ie loads more with a yobbish attitude so as they are all going straight in to carp fishing there are more yobs!

 

Obviously it can vary from water to water and area to area but I see it a lot.Im often ashamed to be a "carp angler" when I see the way some represent us.

 

I dont know Den but maybe as you tend to fish day sessions mid week you dont see it as much? One of the main reasons I switched to mid week fishing many years ago.

 

But (despite me admitting to being one of the worst offenders) I can understand what you are saying and it must irritate after a while.But its surely that you feel that you and all other decent carpers are being lumped in with the idiots that hurts the most not that is unfounded? I dont know.

Edited March 20, 2008 by BUDGIE

[poledark]

Budgie, it "doesn't hurt" at all. it is just this constant dig, dig, dig, snidey remarks. I, and my mates, don't give a toss what others are fishing for..and what's wrong with stopping for a chat and asking what has been caught? If you don't ask, then you never learn.

 

I am pretty well convinced that most of the snide is from jealousy,mostly from blokes afraid to make the switch from easy tiddler bashing to real fishing

 

Natural progression in angling..start off with small fish (nowadays mostly small carp in commercials) and then move on to the bigger stuff. If you are lucky enough to live close to a good barbel/chub water then you probably end up becoming one of those insufferable funny hat brigade

 

 

I have "specimen hunted" all my fishing life, Roach, carp, tench, bream,barbel etc. I have used whatever method seems best at the time...3/4 rods and pods,feeder rods, trotting rods,pole (even for 30+ carp that upset a few )

 

On a serious note, I fish Mid Kent waters 4 or 5 days a week, and this time of year we get a lot of new members walking around "having a look", many stop for a chat, many are fairly new to the game, quite a few are moving on to a new water hoping to improve their catches. Most ask about bait and hotspots...no problem for me...advice given willingly...but then I am not struggling to find a swim at the weekend.

 

An example of how carp fishing can "get you"... Tuesday, a guy was chatting and saying how he had been 3 times and blanked,and was going to "get down early on Thursday". While he was there, I had a 19lb common.

He was "fired up" and turned up Wednesday 4 oclock

 

I hope he catches

 

Den

[gozzer]

I can understand how you get fed up of the 'snide' remarks Den, it's a bit like being a long time, decent football supporter, and being tarred with the same brush as the hooligan element in the crowd.

Unfortunately, the side of carping that many of us see is the equivalent of that 'hooligan element' but without the violence.

It's an unfortunate aspect of modern life that commercial interests dictate trends, and some people are so naive as to think that they must be a part of this trend to 'fit in'. You only have to look at the number of carp specific topics that appear on the coarse section of AN, when there is a section dedicated to the subject! Some newcomers are brainwashed by the press etc, into believing that there is only one species of fish worth fishing for, I've heard the comments on the bank often enough.

That's when I go the opposite way. It might be Yorkshire 'bloody mindedness', but the more a thing is 'in my face', or pushed on to me, the more I push back and reject it. I'll admit to my disadvantage at times.

The way the press, tackle manufacturers, fishery owners and sections of anglers themselves, have this fixation with all things 'carpy', makes me feel they way you say you feel, when someone 'has a go' at carping.

The snide comments that come from the more vocal members of the carping fraternity, do I'm afraid, reflect on the rest of the carpers. I reserve the right to 'have a go back' when faced with them.

 

I seems to me that you have an almost idyllic angling life (for your tastes), going more or less when you want, to fish for your preferred species. This is the only part where jealousy might come in from me. My present situation allows me to fish about the same number of sessions in a season, as you do in a fortnight.

As for being jealous of catches, then you couldn't be more wide of the mark. My tastes in angling are very different to yours, (as we've discussed before). If it came to the choice of catching a 20lb+ carp, or a 20lb+ bag of decent roach, then (as strange as it might seem to you) I would always choose the latter, (even though I have had many such bags of roach, but never a 20lb carp ). It might be my early match fishing that makes me think this way, I don't know.

Not everyone sees it as a 'natural' progression to want bigger and bigger fish, it's all about enjoyment in my mind. You do your thing, and I'll try to do mine. (Although as I keep saying, the chances of me fishing for what I want, get smaller each year).

 

John.

[Anderoo]

I think this means me Sorry Den, no offence intended! I knew I shouldn't have put pictures of me on here wearing my floppy hat

 

When I'm bemoaning the modern carping scene it's not people like you I have in mind (experienced anglers who have been there and done it). I do my share of 'carp-style' fishing too. It's the gradual narrowing of choice I take exception to and the ruin of old, established waters for no better reason than £££. I know we have a lot to be thankful for these days, but because I do a lot of different types of coarse fishing for a lot of different species, I can really start to feel the pinch.

 

I think 'live and let live' is a good mantra, but if you fish for a lot of different species in a lot of different ways you find it applies less and less to you. It sounds a bit hollow when the rights for your favourite stretch of stream have been revoked because of falling demand, a nice old pit has been netted and restocked with loads of little carp, and your local stretch of the Thames is now brim-full with carp because of last year's floods!

