Why Don't Carp Anglers Post Here?

[maceo]

Fishing the beautiful upper Thames, I think I saw about half a dozen other anglers over the whole of last season. I never saw more than three people fishing there (including me) on any session.

When I went to Richworth Linear lakes recently it was jam packed - and that was on a week day.

About 75% or more of the articles in angling magazines and papers seem to be about carp fishing and tactics and the fishing shops are full of carp gear. Similarly, most of the adverts for tackle seem to be pushing carp tackle and boilies etc. When I go into my local tackle shop and ask for/buy river fishing kit and bait it's even worthy of comments along the lines of 'don't get many roach fishermen in here...' etc.

The magazines and papers bemoan the decline and unpopularity of river fishing and the dominance of commercial carp waters.

Judging by this evidence, I'd guess that carp/commercial anglers outnumber river/silver fish anglers by a ratio of at least 10 to 1 and maybe more.

HOWEVER, by stark contrast, judging by the content of threads here and other general fishing forums, you'd guess that the ratio was reversed and that there were 10 times more river fishermen than carp anglers.

You almost never read a thread about carp fishing here, or on other boards like Maggot Drowners.

So why is that?

Don't carp anglers post on the internet, or do they have their own special forums or what?

[dangermouse]

Originally Posted by maceo

You almost never read a thread about carp fishing here, or on other boards like Maggot Drowners.

So why is that?

Don't carp anglers post on the internet, or do they have their own special forums or what?

I believe all the internet carpers were killed off during Carp Wars IX or was it X? After a massive argument in a thread about which side of a boilie you should push your baiting needle through they assembled in a field near Redmire Pool to "discuss it". At first it was a lot of shouting, then pushing and shoving and eventually someone threw the first 20mm boilie. At that point it could still have ended in a silly bait fight with nothing more than a few bruises on either side.

Unfortunately though one irate carper resorted to hurling his boilies using a 3.5lb test curve rod (a ridiculous choice given that his targets were less than 20m away) and a very large custom made spod. That brought about the first death and the bait fight turned into a full blown massacre. Almost everyone there was killed and those that were not have fled into the darkest corners of the internet never to be seen again . . .

or maybe they`ve taken up barbeling.








In all seriousness I`d say they tend to stick to their specialised forums.

[Paul Boote]

Doctor Who killed off the Daleks (and his own kind) in the Great Time War; Carp and Barbel "Boys" (not Sisters) are now doing it for themselves.

[rubio]

Dunno much about carp fishing or carp fishers, except they seem to crave company more than your 'typical' river angler.
I suspect if you submit a report of a 20 or two from your stretch of the thames you will see a few bivvies sprout along the banks. Better yet give them a name.
Don;t want to come across as bitter nor nothing cos I got no beef with anyone about how they choose to fish, but then again how often does anyone you know put you onto a few fish with a phone call?

[peterjg]

It's not just carp anglers that are missing from the Thames it's all anglers - why!? There are loads of carp in the Thames - in fact it's easier to catch a carp from the Thames than a decent roach! I fish the Thames quite a lot (admittedly mainly in the winter) but it's really rare to see another angler - actually that suits me fine but where are the anglers - commercials probably - that's not proper fishing!!!!!

[markg]

Cannot say why they don't post but, I look in a carp website occasionally and they are reporting a lack of posters these days. As too rivers, I fished a lot of commercials 5-10 years ago and they were often full, like Piccadilly Circus some days. I now fish a small river or two quite a lot and no one there, even on a nice Sunday afternoon, and some of it is free fishing, which is amazing really. Nice tench, roach , bream etc and they contain carp, although in small numbers. I hope it don't change really.

[sam vimes]

There are carp anglers on here but those that do post are probably more allround anglers than out and out carpers. I know that certainly applies to me. I'm not exclusively any particular type of angler, I chase various species with various different styles of fishing.
However, I suspect that the reason that most carpers tend not to post on FishingMagic, Maggotdrowners and the like is that they aren't carp specific forums.
From my experiences on here, I doubt that the carpers could be bothered with being pilloried on a regular basis for using bivvies, bite alarms and high test curve rods.

[Simon K]

Spot on Sam.

If I'm after specific info on rigs or gear I'll look at one or two carp forums where there are some very technically proficient and knowledgeable anglers whose views I respect. They think outside the box.

I don't think any dedicated carpers would get much out of "general" sites like this, but I suspect there are quite a few on here who would get quite a lot for their own fishing out of a "specialist" carp site.

[Ray Roberts]

Originally Posted by sam vimes

There are carp anglers on here but those that do post are probably more allround anglers than out and out carpers. I know that certainly applies to me. I'm not exclusively any particular type of angler, I chase various species with various different styles of fishing.
However, I suspect that the reason that most carpers tend not to post on FishingMagic, Maggotdrowners and the like is that they aren't carp specific forums.
From my experiences on here, I doubt that the carpers could be bothered with being pilloried on a regular basis for using bivvies, bite alarms and high test curve rods.

Or they have too much intelligence to care what someone else is having for breckie.

[sam vimes]

Originally Posted by Ray Roberts

Or they have too much intelligence to care what someone else is having for breckie.

And on that note, I'm off out fishing, for crucians with my match gear.