The safety of the fish MUST come first!

Firstly let me say up front that this post is not intended to offend coarse or match fisherman alike, it’s intention is to make people aware that the safety of the fish should always come first.

I was carp fishing yesterday on a small lake where a match was also taking place. Fifty yards down the bank was one of the contenders sitting close between two of his competitors (in this case mutant witnesses). This guy hooked into a carp and was playing it absolutely beautifully for about 20 minutes on a pole and extremely light tackle. He finally netted the fish which turned out to be just under 9lb. After scooping the fish out he proceeded to chuck it into his keep net.

Being a general coarse fisherman for many years, I love to stand back and admire the skills of others and very rarely would I interfere. But on this occasion, I had to say something. I asked the gentleman very politely not to put the fish in the net as it was far too big and obviously exhausted. After a little unmerciful banter he decided for the better, to weigh the fish and release it.

So whats my point?

My point is this: ONE - as a rule in match or general coarse fishing is there a maximum weight fish you can put into a keep net? (I‘ve heard there is, but feel the forum should be informed by an impartial contributor) and TWO – there were many in this match yesterday who sat back and were quite relaxed about this guy chucking a 9lb fish (in this instance a carp) into a keep net without any concern for the recovery or safety of the fish. I’m sure this doesn’t happen in many matches, but there’s obviously a ‘lack of awareness’ here.

Happens all the time Stuart - look at some of the mega match bags pictured in the weeklies, where someone's stuffed two or three hundred pounds of fish into keepnets.

"Match carp" aren't pasties any more, they're doubles on a lot of waters and the match anglers' gear has evolved to the point where they now stand a good chance of landing them.

I do agree with you Stu
perhaps the awareness could be reinforced by the match organiser or possibly bring along a runner with the sole job of weigh and return the larger fish ( surly a good way to introduce a younger person with all those big fish!!)