Are Commercial Fisheries REALLY that bad?

So what do you think?

Monk Hall Fisheries - (Monkhopton)

Furnace Vale (Wyre Forest)

Goose Green (Cheshire)

-very good, great landscape and interesting variety of fish and fishing

I fish one quite local to me very occassionally. It's primarily a carp fishery. I don't fish for thecarp. It has a good head of large, beautiful roach and perch. Ifish onlyfor them.

I have absolutely nothing against carp nor the people that fish for them - quite the contrary. But I choose not to catch them at these types of venues if I can.

Many of the people that do fish for carp there have a very different view to me as to what angling is about - it's not for me to judge, merely to choose.

Herein lies the basis of my problem with certainaspects of commercial fisheries and many of the anglers that fish them.

I never cease to be amazed bythe quizzical looks they give me when they discover that I'm not interested in catching 7lb, 8lb or even 14lbcarp - deliberately fishing toavoid them, in fact. And the fact that they've payed eight quid to fish this water and they'll spend half their time there standing behind me talking bollocks until I politely ask them to p*ss off!

I do worry how little people appearto learn from these fisheries - it seems to bethe instant fix and, for the most part, guaranteed success that attracts. Maybe that aspect of their mindset is typical of many everyday things in lifethat are on tap.

I try to avoid talking to anyone if I canat these venues. Apart from the fact that I'm a total f*****g snob, it'sbecause usually,after about ten seconds, I want to beat their head in with a brick andstuff them into a hessian sack with some breeze blocks...... Is that just me?!! If someone asks me a pertinent, genuine question, I'm charm personified and will go out of my way to help (honest!).

Until theAces vs Chavs match last Saturday I'dnever fished a commercial on a weekend, although I've enjoyed many great, mixed-speciessessions onGold Valley since it opened (None more sothan when practising on the wrong lake last Tuesdayfor thismatch!!)

I like certain commercialfisheries as I can fish for superb condition fish that, for the most part, have never seen a hook and are actually quite difficult to catch. Ifishcommercials onlyduring the week tohelp cut down the chances of those nasty, unpleasant murder charges and also so I can do my thing in relative peace.

Like them or not though -commercials are responsible for a huge percentage of thepeople angling today and the business it generates throughout all aspects of the industry.

It isn't black or white is it?

Agree (mostly) with Lark (and yes, he very skillfully avoided any contact with carp whatsoever on Saturday! /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif).

Other half decent commercials worth a look are:<ul>[*]Dorset Stour - Throop Fisheries[*]Hampshire Avon - Royalty[/list]

But they might provide a bit of a challenge for the stereotypical "commercial angler" I enjoy both venues a lot but best avoided at weekends if able.

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I have fished a few, both here and abroad, mainly in Belgium. They vary enormously. I have fished Old Bury Hill midweek and that was OK, same for Waylands and a few others that seemed to have sensible stocking policies.

On the other hand I fished an any method trout fishery in Belgium a few years ago. When you arrived at the venue you could opt for which lake you wished to fish. The higher the limit the higher the stocking density and the price to fish. The anglers assembled at the club house/bar and drew a metal disc from a bag, much as we would for a match. you then went to your peg. a guy came round with a barrow full of Rainbow trout which he netted out and put in you swim. The amount of fish he put in corresponded to the bag limit of the lake you were fishing. At midday you all returned to the clubhouse and had a re-draw for positions. It was awful, after I had caught a few trout (which were suicidal), I spotted some large fish cruising below the surface. I baited the hook with a piece of crust (my father in-law's sandwiches) and had a few good carp up to 19lb. It certainly put the commercial fisheries that I have fished in this country into perspective. The Belgians who fished it seemed to enjoy themselves though and I suppose at the end of the day that's what it's all about. We don't all like the same kinds food or even the same type of woman. Why should we all have to like the same kind of fishing?

The commercial fishery i fish is not really a commercial in the truest sense as it has been a well established mixed fishery fo more years than i care to remember.

However with the introduction of a stocking of smaller carp a few years ago to augment their scarcer and bigger cousins it became a very good fishery indeed with fish of all species being caught including some big roach. good bream to over six pounds(not specimens i know but good fish all the same) a huge head of skimmers nice tench ide and some recently introduced barbel.

All of these fish have surely benefitted from the large amounts of food in the shape of pelletts. paste etc etc being put in to attract the carp so im sure the anglers that would rather catch the silvers can have little or no complaint as to how this particular fioshery is run.

I myself have fished several different methods including the method, straight lead,long pole short pole margins and both shallow and deep and apart froman odd bad dayi consider it to be a place where most anglers could enjoy a good days fishing in pleasant safe surroundings.

I think they have their place.

I occasionally fish Makins (or whatever it's now called) as it's good to put a bend in your rod if you are going through a barren spell. I wouldn't want to fish one week in week out though as they are too cultivated, i much prefer being by a river myself but each to their own.

Bake Lakes, which is the nearest commercial to me has a variety of lakes including Trout, a silverfish, and a specimin lake, plus a variety of different size lakes catering for most tastes.

The lakes are well kept and the stocking levels are fairly high, mainly due to highly successfull spawning success. The only problem is that there are no predatory fish to keep the fry down, due to the fact that the lakes run into a game river.

My only complaint is that the fishing is a bit samey once the water temperatures warm up, but if you are short of time and want to catch fish, good value for money.

I normally prefer to fish running water, but with the nearest river being 60 miles away I often do not have the time available.

Any tips for the "royalty" neil??? I am there on wednsday next week as part of the Total Coarse Fishing magazine fish-in.

The lure of heavily stocked waters with close parking ,shops toilets ,and big weights on the cards all year round is understandable,However after a few months of it when i moved to devon i asked myself the question Am i really this good ?. A later trip to a natural water confirmed the fact that im not, but the hard earned modest net of silvers put things back into perspective. word has it that apart from old school anglers like me he new generation of angler brought up on commercials are getting bored with it and the bubble may be about to burst.

That's commercials in a nutshell for me.Convenient,very welcome when you just need to catch something but ultimately a tad boring.They do vary though...I've fished Bury Hill which can be quite nice and almost convinced myself it wasn't really a commercial.

I do find some of the company a mite wearing though.There is one near me which I know holds some very good roach but you have to wade through the Burberry hats and bite alarms to stand a chance and then be very,very circumspect about bait or the carp move in....but its only a 20 minute drive so when time/opportunity is limited it does have its place.

Couldn't fish them all the time though.It would drive me nuts ! Too many carp and too many herberts.

What is there not to like about a "commercial?" Some of the small ones full of small carp are not everyones cup of tea (including mine) but in my experience the majority of them are clean, well landscaped (once matured) well kept fisheries some with carp and some not and some with carp and agood amount of silver fish in them.

The trouble with those that condemn them is they are condemning the stereotype hole in the ground carp match fishery of which there are a few but they are the significant minority. Some that condemn commercials do so because they went to one once and didn't like it so they wrongly assume that all commercials are the same. Some have never even been to a commercial fishery but condemn them because they think it is the right thing to do. Some think a lake of a certain size is not a commercial because it is a big lake even though they pay to fish it along with hundreds of others just as they do on smaller lakes.

Maybe its the fact that a lot of commercials (but not all) hold matches where fish are kept in a keepnet and we all know don't we, that fish kept in a keepnet die shortly afterwards! It is seen by some as a bit of one upmanship if they condemn commercial fisheries the "look at me, how squeaky clean am I" brigade, unthinking anglers in the main.

Moral. If you don't like fishing thecommercial lakes then don't fish thembut don't condemn the fisheryand the people that use them as some sort of angling pariah.