 

Don't take it personally though

 

PS I even stopped myself from making a joke that what's in the air are a load of 3oz leads...

Edited March 20, 2008 by Anderoo

[dant]

Natural progression in angling..start off with small fish (nowadays mostly small carp in commercials) and then move on to the bigger stuff. If you are lucky enough to live close to a good barbel/chub water then you probably end up becoming one of those insufferable funny hat brigade

 

I would try and write a long and insightful post explaining how I have no ill feeling towards any particular branch of angling, only the idiotic, thoughtless behavior of a few across the board but I must dash off and take my tweed trilby back to the shop before he closes for dinner.

 

One of the only things I've never been able to understand is the nuisance fish philosophy thats a associated with a lot of specialist angling. How can a 6lb Tench be a pain in the arse whilst Carp fishing in the same way a 4lb Chub is when Barbel fishing. Ok it's not your target fish and it may of temporarily narrowed your chances of your target but it's your fault you caught it.

Another thing, (oh dear I've started now) is that someone, be they a Carp angler looking for a new venue or some wally has illegally stocked some Carp into a 2 acre Crucian pit which given a couple of years will spell the end of the Cruicians. This sort of thing is by no means Carp biased a few 'serious' predator anglers have much to answer for, 5lb Zander from the River Yare near Norwich, now how did that get there?

 

I find the whole Saturday night social down at the Carp lake particularly un-appealing in the same way as I would object to a group of lads turning up in the middle of nowhere on the Broads, usually 100 yards downstream of me and having a Bream fishing rave - an all too regular occurrence.

I'm also adverse to the actions of a few Broads pikers/lure fishermen who take small multi rodded armadas afloat and spend the day restlessly firing lures the size of small aircraft along a 3 mile section of river in 20 minute bursts. I was feeder fishing from a platform on the tidal River Yare 2 weeks back when a boat with 15 rods and two squat and silent anglers moored opposite and proceeded to fire small submarines to within 5-10 feet of the platform on which I was fishing. The first 1 or 2 I suffered the remainder I did not. But this is by all means the actions of a few.

All of these points do not mean I dislike Carp fishermen, Broads Bream anglers or lure anglers.

 

As with a lot of other activities, boozy holidaying, football e.t.c the actions of the out of order are far more noticeable than the those of the people who do their thing using their brain.

 

I actually make a point of talking to as many dedicated Carp anglers as I can on a few lakes I fish as they spend an un-parrelleled amount of time on the water often in the same swims so they have a wealth of information about such things as gravel bars, submereged weed beds and the like and are often forthcoming with it.

 

I do wish though, that some of these newly syndicated Carp lakes of which there are many in my neck of the woods would have a few tickets available to non Carp anglers. Moves such as this would lessen any feelings of resentment for many.

 

As usual I've meandered off topic and rambled but thats what happens when you're in the funny hat brigade. What I mean is what I wrote here 'I have no ill feeling towards any particular branch of angling, only the idiotic, thoughtless behavior of a few across the board '.

 

Dan T

[kleinboet]

I think it is about time that ALL anglers realise that there are horses for courses. I am quite happy catching, Perch, Roach, Rudd etc. Even Carp of about 4lb give me a thrill!

I am happy feeder fishing, Pole fishing, margin fishing or fishing to a feature.

 

SO WHAT?

 

I don't mind what other people do - Budgie enjoys Carping, others choose to river fish for whatever species.

 

What about those salt water fishing? Do we dare make an assumption that those fishing from the shore are inferior to those fishing from a boat? Or vice versa?

NO! It is, as I said before, horses for courses - get used to it!

[MatNewman]

NO! It is, as I said before, horses for courses - get used to it!

 

 

[rarepleasures]

There are a couple of threads running at the moment, and every one seems to be moaning about carpers and carp fishing, and even the poor old carp themselves.

 

 

Its because the group has become synonymous with a type of fisherman who looks down their nose at course fishing and is only interesting in catching bigger and bigger fish for less and less effort.

 

My mother-in-law prefers carp fishing but is reciprocally enthusiastic about the 2lb perch I catch as I am about her 23lb common, this doesn't go for the other dozen or so carp anglers on the bank who pour scorn on my efforts and interrupt me to boast about how they've just landed a 30lb mirror.

[Anderoo]

I think it is about time that ALL anglers realise that there are horses for courses. I am quite happy catching, Perch, Roach, Rudd etc. Even Carp of about 4lb give me a thrill!

I am happy feeder fishing, Pole fishing, margin fishing or fishing to a feature.

 

SO WHAT?

 

I don't mind what other people do - Budgie enjoys Carping, others choose to river fish for whatever species.

 

What about those salt water fishing? Do we dare make an assumption that those fishing from the shore are inferior to those fishing from a boat? Or vice versa?

NO! It is, as I said before, horses for courses - get used to it!

 

Yes, but what about if the trend continues and there's just one horse and one course? Isn't that the point?

Edited March 20, 2008 by Anderoo