Foreign Imports

Opinion about importing fish, particularly carp, from abroad is generally either dead set against it or all for it, and not much in between.

What clouds the issue is that many high profile anglers who preach in newspaper columns against the import of foreign fish are busily fishing for them almost as they write. In fact, it's said that one angler in particular actually helps to set up the import deals.

We can't name names because we can't prove anything, but it seems to be fairly common knowledge that this goes on.

Blinking heck, that's the touch paper lit!

Personally and providing that the correct health checks and permits are gained I can't see too much difference if carp are stocked from farms in England or France.

I think where the controversy sets in is the size of fish imported. With fish approaching, capable of reaching or above "record" sizes then people do get upset!

As regards what people say and what they do, well that's just the human condition...isn't it?

like sam said, its the importing of instant records that would annoy me. thing is, all carp are imports, and todays import is going to be a "real" carpin twenty years time. so long as your not being conned into thinking its an "english" fish, then each to their own.
why we need to import, when lakes like frampton, the oxford lakes, horseshoe, etc can all stack on weight, be "proper" looking carp and born in the uk is another thing......

Dave,I feel the same as you and Sam,and we dont realy need to import,but it`s more of some dodgy manager`s,who "find" they have a 50or 60lb in their water`s,which in turn attract`s the punter`s,=money.

I think that French carp are fantastic........as long as they are in France!

And italian carp are in italy

Is there such a thing as an english carp?

If we cant stop imports then a size limit might be a good idea to stop instant records

Budgie,I did ask you on a thread,(which i can`t find)do you come from kent?

i wonder how the importers would feel if a french angler came to england and nicked two-tone?

I always regard carp fishing as slightly artificial so the origins of carp do not worry me too much. What would worry me far more would be importing general coarse fish, particularly river fish.

whats the difference?

I am totally against the importation of foreign fish to UK.

We've had enough of ot in the past. First the Romans with carp, then ourselves with rainbow trout, catfish and zander.

Sure, zander have found their level and are welcomed by many, including myself. Fortunately with a few exceptions, rainbow trout do not breed in our waters and don't live too long either.

However I do not like to importation of catfish and carp. Those that breed naturally in our waters - fair enough, the damage has been done, starting with the Duke of Bedford.

The worst of all is the importation of carp. There are enough of the darned things here already.

Why, in heaven's name must more bring in more, with all the diseases they carry?

Its not only Britain, we've nanaged to wreck a few countrys environments with the moving of trout and carp

Yes Lee.Lived on the Romney Marsh since I left the forces in 1988.Several years abroad guiding.Came back to the UK two tears ago and now living in Ashford.
Very true about the reaction if people came to this country and nicked our fish!Youve got to remember though that the removal of fish from waters in France,Spain,Italy is not illegal! It is the bringing them into this country that is.Still not right though.I got many horror stories that I could tell.Due to my guiding work abroad I have been aproached many times by many people to supply fish.

I thought Barbel were a British fish ---but only in eastern flowing rivers (dating back to when we were joined to Europe mainland) and all we have done is introduce them to other river systems ......

Where ever there is serious money to be made there will always be an element who will seek to maximise thier return.So if lake owners are offered what is the on the face of it cheap 20-40lb carp some may well be tempted and hang the concequences. In the late nineties I was involved of the LEGAL movement of carp in France from one water to another on 4-5 occasions and I know that it would have been v easy to bring a tank of live fish back. I was never stopped at customs driving a pick up with covered trailer. This changed from 9/11/2001 now I think the customs guys get the kettle on for me everytime I go to france. What really pees the French anglers and authorities off is the taking of fish from the public lakes and rivers to stock the english holiday venues there are a number of venues where the stock is supplimented from the local rivers/lakes. As for fishing for imported carp in the UK not for me thanks if you want to know why go to Darenth. As Graham has said there are some carp anglers who say one thing and do another ca plus change

darenth was ruined as a fishery. like i said, look at frampton, horseshoe etc, they all do 40's with cracking looking fish. why not just buy a few of their offspring and grow them on? oh yeah, its not instant......

