How close are we

  • Thread starter Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)

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The big news this week is that which is now affecting scores of commercial waters across England: Koi Herpes Virus.

And according to a contact of mine in the aquaculture industry, it's worse than people think. It could be that virtually every stocked carp water in England will suffer massive carp deaths. And this heat is not helping.

In Angling Times this week, editor: Richard Lee asks that the EA "Break its silence" regarding what is happening to commercial carp waters.

Let me tell you what I think is happening.

For some years now the heavily stocked carp fisheries have had a charmed life. I am amazed that there hasn't been far more mass deaths than there has.

The whole debacle is our fault, and our fault alone. No lake will tolerate being stuffed full of carp when there is not the food nor oxygen content in those lakes to maintain the stock. So what happens when a virus comes along?

Many many thousands, if not millions of carp will probably have to be burned during the next few months.

The experiment is over! It's time to go back to modestly stocked waters with indigenous species.

The stocking of commercial carp waters has led to the sort of angling excesses we as anglers can frankly do without. Shock Stikks, Bungee elastics and Baggin' Wagglers should not be the future of our great sport, even though some angling journalists like to portray this way.

It's time for a re-think, don't you think?
 
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marcus ballam

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Absolutely ron. Only fished commercials a couple of times...never again.

And of course, wont the antis have a field day.

So what can be done to prevent this spreading? conpulsory net disinfecting?

What if it gets into the rivers, will it travel on waterfowl?

And what will happen to the commercials and their anglers?
 
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EC

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Nature always finds a way to redress the balance Ron!

Fish stocked at 1000LB+ per acre and which which are constantly pursued, fed virtually solely on a diet of pellet, can in no way be as healthy and resistant to parasties etc than those fish in a mixed balanced fishery @400Lb per acre, that are fed on a natural varied diet.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)

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I have absolutely nothing against the intelligent creation of still waters for angling purposes. But let's have some real fish and some real fishing. Let's have tench, and rudd, and roach, and bream. Lets have lilies and rushes and trees and classic landscaping.

Lets throw on the scrapheap: artificial platforms, F1s, F2s, "carp crunching" and "shock stikks" and 24 elastic and terms like "baggin' up" and those dreadful competitions between fisheries to see how many hundreds of pounds of carp can be caught and stuffed in a keepnet in 5 hours.

Let's get back to a little of what this great sport of ours is supposed to be.

Before its too late.
 
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EC

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Ron its each to their own mate!

Commercials pop up everywhere because thats what the average Joe wants! There is a massive massive call for that type of water!

People who would struggle to get a few bites on a canal or river can go and catch plenty on a puddle! It doesnt make them better or worse than me and you mind.

However I would wager that if large numbers of commercials go 'belly up' then a large number of tackle shops/manufacturers won't be too far behind!
 
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Steve Spiller

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I agree Ron, but I think it's too late.
I was chatting to a delivery bloke today, he noticed my fishing tackle in the garage. "Into fishing then mate?" "big time" I replied, "what, pole fishing for carp?" erm "no, I like river fishing for chub, roach, barbel and whatever else comes along" I replied.
He then told me about cramming 200lb of carp into two keepnets last weekend and picking up the pools win. I've nothing against anglers like that, but they will never experience the feeling of catching wild fish from a river.
It's a shame really, but I suppose it leaves more room for me. I can still remember the days when I arrived at a river to find a sign saying water closed, **** match. Luckily for me, those days are very rare now, so there is a benefit to all of us from commercials.
 
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BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester

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It's already too late Ron. We had this debate or similar two years ago. And what happened? The Carp heads slagged anybody who dared say as much.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)

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The point is this Steve. What if virtually every carp in every carp puddle in the country goes belly up in the next few weeks?

What then?
 
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EC

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What then?

Dead simple Ron, the other (surviving) species get the pick of the crop, food wise, due to less competition (from carp) and therefore their chances of thriving increase dramatically!
 
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Steve Spiller

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Fingers crossed they won't Ron.

Can you imagine the peace and quiet being ruined by all those alarms!

Gets tin hat!
 
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David Craine

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The possibility is that all the Crap Commercial(sorry, Freudian slip )Carp Commercial boys may suddenly change allegiance and become next weeks Barbel Boys... what is the chance of that, maybe a skill level will be benath them, who knows.
 
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Cakey

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barbel are to easy so it will have to be perch for me ............................
 
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BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester

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How many alarms were used on the Trent Fish-In? (for barbel).
Double standards here I think.
 
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Terry Comerford

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"The point is this Steve. What if virtually every carp in every carp puddle in the country goes belly up in the next few weeks?"

Over 60% of the country's anglers will pack in fishing and the whole of the UK's angling industry will collapse.
 
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BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester

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For Christ sake Terry, don't make them any more sanctimonious than they already are.
 
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Terry Comerford

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You know its true though Baz, tackle shops, tackle manufacturers, fisheries, websites, angling magazines, would all go to the wall, if Paul and Eva Carpin stopped going.
 
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Steve Spiller

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As it happens Baz, mine didn't get turned on once!
I sat at my rods all night, no need for alarms. At 4.30am I reeled them in for a kip.
 
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BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester

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I have to agree with you Terry. And this is the problem. clubs, commercials, fish breeders etc (who only supply on demand) haven't kept a good ballance between species.
If as you say 60% of anglers packed in, I do think it would cause massive problems. And we/they shouldn't have let it get to that position.
 
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BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester

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You shouldn't have had them on the river in the first place Steve. Not according to your last post but 1 anyway. (o
 
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