dezza
Well-known member
Up to about 1950, carp in England were classified as being almost uncatchable and that it wasn't even worth spending time trying to catch them.
To a certain extent this was true, but I don't think they were difficult due to the basic nature of the species; rather it was a result or there being so few of them.
That ikon of early carp fishing - Mapperley Reservoir, held the record for several years prior to Bob Richards catching his 30 pounder from Redmire. Albert Buckley's feat in landing a 26 lb carp on 31/2 lb line was revered by many. In truth the fish was probably suffering from dropsy and his line was close to 8 lbs bs. And there were so few fish in there at the time. I know this as two old friends of mine, both in the Northern Specimen Group, spent many days and nights in search of a Mapperley fish, and they caught nothing.
Then Bob Richards, cast out a lump of breadpaste to a spot where the owner of a lake at Bernithan Court in Herefordshire used to feed the ducks, and a 31 lb carp grabbed the bait. For a short period after this capture, Bernithan Court, renamed Redmire, gave up a number of fish quite easily, culminating in Walker's 44 pounder. After that, Redmire fish became very difficult to catch, due I think to the fact that there were so few of them,(quite a few were removed to be stuffed) and that they had been educated not to eat bread. Of of the 50 original stocking, I doubt if by 1960, there were 20 fish left.
When I started fishing the huge waters of South Africa, and after I had learned to catch the carp, I realised that carp were not all that difficult to catch. In fact the difficulty in targeting the big fish was made all the more apparent by the fact that you had to wade through hundreds of small fish first. I forget the exact numbers taken, but certainly at times, a weekends fishing would result in the capture of anything between 20 and 100 fish.
And today, the heavily stocked commercial fisheries of this country often produce individual match catches of up to 500 lbs of fish.
Certainly carp are not all that difficult to catch, are they?
Or perhaps our methods have become more effective.
But what do you think? Is the idea that carp are difficult to catch a complete myth? I think it is!
To a certain extent this was true, but I don't think they were difficult due to the basic nature of the species; rather it was a result or there being so few of them.
That ikon of early carp fishing - Mapperley Reservoir, held the record for several years prior to Bob Richards catching his 30 pounder from Redmire. Albert Buckley's feat in landing a 26 lb carp on 31/2 lb line was revered by many. In truth the fish was probably suffering from dropsy and his line was close to 8 lbs bs. And there were so few fish in there at the time. I know this as two old friends of mine, both in the Northern Specimen Group, spent many days and nights in search of a Mapperley fish, and they caught nothing.
Then Bob Richards, cast out a lump of breadpaste to a spot where the owner of a lake at Bernithan Court in Herefordshire used to feed the ducks, and a 31 lb carp grabbed the bait. For a short period after this capture, Bernithan Court, renamed Redmire, gave up a number of fish quite easily, culminating in Walker's 44 pounder. After that, Redmire fish became very difficult to catch, due I think to the fact that there were so few of them,(quite a few were removed to be stuffed) and that they had been educated not to eat bread. Of of the 50 original stocking, I doubt if by 1960, there were 20 fish left.
When I started fishing the huge waters of South Africa, and after I had learned to catch the carp, I realised that carp were not all that difficult to catch. In fact the difficulty in targeting the big fish was made all the more apparent by the fact that you had to wade through hundreds of small fish first. I forget the exact numbers taken, but certainly at times, a weekends fishing would result in the capture of anything between 20 and 100 fish.
And today, the heavily stocked commercial fisheries of this country often produce individual match catches of up to 500 lbs of fish.
Certainly carp are not all that difficult to catch, are they?
Or perhaps our methods have become more effective.
But what do you think? Is the idea that carp are difficult to catch a complete myth? I think it is!
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