Sorry guys, better late than never!
Wow what was the thread? So many issues I dont know where to start. Sorry Dave Cooper, I just cannot agree with your argument about the carp record. Mary is a true Brit caught from a huge water, that is reconised as one of the hardest in the country. Anybody can gain membership to the water, and as such this makes Mary a true record in every way. True, that Walker's and Chris Yates, records are of great historical significance, but they came from an exclusive if not beautiful puddle. How would you react if the record fell from an, only open to a few freinds, hush hush type water next week? I know this is carp fishing herecy but is it not time we took off our rose coloured glasses, and recognise these captures for what they are. Great, NO, enourmous feats of angling relative to the ERA. These are part of our angling HISTORY and as such belong in the past. Serious respect due, fair enough, but To treat them as anything different is in my oppinion an insult to the sport and those two great men. Richard Walker was a innovator and a pioneer. Would such a forward thinking man, hang onto a privious record just for sentimental reasons? I think not!
Wow that got a bit heavy! Sorry Dave nothing personal, you just happend to light the fuse, no offence intended.
Foreign fish where do you begin. To some degree I subscribe to the legalise and health check argument. Sure this will reduce the influx of illegal aliens but anybody who thinks it will stop them, will be sadly disapointed. Setting up, controling, enforcing and administrating such a scheme will come at a price. The two thousand dollar question is, will unscrupulous lake owners pay this price,or continue to welcome Transit vans in the dead of night? I think we all know the answer. In the Eighties and early nineties it was frowned upon to catch imports. This led to many publications refusing to publish photos of such fish. With no prestige attached to thier capture imports were limited. Unfortunatly we are to far down the road to return to such a situation.
One thing i did find a little disturbing was the fact that hardly anybody, raised the issue of imports speading virus or parasites to our native stock. Much talk about size and records, yet hardly a word about the health of the fish. Could this be the very attitude that has brought these fish to our shores in the first place.