* Lockdown *
‘Carp Puddles’ - Cash Cows or Legitimate Carp Venues?
Like everybody else at the moment I am prevented from going fishing so I’m having to amuse myself with digging the garden, trips to the supermarket, and watching day-time ‘telly. I’ve also been forward planning however and I’m putting in place various tackle replacements and new rigs ready to go when the time arrives when I can finally get out and give it a go.
One of the other things I’ve been looking at is new venues.
I used to fish in France two or three times a year although latterly this has been reduced to an annual trip and for the past three or four years, not at all. I’m getting very long in the tooth these days and prefer the security of homeland fishing rather than the riskier fishing abroad. Car breakdowns, accidents, and tackle losses are just a few of the potential horrors that can happen abroad and my fear of something occurring has sometimes outweighed the pleasure that these trips provide.
Almost all the French trips were to commercial venues although the most enjoyable were the riskier ones on the rivers, particularly The Loise in Picardy and the Soane in southern France. In fact some of the best trips I’ve ever had in my carp fishing life were to the rivers with my good friend Phil Baker. We caught some big fish too - to over thirty pounds although it wasn’t the size of the fish that were of interest but the sheer wildness and adventure of these expeditions.
I have also fished commercial venues in France - Abbey Lakes (Fox, Heron, and Attila), and Les Clos de Lacs to name but two (or four). There’s a big difference between the commercials in France to those in the UK, at least the ones I have fished anyway. The French commercials on the whole are bigger, more ‘natural’ venues, whereas UK commercials tend to be smaller, often literally holes in the ground stuffed with hundreds of fish. ‘Carp Puddles’ is a suitable name for some of them for they bear little resemblance to the sort of fishing that appeals to me. I much prefer club and syndicate waters which are less populated by ‘every man and his dog’ although it has not always been the case as some clubs have a particularly ignorant membership who have no knowledge of Angling Etiquette and don’t even know the term exists. Very sad.
I have to put my hands up and say I do fish UK commercials occasionally… but horror of horrors, this admission qualifies me as a purist’s pariah - banished to the fires of carp fishing Hell!
In a funny sort of way commercial carp fisheries have their own appeal which is nothing to do with any ‘purest’ characteristic but represents on occasions a real challenge. They are almost always pressured venues where the carp are fished for intensively and certainly do not give themselves up. They often require a particular cunning not necessary on lighter fished club and syndicate lakes. They can sometimes hold fish of exceptional sizes too and this is probably the main argument against their value. Grown-on ‘Puddle Pigs’, fish that have been reared in a stock-pond and dumped in a water for the sole purpose of providing a target for the ‘trophy hunter’ and to provide revenue for the owners of such places.
But what is so unacceptibly wrong about wanting to catch a really big fish?
To some anglers, commercial carp fisheries inhabit the very last ‘Circle of Hell’. Damnation holds more appeal than being seen within miles of any of these venues and some hate them more than Tax Inspectors, Second Hand Car Salesmen, and Car Park Attendants.
I would go further than the oft-quoted phrase “they have their place” and say they have a particular appeal all their own. They are undoubtedly different to the more ‘natural’ waters and their appeal lies more in the technical expertise required in extracting fish from them - than any appeal inherent in the lakes (and the fish they contain) themselves.
Of course, there are many commercials stuffed full of small carp and they are nothing more than places to go where you can be assured the bobbins will be dancing. Such places hold no appeal for me since the fish are generally half-starved and compete to eat any food finding its way into the water. I will not go anywhere near them as I can not see the point in parting with good cash for the privilege of catching fish a matchman could knock out in a few hours. If however a commercial offers the chance to catch a fish bigger than I would normally encounter then they are most definitely of interest and this brings me to the thorny question of how much value to attribute to the massive ‘Puddle Pigs’ that are often stocked into these venues.
I have lately been interested in Rob Hales’ ‘Monument Carp Fishery’ near Shifnal in Shropshire. Rob is famous for his breeding and rearing of carp and in particular the cultivation and on-growth of the ‘Super Freaks’ - the progeny of the humungously huge ‘Big Rig’, a 71 lbs. fish which used to inhabit ‘The Avenue’ fishery, a lake on the RH Fisheries portfolio. ‘Big Rig’s’ capture was rejected by the British Record Fish Committee on the grounds it had been artificially reared and this is the main argument put forward by ‘purists’ to discredit any fish which is not ‘natural’ to any lake.
Photo courtesy of Anglers Mail
I have thought about (and wrestled with) the aesthetics of this argument for many years and have consistently changed my mind back and forth multiple times.
