With my club officials hat on, I know full well that not having stillwaters with carp in adversely affects the income of clubs. You, I and others on here might be quite content with rivers and more mixed stillwaters, but the reality is that the majority aren't. They'd rather spend small fortunes fishing carp filled commercial match venues or out and out big carp waters. The clubs that are doing well will generally need stacks of prolific waters. If they don't have wildly popular stretches of river, or stillwaters with specimen fish, they are likely to need carp waters to survive. That may mean something mimicking a match type commie or a big carp water. The bottom line is that carp are popular. They bring in members and that pays the bills. I wish my clubs could get hold of a stillwater that was either stuffed with carp or had a decent head of big carp. I may not be overly keen to fish there (not unless there were other species of good size or numbers), but it would probably secure the future of the clubs for years to come.
The two main clubs I'm in are predominantly river based, just the way I like it. One has a small carpless (other than crucians) stillwater, the other a mixed stillwater with some carp. The former is barely fished at all. In about ten trips last year I never saw another soul down there. The latter is fished a little more, but it's way too hard for many or the fish too small for others. People would generally rather go to some decidedly average local commies and pay at least a tenth of the cost of a club year book for a day ticket. I doubt either water is the reason for more than tiny number of members join the respective clubs. Those of us that are, at best, indifferent to carp are not numerous enough, nor are we quite as willing to pay as much to fish for alternate species, especially if they aren't of a particularly significant size.
Hello Sam, I wouldn't argue with your description of the way carp commercials work in the context of a market for angling.
They clearly are popular and in market terms they secure their existence by bringing in the money. And the carp is the species which for numerous reasons, not all of which are because people love them, best fits the role of commodity in the commercial context.
But I don't feel I have to restrict my opinions or my taste in fishing to what is currently the main trend. The big supermarkets dominate the retail scene, but you can, if you like, give your custom to the locals and the independents. And talk up that alternative way to shop. Or fish! Just because there's a Tesco on every corner doesn't mean I have to go there; just because Amazon is there, I don't have to use it all the time. People indeed put their money in those directions - but can come to see that cheap and convenient come at a cost. So when I post in favour of kinds of fishing outside the carp commercial model or the carp-stocked club water, I wouldn't agree, even if it's a minority view, that it's entirely unrealistic. "Reality" changes, and trends, even money-spinning ones come and go. Who would have imagined, given the dominance of cr*p beer in the 70' and 80's that we'd be blessed as never before with craft beers or real ales? Who'd have thought, when the CD looked like the last word in audio pleasure and convenience, that people would ever again buy music on vinyl? And so on. Carp commercials are surely here to stay, but (ask Chelsea or Leicester fans) things do evolve, and it's quite reasonable for anglers that way inclined to call out some of the negative aspects of the current scene and continue to pursue and talk up the alternative, whether on forums or in club meetings.
By the way, I'm struck by the way, when you post on this topic, you always point to a number of decent, barely fished non-carp local fisheries. I wish I could find them so easily where I live - and I'm regularly out looking. And earwigging anglers' conversations for fresh clues.
