I wonder just how much the gene pool is affected when king carp are introduced to a wild carp water.
Two waters I fish in the West Sussex area contain both sorts and the distinction is quite clear. The wildies rarely get much over four or five pounds whereas the king commons grow to ten pounds or more in one of them; in the other they both grow to about twice that size.
Be that as it may, I know of three other Sussex waters which certainly contain true wild carp, though two of them are thankfully closed to anglers. The water you can fish is actually a series of ponds in woodland near Horam; it used to be available on a day ticket from the farm and you can stay at the adjacent campsite.
One of the 'closed' waters forms part of a rural museum's grounds; the other is the moat around a well-known Sussex castle. In both I have watched people feeding bread to the ducks; sooner or later the wildies move in and the ducks are driven off. The castle moat also holds a few large Koi which can be clearly seen from the top of the battlements.
Someone will no doubt wonder why I said earlier that it was a good thing that on some waters holding genuine wild carp angling is prohibited, if I don't offer an explanation. There is a real danger that we could lose the wild carp only lakes that remain, because sooner or later anglers will complain that the carp only grow to a few pounds - why can't they be stocked with some larger fish?
Even if the gene pool is unaffected the introduction of new stock can have unsatisfactory consequences; too many large, fast growing carp will cause the wild fish to graually decline in numbers and eventually they could die out completely.
A couple of years ago on another forum I suggested the concept of a Wild Carp Society, dedicated to preserving the true wildie strain and the waters that hold them, much as the Wild Trout Society look after some excellent brown trout streams. There was a few appreciative comments but no-one seemed that interested, which was a shame. Not being in a position to actually implement such a venture I had hoped someone would make some constructive suggestions.
Whilst there are still a few lakes holding the old strain (and with no king carp present) which are left alone (in other words, not stocked by misguided angling clubs or unscrupulous owners in an attempt to attract instant anglers) there will at least be a few examples left, from which stocks could be replenished.
Maybe, if enough licence-paying anglers supported the venture, the EA could implement a programme to create some wildie fisheries for those who appreciate more subtle qualities than sheer poundage.
