Carp Carp Carp!!!

[Berty]

Unless you can control the Numbers of Cormerants that invade inland fisheries (as they can on commercials), silver fish are now a under huge treat from from predation.

Coupled with Pollution, Crayfish, Mitten Craps and threats from many different eaters of fish and Fish Eggs.

Carp Stocked at a decent size are the only alternative option for many fisheries.

It's all very well saying, I HATE CARP ?

But what are the alternatives ?

I belong to a club that stocked Silver fish last year, in a water within the Lea Valley Park, where No linences for Cormerants removal are allowed, there were 12 Goosander and numerous Cormerants eating away at the new Silver fish Stocks last Winter.

Hardly a Silver fish was caught this year and the only thing that remained were the Larger Carp

Bob

Oh come on Bob, you lot in the South were all carp before corms, crabs etc etc, the pits in your neck of the wood were the original carp farms and anglers of (now) great repute traveled far to savoir it!........and so carp anglers begat more carp!!

How about the likes of Cemex pioneering safe havens within these pits......something like man made coral reefs?......nah! the country is now carp crazy and not in the slightest bit interested in saving silvers.

Carp and Barbel rule!!........

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Bob

(like Peter) I'm a little confused by your comments - though I certainly wouldn't put it quite like that

I fish the thames just below Oxford in Abingdon and I see comorants on the water (or more frequently in the trees that line the bank) on a very regular basis, most frequently in winter... but the river is heaving with small silvers. It's virtually impossible to feeder fish maggots in parts of the town stretch because the bleak, roach, chublets and dace will strip you bare within seconds of the tip settling. If you do start connecting with these bites (hard work) and mange to bring a few fish in, after the six or seventh you can alomost guarantee that a pike will snaffle the fish of your hook.

Quite often this is going on with a comorant or two or three quartering the area I'm fishing... and it's been like that for the last few years on this stretch.

I'm not trying to be impolite when I say this - however, I do think anglers need to look to more scientific proof that waters have been "emptied" of silverfish than just the fact that we're failing to catch them.

---------- Post added at 06:35 ---------- Previous post was at 06:27 ----------

And apologies for getting off subject, for my tuppence worth it goes something like this - as a kid, I spent all of my time fishing for tiny fish on the thames and a thames tributary (the ock).... the biggest fish you could realistically expect were chub up to about 2 or 3 pounds, but they were special.

Then about 12 years ago, I caught a four pound carp on a float rod at Linear's (now sadly shut) float lake. I had no idea that ANYTHING could fight like that. It stripped line off the clutch several times and made it about three quarters of the way across the lake before i got it under control. I fully expected it to be double figures, but when it rose from the depths, it wasn't that big (though a lot bigger than anything I'd catch in the thames).

TBH, my favourite form of "carp" fishing is still on a float rod, preferably late in the day in the margins. Those lovely bold bites, the initial mad run and the clutch singing, it's so exciting! For me, that has to be why carp fishing is so popular. Why anyone then sees the need to spoil that fun with stiff rods and camping, I've never fully understood!

 

[Bob Hornegold]

Well Lads, maybe it's only the rivers around the North Side of London and Hertforshire and Essex ?

But the Lea and it's tributaries are a shadow of their former selves, mainly down to Cormerants.

Add the Souther Rivers that I use to fish, that once held huge numbers of Roach and Dace, plus a good many other southern/eastern rivers and I don't think the picture is very good.

Sure there are pockets of silvers, but nothing like there were 30 years ago, but if you want to stick your heads in the sand and say " it's okay where I fish ", be my guest.

And for my money Carp, Tench, Bream, Pike and Perch, stocked at a Cormerant Proof size is the only sensible way to go.

But if your happy with your lot, then so be it !!

Bob