Perfect specimen

Right lads, this is one of my recycled threads from a different time and a different place, it basically boils down to how you view a carp by looks and longevity, health and fighting qualities and where you put the blame for the the inconsistences between size and power. I am not a fan of the boilie supremacy, it has its place and I use them regularly along with other baits, but its over use, by certain anglers, Mr Shelley springs to mind has encouraged others to do the same, result , obese fish with a short life span, that is just not cricket. I would rather see a specimen of forty pounds in perfect proportion than an obese sixty pound gutball, gorged on HNV, not knowing when to stop eating and looking like a pregnant camel out of water.
I have caught more fish on sweetcorn than any other bait, rivers, canals or lakes, yep Bream and roach do show, but that's the price, peanuts, pellets and catfood, loads more and never seen an obese fish personally. Whats your take.

Don't fish for carp but share your sentiments. Much the same as those awful "pellet pigs" stocked in trout fisheries. Always amuses me when people proudly pose for a photograph holding one and proudly proclaiming it's weight. So what, it was bloody stocked at that size!

I have always considered that the fish illustrated in the book ''Redmire Pool'' the very pinnacle of what Carp should look like. For me it gets no better than that, and it doesn't have to weigh 40lbs.

Hey you guys are on the same wavelength, sod Dever Springs, Redmire is the ultimate, followed by my local Billing Aquadrome and the rivers are something else, no artificial PBs for us just decent fishing, long live the Galicians, 70 odd years of health.

wanderer said:

Hey you guys are on the same wavelength, sod Dever Springs, Redmire is the ultimate, followed by my local Billing Aquadrome and the rivers are something else, no artificial PBs for us just decent fishing, long live the Galicians, 70 odd years of health.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the pictures an old friend showed from Billing many years ago bear testimony to that, good old days.

A decent wildie for me is the epitome of what a carp should look like.... I too dislike the big bellied types and as for Simmo fish I'm really not a fan of the "Football With Fins" look... that said if a 30lb plus Simmo fish wobbled it's way over the net cord I'd not be too unhappy

If I could snaffle a 20 that looked like this I'd die a happy man:wh

wanderer said:

Hey you guys are on the same wavelength, sod Dever Springs, Redmire is the ultimate, followed by my local Billing Aquadrome and the rivers are something else, no artificial PBs for us just decent fishing, long live the Galicians, 70 odd years of health.

Click to expand...

Gallego?

Liked the look of that wildie too. Not a carper myself on a regular basis. Catch most of mine a foot from the bank, and get thro almost a kilo of boilies every season. I'm not likely to be encountering those football carp anyway. Now is a good time to see carp in their best colours. Whatever size they are.

rubio said:

Now is a good time to see carp in their best colours. Whatever size they are

Click to expand...

Got to agree with that, not all boilie fed fish are footballs (not me by the way, one of my sons)

Yep, that is a cracker Mr Crow, hats off to your lad.

I'm not fussed to be honest. So long as I'm not catching silly little carp from commercials, that's all that matters.
All carp come from stockies at some point down the line, just different strains.


This is an original wildie. It was first caught in 1975 as a mid double, now (or when I had it), 27lb