CATCH AND RELEASE.

Hi.

I am a big supporter of catch and release and carp care.

Here is SA there is allot of water that is quit overstocked and had a very interesting discussion with some guys and very different thoughts from them.

What would your opinion be on this? Many of our water are also still wild waters.

Is there any waters in the UK that is so overstocked that people are encouraging the taking out of smaller carp ?? Does any carp get taken out of water (smaller sizes) to give the bigger carp more chance of gaining weight and getting bigger.

Was just wondering what is the situation in the UK.

Gert,

In UK they consider the life of a carp to be sacrisanct - you just do not kill them - period.

If you go back far enough you just might find that it was myself through the auspices of the Johannesburg Rand Piscatorial Association that was probably the first to champion catch and release, not only with carp in mind, but all the other species too. Myself and my little group of friends also popularised C&R for bass fishing.

The facts are that in SA, due to the climate,carp over breed. I am very much in favour of killing little carp and leaving the big ones to get bigger. This is completely opposite to what many anglers think in your country.

In the UK, in my opinion, there are too many carp, and I would be delighted to see a massive cull of all carp under 8lbs. This would allow the bigger carp to get bigger, but most important of all, allow our indigenous fish to thrive.

Totseins en Stywe Lyne

Ron

to be fair Ron, it isn't just carp - no coarse fish are taken out of waters over here.

When I first joined one of my clubs in the late 70s the short sighted committee had a rule stating that all pike over a certain weight were to be killed (not returned was the wording) and they wondered why their fishing was consistantly ruined with flottillas of small pike from 6oz to 1lb. they were put right because we got a couple of fishery experts to visit the AGM one year and they managed to educate them and teach them that big pike also like eating small pike and that a big pike is notthe voracious feeder that they always thought it was and it would be better to cull the small pikerather thanthe large ones.

How about this from a carping hero.

taking for the pot is allowed over here, however, it depends where you are.

the above is from one area.

That picture of Richard Walker I have seen many times. Denys Watkins-Pitchford (BB) was behind ****'sold Leica IIIG.It was taken at Hunstrete Lake near Bath (Lackey's Leap) and the carp werekilled on orders from the keeper who believed it was overstocked.

Both fish were low doubles.

An account of their capture was detailed in the book - "Drop Me A Line".

Frothey

I'm sure about nowadays as I only got back into fishing in the last year, but 15 years ago, I met too many anglers who though it was ok to kill small pike and just leave them on the bank to rot. Their reasoning was that the small pike kill too many fish.

I hope this practise has died away, but am not sure. Any dinosaurs still think like that?

Hi Ron. Felt sure the great man would have had a reason. I just posted the pic to show how people perceive fish nowadays.

Mr Crabtree was quite happy to take a pike or perch 'for the pot' or 'a glass case'.

I've done a fair bit of fishing in Canada taking Perch and Walleye for the pot.

I believe that the difference to the UK is that if all the anglers took one or two to eat there would be very little left in a short space of time. It just isn't sustainable.

Thanks for all the Replies.

<u>What is the UK's stand on invasive fish species at the moment??</u>

We have a law that is in the process of being implemented here in SA at the moment and we are trying to gather more information regarding this at this stage.

See the below part of an article.

THE THREATENED AND PROTECTED SPECIES REGULATIONS


The Threatened and Protected Species Regulations (“the regulations”) were issued in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 (NEM:BA) on the 23rd of February 2007 and were scheduled to come into effect on 1 June 2007. This has now been delayed until the 1st of February 2008.

<u>The act also has grim implications for anglers targeting ‘alien’ or’ invasive’ species such as trout, bass and carp as not only are restrictions to be placed on the practice of ‘catch and release’, but these species may be altogether eradicated in terms of section 75 of the NEM:BA. This may well mean the end of fresh water angling in the Republic and one can only hope that before implementing such drastic measures, Government would take cognisance of the substantial contribution angling makes to the economy</u>, especially as many of the favoured angling destinations are in the poorer provinces, creating much needed employment opportunities and bringing in much needed money to local communities, which without ecotourism in the form of angling, would be solely agricultural. Many small towns which have blossomed due to the influx of anglers will surely be awaiting the Department’s implementation policy with “baited” breath.

I have spent a lot of time in my life in towns like Dullstroom, Barkley East, Nottingham Road, whose very names mean one thing: "Trout". Vast areas of the Eastern Cape and Natal Drakensberg are intertwined with some of the best wild rainbow and brown trout fishing in the world. The rivers flowing from the Western Cape mountains have wild brown trout which have been there since the acclimatisation societies of the late Victorian period

If it wasn't for thetrout which providefood and sport,these rivers would have been polluted and the ecosystems destroyed many years ago!

As regards the UK, carp are among the most common freshwater fish in the country and are found in both still and running water.Specimen Carp fishing is worth many millions of pounds every year and is one of the most popular forms of angling practiced in Europe.

Smaller carp fisheries, known as "commercials",where lots of small carp are caught, are also extremely popular.

Oneshould also look at other Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand and Australia. Here, carp specifically have had a devastating effect on many indigenous fishes. InAustralia, carp are public enemy number one, wherein the warm climate thay have overbred and crowdedsuch highly desireable game species as the Murray Cod and the Barramundi. Trout are tolerated and found throughout areas of New South Wales such as the Blue Mountains.

Trout in New Zealandsince being introduced in the late 1800s have thrived and are the source of a valuable tourist industry, prized by both government and the general population alike.

Ron,

Hope you come across this. The photo of **** holding the carpon the front ofthe little booklet Carp Fishing that you have displayed were not caughtfrom Lackey's Leap, but from Woldale and photographed by Maurice Ingham, not BB.They were not intentionallykilled but may have died subsequentlythe way **** is holding them!

If you read BB's letter from the Carp Catchers' Club's rotary letters (dated 30 August 1951) you will see that BB stated that all the Hunstrete carp were common carp (page 35 in the Medlar Press book).

Regards,

Kevin