6 minute read
Angling
Summer’s Coming!
NORMALLY, FOR THE SEPTEMBER EDITION I GO ON ABOUT THE COOLING TEMPERATURES STIMULATING FEEDING, AND SPECIES SUCH AS CARP AND BARBEL PACKING ON THE WEIGHT PRIOR TO THE LEAN MONTHS OF WINTER
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As I write this in late July I am still waiting for the summer to start, let alone end! This year has been a disaster fishing-wise so let us hope that the next three months can rescue the situation.
The Carps With No Name
The British Record Fish Committee has recently rejected a claim for a 73lb 8oz carp, named ‘The Marshall’, that had been caught by 14-year-old angler from Holme Fen Fishery. The reasons given by the Committee were that in their opinion the additional weight the carp had taken on since its stocking into Holme Fen would not have been feasible in a natural environment. The implication therefore is that the fish are being artificially grown on using supplementary feed. This is not the first time that record claims from this Cambridgeshire fishery have been rejected by the BRFC. In 2016 ‘Captain Jack’, weighing in at 68lb 1oz, failed to impress the committee. The fish had been imported in 2013 from Israel at a weight of around 41lb and the fishery had been supplementing the lake’s natural food by the introduction of 150kg of pellets per week. In 2020 ‘The Marshall’, another Israeli import, had been caught and recorded at 75lb 2oz. The captor chose not to pursue a record claim due to the negative publicity given to previous record claimants. These foreign-reared captors have created a great deal of controversy within the carp fishing and wider angling community. Common carp are not actually indigenous to the UK or indeed France. They originate from the Danube and it has been said were imported to France and England by monks. It is known however that the Romans farmed carp long before that and may also have introduced them. The stew ponds at monasteries were used by monks to rear fish that could provide meals on Fridays when their religion forbade them to eat meat. The Boke of St Albans was published in 1486 and mentions carp stating that they were not common in England at that time. A hundred years later Leonard Mascall, writing anonymously, cheekily tried to give himself credit for having introduced carp into England. Mascall must have been aware of the mention of carp in The Boke of St Albans because he quotes from it in his own works, but he may have had a point. The Boke of St Albans is almost certainly a translation from a French manuscript and so it may be possible that the references to carp do not actually relate to English rivers. Now carp are found worldwide having been introduced legally, and illegally, into many countries beyond their natural range. In parts of Australia and North America they are regarded as vermin and a threat to natural species. In parts of the Far East however they are an important
By Clive Kenyon
food source and are being farmed on a massive scale. We are lucky in that the rivers and public lakes of our region have a good head of carp that, whilst not reaching record size, can be well in excess of forty pounds. Many of these carp are truly wild fish never having been named or supplemented by angler’s baits and can present quite a challenge, not least due to their sometimes inaccessible locations. Wild carp have to fend for themselves and will roam the river or lake instinctively knowing where food can be found. The Vienne river is in many parts lined with surface weeds. One of the most exciting ways to fish for these unknown and unnamed carp is to look for them pushing through the marginal weeds and intercept them using a chunk of bread or a garden snail free lined so that the bait sits on or just under the surface. Free lining a bait gives you the best chance of not getting snagged in the weed stems as the hooked carp charges through them. Whelks from the fish counter at the supermarkets are a viable alternative if you don’t fancy using snails. Stalking these wild carp in lakes can be easier than in rivers as lake carp are herded by the wind and will on many occasions be found on the lee shore. These fish are not bait savvy and so you don’t need anything fancy to catch them. Maize is one of the baits that is universally accepted by carp even though they may never have seen it before. Whilst I have caught many carp on maize baits it is not something that will stop a browsing carp in its tracks. For that you need something with an attractive scent or flavour. The pet food industry has decades of experience in creating treats and food that stimulate animal appetites and I can recommend Frolics dog biscuits as the ideal bait for stalking wild carp. The ring shaped biscuits will fit snugly on a latex bait band once a small section has been nipped out to form a letter ‘C’ shape. You can easily break the biscuits up into small pieces for loose feed too. Shrimp and krill flavoured baits also work well for wild carp as do cooked prawns and luncheon meat. These attractive baits will stop a browsing carp in its tracks and stimulate a bite. Maize and hemp grains when mixed with micro pellets can act to detain the carp and keep them feeding in your swim. One of the many species of carp are crucian carp, Carassius carassius, found in lakes, ponds and some rivers from England to Russia. There is a growing concern that the pure form of crucian carp is rapidly being lost to hybridisation with other species of small carp including gibel carp, also known as Prussian carp, Carassius bibelio, and the goldfish, Carassius auratus. The UK Environment Agency is monitoring populations of crucian carp in an attempt to assess the problem and protect the populations of pure crucians. In France the position with crucian carp is more complex. There is a French species called carassins and these seem to have been allocated the same scientific name as crucians, but are in fact a seperate species. Carassins can be found in great numbers in the canals, drains, and lakes of the Marais Poitevin region and it seems that their range is expanding. I was speaking to a French angler near to Chateauneuf-sur-Charente who was trying to scrounge baits for silure fishing. He was asking specifically for carassins. It seems that the chubby little fish are increasingly common on the middle Charente and a popular livebait for silure anglers. The other day, whilst fishing the River Vienne in department 86, I landed a carassin of around 3lb, the first that I have seen in this river. So, if you come across what looks like a specimen crucian carp, but is slightly more brown, it is probably a carassin.
