Carp fishery vs Coarse fishery.

[Steve Baker]

When i was a younger fisherman i had never caught a carp. The lake i used to fish had a good head of roach to over 2lb, Rudd 2lb and loads of big perch aswell as a few big carp up to 15lb (which was the lake record). I fished this from when i was 10 till i was 14 and used to dream of catching those carp that i used to see swimming around in the backwater when i first arrived at my peg in the morning. The problem is now that i actually miss catching roach to this size and where have all the rudd gone? I havent caught one for ages. I used to curse these bloody big rudd at brasside pond in Durham for stopping me catch my first carp.

The thing is i know its my own fault as the new generation carp pools are just to easy to fish with there car parks next to the lake and there overstoking of carp so they are so hungry the dont give a damn if its got a hook in it or not. Lately i have started fishing the severn at atcham and i really enjoy that even if i only catch a bloody eel, as when i cast my feeder out i dont knoe what iam going to get.

Another reason that i fish the local goldfish bowl is that i can see my car. So i know its safe and not being broken into by some scumbag. So i ask again what do you perfer a carp fishery that you know what you are going to catch and you know you car is safe or some place on the river where you have to leave your car at the mercy of the local toerags?

 

[Bob Gill]

Steve,
I sympathise with your worry about parking your car where you can see it. I parked mine where I could see it (I wasn't fishing at the time) but I turned my back for twenty minutes - result car nicked (even though alarmed, in well lit car park), police high speed pursuit, car written off and much personal expense. Police eventually caught the little sod (while conducting another car theft) and the finger dabs told the story. Discovered that said young sod had 'amused' himself with a few other cars. Result - our wonderful judicial system decided not to prosecute. You ask whether I would rather park where I can see my car - well I'll just say it figures very highly where I fish!

Cheers

 

[Kevan Farmer]

I have to admit that theft also colours my view on where I fish. I have to be able to walk to the place comfortably though as well because of permanent back problem. This, then puts me in a quandary. I hate man made - or those that look it - fisheries. I prefer a natural water preferably without too many carp. Yes, I've been through the barbel years on the Severn and more recently the carp years. I've never caught a huge carp - my biggest was I guess about 20lb but I cannot really claim this as it shed the hook as it was coming over the net. I've now gone back to fishing a local canal and have returned to my boyhood favourite - perch. I am very lucky in that I can get to my favoured swims easily and see the car all the time. Ok, so a canal is man made but, i just find it more relaxing than the bag up carp waters. Of which I have no objection to other than personal preference.

 

[Kevan Farmer]

Just to add to this. I used to fish a local pool when I was younger which had a wonderful mixed bag of fish. Somebody introduced - ilegally - carp......the tench disappeared over night.

This same water is now under threat because of the BNRR - Birmingham Northern Relief Road. Half the pool will simply be bulldozed in. So much for native crayfish and water vole which both live here and are supposedly protected species.

 

[Davy North]

I like the sound of the pond Steve mentions from his youth. I may never have been there but it sounds familiar, and must strike a cord with anglers who fished stillwaters before the dawn of carp lakes.

The great thing about these "traditional" waters was the mystery, you never knew what was coming next. Along with the tench, roach, rudd and perch you may have been lucky enough to see the shape of a giant carp (even though it probably wasn't 10lb) swim by, mystical and un-catchable, but you never know?

And of course you'd get "there's a pike in there", not that there really was, but in a young lads imagination it was a glowing eyed water demon of dog eating proportions.

Growing up with kind of water, I find the prospect of carp lake boring. however due to financial factors they are here to stay.

Thankfully there's still plenty mystery to be found on rivers, and I don't just mean will they be open by June 16.

 

[Peter Morton]

Picture the scene,a small lake set up as a carp match water.Deep joy for the owner,48 pegs filled every weekend and local clubs falling over themselves to book the water as everyone bags up.a couple of seasons down the line and the carp have packed on weight.Suddenly expensive top kits are getting smashed by carp that are "too big" to land on match tackle,results are dominated by venue "experts" and bookings drop off.
Owner sells up as revenue drops away,New owner nets out a lot of the large carp and sells them.reinvesting the proceeds in bream,roach and tench.word gets out and suddenly bookings pick up!

Carp puddles are only part of a cycle,if you speak to a lot of club anglers you will find that they are getting fed up with knowing what they are going to catch before they start.I'm sure that you will find that in 20years time,a lot of the so called "puddles" will have become pleasant mature mixed fisheries.Time is a great healer and eventually everything acheives a balance.

 

[Andy Rooke]

you are saying that these "carp pools" are too easy to fish and that its easy to catch carp why not sitting it out on the likes of car park,north lake, horton,wrasbury,fen drayton and see how easy it is to catch these 50Ib carp.

 

[Steve Baker]

I am not on about the 50lb carp and i have no doubt they are difficult to catch, most of the time i cant even get into double figures.

Peter i hope you are right but by that time there will be alot of BIG carp around.

AND Davy there was a big pike in there that used to eat all the ducklings (honest).

 

[Peter Morton]

Andy,
I think you've got hold of the wrong end of the stick,I wasn't talking about specimen waters,but about the large numbers of commercial waters catering for the match & pleasure anglers.
Belive it or not,not everyone wants to fish for the biggest fish in the venues,some are quite happy just to get a few bites from whatever comes along without being decried as "noddies" by the bivvy brigade.

 

[Mike Harrison]

Peter,
I couldnt agree more! I am quite happy just to get a few bites and land a good percentage of the bites I get.Angling is supposed to be a leisure activity but it seems that with some (not all) of the specimen anglers it has become an obsession to catch the biggest fish in a lake and then move on to somewhere new, leaving the lake bottom covered in about 6ft of boilies and the lakeside scarred from all their campsites.When the word gets round that such and such a lake may hold a big fish or two these predators descend on the place completely taking it over and by their anti
anging etiquette(see my thread "taking the p*** or what") they quite often drive out the people that have fished there for years,once they have gone it is difficult for owners to re-establish
the trade that kept them going before. Earning a living from Angling is difficult enough without this kind of thing from "anglers?"
signed,
Mr.Angry.

 

[Steve Baker]

Mike it sounds like you are in the angling trade, what do u do?

 

[Mike Harrison]

I work? for the Kent Ambulance Service.

 

[Dave Beal]

The sad fact today is most anglers ( Match and plesure ) are more interested in the weight of fish, not the thrill of catching say a fin perfect roach.
they don't want to use watercraft, they don't want to gain exsperiance, they just want to sit on the bank of an over stocked comercial fisherie and catch carp.
May be if some anglers took thier head out of the sand and put in alittle effort they would see that there is more to fishing than catching big carp or loads of little carp.

 

[vince battams]

where i have fished commercial puddles to ensure catching, nothing can beat beat fishing a natural fishery, its more challenging to tempt the few rather than have the many crawl up your rod or pole.
Commercial fisheries that are primarily carp puddles should take note of this and ensure a proper fishery management where all types of species co-habit like in a natural fishery and that means put the chub and barbel back in the under populated rivers where they belong.