fisheries
- Thread starter chubby48
- Start date
geoffmaynard
Content Editor
Probably. They have a business to run and carp are the economic choice. Bigger fisheries will sometimes have a non-carp pool where they'll stock crucians etc
matthew barter
Well-known member
Same as been said, economics. The truth is that even though there are people that don't crave a hundred pound of stocked carp every time we go fishing we are probably also not the sort to pay money to fish a busy fishery.
Alan Tyler
Well-known member
I, too, like "uncarps"*, but I have horrid memories of blanks in winter on ponds that only contained our "natives" -roach,rudd,bream, tench, perch, and possibly crucians - they are all happy to shut up shop completely, for weeks.
My first trip to a commercial in the winter was a revelation - lightly loose-feeding hemp and caster, as though I were after very ordinary chub on a stream, I was into roach and skimmers straight away,and got seen off by the occasional carp.
I can only suppose - and I'm not the first nor the best qualified to - that above a certain stocking level, carp not only keep feeding in the cold, but keep barging into all the other types who were just trying to have a kip - whereupon they, too, feel the need for a snack...
I'm glad I didn't post this yesterday when I wrote it, because there's a glaringly obvious alternative explanation - more feed goes in daily in a commercial than in a woodland common pond, and it may be the constant availability of food that keeps winter uncarps on the prowl.
Proving this would mean a fishery owner running a successful winter match series (to keep the feeding fairly continuous) on a lake with no carp - quite a gamble!
The down-side of not posting yesterday is the chance that this has now already been said, better, six times ...
*But I don't like the term "silver fish" - tench, perch, and bronze bream aren't!
"Silverfish" is even worse, these are wingless insects that live under the bath. They have a fascinating family life (honest!), but are not fair game on rod and line.
My first trip to a commercial in the winter was a revelation - lightly loose-feeding hemp and caster, as though I were after very ordinary chub on a stream, I was into roach and skimmers straight away,and got seen off by the occasional carp.
I can only suppose - and I'm not the first nor the best qualified to - that above a certain stocking level, carp not only keep feeding in the cold, but keep barging into all the other types who were just trying to have a kip - whereupon they, too, feel the need for a snack...
I'm glad I didn't post this yesterday when I wrote it, because there's a glaringly obvious alternative explanation - more feed goes in daily in a commercial than in a woodland common pond, and it may be the constant availability of food that keeps winter uncarps on the prowl.
Proving this would mean a fishery owner running a successful winter match series (to keep the feeding fairly continuous) on a lake with no carp - quite a gamble!
The down-side of not posting yesterday is the chance that this has now already been said, better, six times ...
*But I don't like the term "silver fish" - tench, perch, and bronze bream aren't!
"Silverfish" is even worse, these are wingless insects that live under the bath. They have a fascinating family life (honest!), but are not fair game on rod and line.
noknot
Well-known member
I find it quite strange that 25 years ago it was the compleate opposite to today, meaning that back then there were far fewer waters containing Carp compared to today! That's why we all started after Roach, Rudd ect, and then moved onto Carp latter, today it's all Carp, not for me thanks' as that is not the spirit of true Carp angling as I see it.
blankmeister
Well-known member
Not entirely. It's not only matchmen that like to catch Carp. In fact it would be interesting to know what proportion of a commercial's income is actually from matches.
By the way, there can be nothing more "commercial" than Cudmore and the Fishomania this year, and I was quite surprised to see Barbel as the main stocked fish.
itsfishingnotcatching
Well-known member
Having returned to fishing after a short 36 year break I can only say as I sat under a brolly yesterday morning, trying to distinguish bites from raindrops, the three carp (including a new 11.5 lb PB) that I landed, sent me home a happy man. While two roach and a couple of skimmers were an improvement on my last trip had this commercial only stocked silvers I doubt I would be eagerly anticipating another visit. As a newbie, I feel that beginners are more likely to continue fishing when they get an initial degree of success
noknot
Well-known member
Sounds like you had a great day! Welcome back and congrats on the PB! Welcome to FM.:w
itsfishingnotcatching
Well-known member
Thanks for that and it is good to be back
matthew barter
Well-known member
And keep angling the way you enjoy fishing. It's your hobby and we all do it differently. Don't let snobs (like me sometimes) bother you by saying dry fly upstream only etc. Have fun.
chub_on_the_block
Well-known member
Agree with several posters above.
Speaking as an old moaner returning to angling, i really do not like the way that nearly all lakes are now carp dominated. This is generally bad for the ecology of the lakes involved and reduces anglings contribution to nature conservation (unless we are talking of specimen carp waters with low fish densities) and also reduces the diversity of fishing interests available and the styles of fishing that can be gainfully employed.
For example, I used to float fish for bream, tench, rudd, crucians etc, often with 2-3Ib hooklengths, only occasionally ever encountering a larger carp - but to do so now on some lakes I used to fish I would risk getting snapped up by carp all the time and would probably struggle to get past the carp anyway in some places. Also, as i never bought into the boily/hair rig/self hooking protocol i will struggle if the fish only respond to particular boily or pellet style baits. Fish on commercial overstocked waters probably feed all year round because they depend upon anglers feed to survive - the waters would hold perhaps 10% of the biomass if stocks were not artificially maintained. Is this a good thing - not at all in my view. That is not to say that a session bagging heavily would not be welcome from time to time, but surely not all the time and certainly not carp at all times - for me at least.
Speaking as an old moaner returning to angling, i really do not like the way that nearly all lakes are now carp dominated. This is generally bad for the ecology of the lakes involved and reduces anglings contribution to nature conservation (unless we are talking of specimen carp waters with low fish densities) and also reduces the diversity of fishing interests available and the styles of fishing that can be gainfully employed.
For example, I used to float fish for bream, tench, rudd, crucians etc, often with 2-3Ib hooklengths, only occasionally ever encountering a larger carp - but to do so now on some lakes I used to fish I would risk getting snapped up by carp all the time and would probably struggle to get past the carp anyway in some places. Also, as i never bought into the boily/hair rig/self hooking protocol i will struggle if the fish only respond to particular boily or pellet style baits. Fish on commercial overstocked waters probably feed all year round because they depend upon anglers feed to survive - the waters would hold perhaps 10% of the biomass if stocks were not artificially maintained. Is this a good thing - not at all in my view. That is not to say that a session bagging heavily would not be welcome from time to time, but surely not all the time and certainly not carp at all times - for me at least.