Tag Archives: Angling
The Carp Fishing Record – Will The Next One Count?
The emergence of Carp fishing as an expanding specialist sport during the seventies has grown ever more popular, one of the pioneers of carp fishing was the great Richard Walker who was a renowned Carp specialist in the forties and fifties. His record Carp Clarissa lived her days out in captivity after being caught at Redmire Pool, she weighed in at 44lbs and is possibly the most famous fish in the angling world.
But why was she so famous and why has Carp fishing continued to be so popular?
Well Clarissa was special, she not only broke the British record she smashed it, almost doubling the previous record of 26lb and this type of record breaking in fishing is unheard of in modern times. In addition to this apart from the Salmon caught in 1922 by Mrs Ballantyne it was the biggest freshwater fish ever caught.
She was possibly the most inspirational fish that a single generation has ever experienced and lived to the age of 34 before her death in Regents Park Zoo in 1971. It is probable that the death was premature and if left in the wild Clarissa may well have reached an age of 50 or 60 years. The tragedy here is that after her capture and transfer to the Zoo she never grew any bigger, contrast this to other fish in Redmire including the fish caught by Chris Yates at 51lb then a conclusion could be made that Clarissa never reached her true potential.
There is a train of thought that Clarissa could have eventually weighed 60lb had she been left in her natural home and imagine what that would have done for Carp fishing!
Add all this to this the fact that Richard Walker was a prolific writer as well as a prolific angler then the two combined factors would be the inspiration for countless young people to get into Carp Fishing. The next ingredient is the “air of superiority” and the atmosphere of secrecy that surrounds the carp world when you add this to the technical innovation and development of techniques and tackle then there is truly a magical draw for many people.
As time went by the growth of publicity for successful specialist carp anglers started to drive the potential to earn real money from the sport. Sponsorship, tackle design, bait evolution and syndicate waters started to provide anglers with the potential to earn serious money and many anglers either partnered or setup business around their success. Magazines and advertising then came on the scene and now there are many television programmes on SKY television and other subscription based media.
Tackle development has continued at an amazing rate and the industry continues to grow, its now more than 35 years since Clarissa died, there have been a string of new pretenders to her crown, bigger fish of course but none with the same aura and esteem.
Now as we move through 2007 we now see a new direction, the imported monsters that are coming into the country are being stocked at weights in excess of Clarissa when she broke the record!
These fast grown bloated fish are about to break and break again the Carp record but not one of these fish will ever match Clarissa no matter how big they are caught at. Of course the original strains of Carp were brought to the UK by the Romans, monks also farmed them and many stately homes were stocked with a new strain of Carp in between 1930 and 1940, it is known that some of these fish reached ages of 60+ which is amazing.
I liken this latest crop of imports to comparing a true diamond with Cubic Zirconia, you can have the biggest rock in the world on display on your finger but if its not a true diamond it is worthless!
Where will this end? Well the first issue will be whether to accept these new fish as true records (a dilemma already faced in the trout fishing world), secondly identifying the fish as a true contender or not, these are two very difficult questions which will now rock and divide the Carp fishing world over the next months and years.
Shaun Parker has been a Carp fisherman since 1970 the year before the world famous British carp record Clarissa died. The modern era enables him to get his Carp bait and Fishing Tackle online.
Carp Fishing Techniques – Are Bait Boats Cheating?
Izaak Walton’s famous book ‘The Complete Angler’ was a celebration of our sport, based on the central theme that angling is an art that transcends the objective of catching fish.
Angling then is the technique of catching fish using a rod and line; it is called “angling” because of the angle formed by the two. It has been suggested that the quintessential step of making fishing into a sport, rather than just a means of catching fish for food, was the invention of the rod. It is considered a sport, then when practised for enjoyment. Anglers sometimes attempt to catch only one type of fish, in our case the Carp, often limiting their equipment to increase the sport – Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome.
Since the beginning then, angling’s rules and traditions have been laid down to provide sport by imposing a certain level of difficulty. I think everyone would agree that there are far easier and swifter ways of extracting fish from a lake or river than by rod and line. Nets, deadlines, multiple hooked lines and explosives would all be far more effective than a simple hook,rod and line. (Admittedly the latter suggestion makes catch and release somewhat difficult!!)
Certain forms of fishing, such as fly fishing require a good level of technique to achieve any measure of success. Carp fishing too requires a considerable amount of skill to cast accurately and sufficiently far to be able to present a bait effectively to our quarry. The better anglers justifiably catch more fish. Setting the element of chance aside, I think most will agree a talented angler does do things differently from the average bod. If he catches more or bigger fish than his peers, he obviously has a greater aptitude for the sport than the average.
So I think then it is fairly easy to establish that we fish the way we do in the name of sport, and the intellectual stimulation and challenge, not just to pull the fish out of its natural habitat. I think we all get a great deal of satisfaction when we do it right and we catch well. You only have to look at an angling newspaper or magazine to see the number of cheesy grins behind leviathan carp to understand that we all get satisfaction in success. Modern rods and reels are better and perform better than at any time in the history of the sport, our understanding of bait, and fish behavior has increased over the last few centuries too. But when all is said and done, we are carrying out the same gestures and actions as our forefathers in the time of Izaak Walton.
Ok so this brings me onto the ‘Bait Boat’.
Here is a gadget, pilfered from Model Making and turned to fishing. It has absolutely nothing to do with “angling”, and takes any amount of skill, technique and talent out of the sport. It in fact takes us right back to before the Art of Angling became just that; an Art! – I have to ask the question; ‘Where is the Art in using a Bait Boat?’
What it effectively does, and I don’t dispute the effectiveness of these ‘items’ of tackle.. is give you loaded dice to play with. It evens up the field, so that if you are next to the mega long caster or the fine technician, who can drop a lead on a sixpence at 80 yards, you can play in the same league. Is this not deemed cheating in any other sport?
There are other non negligible aspects of these devices, such as the effect their presentation has on the fishing on waters that their see heavy use .It makes it very hard afterwards to tempt a carp by more conventional means. The fish get used to and wary of the fact that every pile of food they come across on the lake bed has a hook in it. For the carp anglers it becomes a case having to join the “pugwash club” if you want to be in with a chance. Furthermore, and this is what has lead to their being banned on many venues, is the abuse of certain users, poaching others swims or placing baits in areas and at distances where they have very little or no chance of landing the fish.
You will gather then I am not a fan, and I shall continue to hone my own angling skills to tempt the queen of our rivers; a stately, a good and very subtle fish… and hard to be caught.” Izaak Walton – ‘The Complete Angler’ 1653.
By: Gareth Watkins
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by Gareth Watkins:
For more Carp Fishing News and great fishing in France check out my website at : http://www.croixblanchelakes.com
For more Carp Fishing News and great fishing in France check out my website at : http://www.croixblanchelakes.com