Dave,
I owe you an explanation. "What's the difference?" you ask. To my mind there is a lot of difference. I am not having a go at carp fishing. I go carp fishing myself, I am probably going on Sunday, and I enjoy it. It is, however, a little artificial in many ways. Imported fish, designer baits, designer tackle, stay for weeks to catch a fish etc. I know you approach things slightly differently and fish short sessions but I do not think this is the norm in carp fishing these days. In some recent threads on this site the point was made about loosing the hunting instinct. I think this is what has happened in carp fishing to an extent. It is creeping into river fishing now, god forbid. Fortunately it is still possible to find good stretches of river which are not full of people carp fishing for river fish. I don't know about the future though. When I switched from carp fishing to river fishing over 20 years ago they were completely different. I have never been fully involved in just one branch of the sport, just changed my main interest. I would hate for it all to become the same. I break my fishing into three areas. My main area is river fishing for chub, roach and barbel. I also do lake fishing for tench, carp and bream. I love predator fishing and usually fish for my pike on pits and my perch on rivers, although I sometimes fish for both in both environments. I don't think the predator side of things can change too much, fortunately, due to what these fish eat. I do hope river fishing does not go any further down the carp route and that we can keep natural fish and, hopefully, still catch them on traditional baits. I would also like to retain a close season on the rivers. If ever they start importing foregn fish to our rivers god help us. No, it is far better to keep things as they are. We can then continue to enjoy some variety in our sport. If I go carp fishing on Sunday Dave I will enjoy it. Part of the enjoyment will be using different baits and tactics to those I use on the rivers and part of it will be fishing for a different species. Carp are big, impressive looking, hard fighting fish. I do like them. What I don't like are the huge shoals of bream and large numbers of carp currently found on some stretches of rivers like the Avon and Stour. In some parts of these rivers they outnumber the chub and barbel. How did they get there in such numbers? I think something should be done to reverse this trend. Going back to the original point of this thread I think imported carp should be confined to certain types of water and it should be known which waters these are. People who prefer to fish for home grown carp can then continue to do so. I am sure people like Terry Hearn from the carp world would back me up on these views. As for ever introducing imported fish to our rivers I sincerely hope it never happens.

fair enough dave, but you say the "norm" is long session fishing......i think not. how many people do you know that can spend days away? i think its just a perception because thats what (some of) the top guys do, but they've worked hard to put themselves in that position. i think that image goes back to the early 90's when a lot of the unemployed "time bandits" were fishing as they couldn't get work. tim paisley asked the question at one of the carp conferences, and the vast majority were more interested in short session/overnighter type fishing.
i dont "like" carp in rivers - they breed too well and are too agrresive in their feeding. look what happened in aus/the us. but then i dont "like" imported fish either - we've got enough of our own and dont need them. 20lb carp have been "devalued" by imported biggies, but then how many people have caught a 20?

What a load of bollocks
1. Ive seen designer baits for barbel,bream ,pike etc etc
2.Ive also seen designer barbel rods,bream rods and pike rods etc etc
3. I know fishermen that barbel fish for days at a time, also for bream (wols on a 3 dayer now)also for zander at weeks at a time.
4.there is no norm in carp fishing ,everyday is different
5. when I fish for other species I know where I can go and catch perch,down to another part of the river for pike,etc etc
try doing that with mr carp !
6. you do sound anticarp with your " I do hope river fishing does not go any further down the carp route and that we can keep natural fish"

The problem is that you're fighting against the fact that anglers are continually being brainwashed into thinking that carp are not big until they top 30lb when in fact a 20lb carp today is still the same weight as a 20lb carp caught 20 years or more ago.

I know that sounds a bit daft, but what we're up against is the perception of these things and not the reality.

Look at this new Monument water. This is another commercial pastie water in principle, except that the pasties start at bigger weights. Now for ?20 a day you can go and draw for a swim and bag yourself a big fish from a water that has only big fish in it. A 40-pounder appears to be well on the cards.

These fish will be published just as though they are great achievements, perhaps ranking alongside captures of 40lb carp that were made after years of effort.

Now I'm not saying we shouldn't have waters like the monument, I'm just saying that this is another step towards making fishing, and carp fishing in particular, an automated activity.