The case against these super-massive fish is that they have been grown to record size and then put in a water where they have been caught and the inference is that the catching of them has been a relatively easy process and of no value. Really? You think?…
Out of all the hundreds of fish in a water, do you think you can single out just the one you are after and catch it at will? And should it come across your bait and rig (if, and that’s a big if), because of its naivety it will be ‘easier’ to hook-up than the other fish present in the water?
It’s true that a new introduction will be easier to catch than an ‘indigenous’ fish although this period of naivety may not last that long, especially if the place is fished with any degree of intensity. After a year or two (including possibly several captures) the new introductions will be just as hard to catch as the older inhabitants and I see just as much virtue in the ‘newbies’ as the older fish.
The thing is, there is no such thing as ‘an indigenous’ or ‘native’ carp. All carp have been introduced into lakes at some point. It is true that there are some waters where they breed successfully and such waters may well have more appeal to the ‘purest’. These waters are often overrun in time by small fish - it’s just Nature’s way of maximising what is appropriate in a Darwinian Evolutionary sense at the time. So I think it fair to say that almost all waters (certainly fishing lakes) have introductions of carp for the purposes of providing sport and are therefore not ‘natural’ populations in any way.
The legend that is Terry Hearn has fished the River Thames for many years for carp and this is a completely different kettle of fish (pardon the pun). The Thames is one of many rivers of which The Medway, The Trent, and many others which hold ‘indigenous’ stocks of carp and have been resident for hundreds of years. If anywhere can be considered to be ‘Natural’ waters where the fish are ‘native’, then it is the rivers of the carp fishing world which may claim the title. Even then, the rivers had to be ‘stocked’ at some point in their history. If you follow this argument to its logical conclusion, Carp originated in the Far East, in China and far-flung places East, so any Carp in Europe can not technically be termed ‘indigenous’ at all!
Photo courtesy of Terry Hearn and ESP
It seems to me (from a ‘purest’) point of view that ‘carp value’ is very much a grey area. If you compare Terry Hearn’s fish caught from the Thames and Robby Harrison’s ‘Big Rig’ from The Avenue there is a pretty obvious difference in ‘value’ ie ‘desirability’ between the two. I think we all would love to catch the Thames fish; but can any of us hand on heart say we would definitely ‘turn our noses up’ at a seventy-pounder! Would it amount to nothing more than pure snobbery? To discredit the fish on what really amounts to nothing more than dogmatism?
The fundamental question is inevitably going to be a personal view and an understanding of what constitutes Value to the carp angler. It’s not for anyone to ‘lay down the law’ on what values you may or may not hold (on any subject). If you enjoy fishing of any kind, even if it’s of other than carp you are perfectly entitled to do so. You may even enjoy Bream fishing! (Now that’s going a bit far!… Actually I do enjoy fishing for BIG Bream myself).
An oft-quoted complaint of commercials is that the charges they levy are exorbitant in return for the quality of fishing they offer. Quality generally equates to fish size. While I have a certain sympathy with this it must be fairly obvious to most that where there are bigger fish present, the daily charge must be higher than for the ‘normal’ run of day ticket venues. Big fish do not come cheap and it is perfectly acceptable for the fishery owner to re-coup a return on his investment.
A comparison may also be made with commercial fisheries in France (say). Of the lakes I have fished, currently, Les Clos des Lacs is charging 200 Euros for 7 days of ‘drive and survive’ fishing. I would say that the facilities compared to other fisheries is not that great but it is certainly value for money; you must also add travelling costs into the equation which will add another £200 in ferry and petrol. Abbey lakes is currently charging between £268 and £330 depending on what lake you fish but the facilities are certainly better than at Les Clos; you get what you pay for. How does this compare to homeland commercials with comparable facilities and quality of fish.
Well, the sizes of the fish may well not be as big although forty pounds is well within the reach of those charging between £30 and £35 for 24 hrs. fishing.
The Monument currently charge £60 for a 36 hr. session; on a weekly basis this equates to £280 which is very comparable to Abbey Lakes (and I understand the facilities are very good too). Of those charging £35 per 24 hrs. this equates to £245 for the week which is of comparable value to Abbey although the size of the UK fish are not as great. Still, travelling costs are nowhere near those of getting to the fishery and for me, this must be factored into the equation.
At the moment, what with Coronavirus and all, I am just thankful that when this is all over I may be permitted to hang around long enough to enjoy the different sorts of carp fishing the sport has to offer. The bottom line is, there are those now deprived of the chance having lost their lives. Pray God we all get through this…
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