Easy imports!

[Philip Inzani]

Just read a real interesting peice about this. It used the example of a big Mirror known as Smirk which I think the purists would class as an import. Over the last few years this fish which lives in a 4 acre heavily pressured lake has been caught less times in the same timeframe than Mary who lives in a 130 acre lake.

....when you look at it like that which capture would you say warrents the most merit ?

 

[Carp Angler]

I think that the calibre of angler and their ability to fish longer may prejudice the results.

Wraysbury is seen as the pinnacle of carp fishing by a lot of top class anglers, and thus a lot of very capable people fish it.
You could probably also apply the same logic to Yateley.

Are French carp easy?
You tell us Phil, you fish for them.........

 

[GrahamM]

It doesn't matter if it's carp or any other species, difficulty of capture is usually governed by the water not the species.

There is no easy answer as to which fish warrants the most merit. Put it this way, if Smirk was caught by a casual angler who had gone along with a mate for a couple of hours fishing, and Mary had been caught by an experienced angler who had planned a two or three day campaign, using all the water craft and skill he'd learned over the years, then the captor of Mary deserved the merit.

Reverse those roles and you have to reverse the merit.

There are too many ifs and buts to give a definitive answer.

However, if the question is "are imports generally easy?" (as indicated by the thread title) then the answer is, "probably, when they were first stocked and haven't yet settled. But they'll end up just as easy or difficult as the rest of the carp in that same water once they have."

Carp are carp, their nationality is irrelevant. It's where they live at the time that decides how hard they will be to catch.

 

[Andy Rooke]

phil theres no doubt which capture needs the most merit of course its mary. for example if you catch a fish of say 30+ out of kingsmead island that is worth more crdit than catching 4 fish out of le dac darenth, theres no boubt about it that any english fish deseves more credit than any import be it legal or not! as i ws reading a post on the pukka RMC site there was a 60ib fish caught from manchester phil do you think that that fish being stolen from abroud deserves more credit than marys mate? i think not if you want to fish for imports so be it not for me at the end of the day its a personal thing, at the end of the day why do we need forien fish in this country, there are so many pukka fish to be caught, maybe one day an import may take the british record, hopefully the like's of E.C.H.O will prevent if this happens phil would you support the new record cheers
Andy

 

[Malcolm Bason]

I too have heard the term "easy foreign imports" being used - can't remember where though. But I think Andy, what Philip was saying is that just because they have been brought into this country from abroad doesn't mean they are any easier to catch!

In my opinion, the environment in which they currently exist, angler pressure, and natural food availability dictates the degree of 'catchability' and thus, any merit in its/their capture!

As a side issue, Andy, as you mentioned ECHO yourself - what is happening there? Has it been actually set up yet?

 

[Andy Rooke]

echo has. malcom yes i undersand what phil is saying but imports have killed so many english fish off and they should not be brought in to this country. are there many northen anglers on here has anyone heard of burton mere? the owner decided to bring forien fish in to stock his lake without anyone knowing exept a few people word got around illegal imported fish and it killed of all the fish! this is very sad to pick dead carp up, i know i am going of the subject a little sorry but i just had to get it over. since this happened i feel very strongly about imports. does anyone fish for stolen fish on here i.e dippy? is this classed as bad as a forien import?
andy

 

[Malcolm Bason]

Personally, I don't purposely try for any particular fish! I fish a place because I like the place - simple as that. If I learn beforehand that someone has illegally imported a whopper and dropped in into a pond of some sort somewhere, then I won't go there.

Besides that - it doesn't bother me where the fish originates!

Before I came to frequent the likes of Fishingmagic I had'nt heard much talk of 'foreign imports' and I don't think its something that's generally discussed that much by other than those 'in the know' as it were.

I have fished one particular lake about eight times now including a couple of 24 hr sessions - I only learned a few days ago that it's biggest resident is of French origin. Does it change my opinion of the place? NO!

To say that either one deserves more credit or merit than the other is wrong (imho). Credit or merit should surely go to the angler who for some reason or other has deserved his/her capture?

 

[Philip Inzani]

I cannot put things any better than Malcom and I suspect his attitude is the one adapted by the majority of anglers. I think most dont give a stuff where a Carp comes from and are just happy to go to a nice lake within easy travelling distance and go fishing. I also agree 100% with Graham?.a Carp is a Carp and difficulty of capture is determined by other things. I will NEVER accept that fish A is harder to catch than fish B because one came from France and the other originated in the UK.

One point I have to take you up on Andy is the fact that you seem to imply that all UK "pedigree fish" are always clean and disease free - is that so ? You also bring up Dippy?.good example, I think thats a fish that accepted by the keep it ream brigade as a "legitimate" fish yet its been moved more times than you or I change our underpants?lets hope Dippys not an SVC carrier eh!

I have not decided on the record thing yet although I was happy the last two records where the fish that they where!

 

[Rob Stubbs]

Wow I love the blatant assumption that foreign fish = disease, what a load of tosh. The FACT is that most instances of fish diseases are from our very own supposedly healthy british carp. As an example all the colne valley fish a couple of years back, the Horton fish kill.

The big problem is that all fish movements are risky whetever their origins. We don't want big imports threatening the record but more importantly everyone should be more concerned about illegal (UK or abroard) fish movements, it is such uncontrolled movements that are the greatest threat to fish welfare (IMHO).

Rob.