King? Carp.

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Catfish.017
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King? Carp.

Post by Catfish.017 »

My recent post about a small Tench pool compromised by the indiscriminate stocking of a relatively large number of medium sized Carp sparked a modicum of discussion on the devalued status of modern Carp fishing and some recollection of a preferred vision of how it was, how we remember it.
I'm at a disadvantage here because by the time I had acquired the level of skill necessary to seriously try for Carp I was well on the way to becoming a dyed in the wool match angler. The 'Wildies' of the Park Lake I've written of often, eluded me for years. I think I only ever caught two of them, one, a five pounder caught in a club match.
It got me thinking about when I caught my first 'King' Carp and I really struggled to remember, but I did, eventually and actually it wasn't long after I had that Wildie, some time in the early Seventies. We had started travelling to the Wye by then and by taking a slight detour on the way home from Glasbury we could fish a pair of day ticket ponds at Llyswen courtesy of the farmer on whose land they were situated. One pond looked natural, tree girt, reasonable depth with a mixed stock including nice Roach and Chub with a few Carp. The other pool, recently dug, shallow , muddy and overstocked with little Mirror Carp. The modern commercial enthusiast would recognise this and probably would have felt at home there. However it was all very novel at the time and provided us with the opportunity to fish for our first modern strains of Carp.
But even then as I recall, I preferred to fish the other pond, often with Casters for the quality Roach and the 'bonus' Chub. So does anyone else have any interesting recollections of their first Carp or their first encounter with a Commercial water. Incidentally I wonder if the Llyswen pool might have been one of the earliest such waters?

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Kingfisher
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Re: King? Carp.

Post by Kingfisher »

Catfish.017 wrote: Sat Jun 11, 2022 10:07 pm My recent post about a small Tench pool compromised by the indiscriminate stocking of a relatively large number of medium sized Carp sparked a modicum of discussion on the devalued status of modern Carp fishing and some recollection of a preferred vision of how it was, how we remember it.
I'm at a disadvantage here because by the time I had acquired the level of skill necessary to seriously try for Carp I was well on the way to becoming a dyed in the wool match angler. The 'Wildies' of the Park Lake I've written of often, eluded me for years. I think I only ever caught two of them, one, a five pounder caught in a club match.
It got me thinking about when I caught my first 'King' Carp and I really struggled to remember, but I did, eventually and actually it wasn't long after I had that Wildie, some time in the early Seventies. We had started travelling to the Wye by then and by taking a slight detour on the way home from Glasbury we could fish a pair of day ticket ponds at Llyswen courtesy of the farmer on whose land they were situated. One pond looked natural, tree girt, reasonable depth with a mixed stock including nice Roach and Chub with a few Carp. The other pool, recently dug, shallow , muddy and overstocked with little Mirror Carp. The modern commercial enthusiast would recognise this and probably would have felt at home there. However it was all very novel at the time and provided us with the opportunity to fish for our first modern strains of Carp.
But even then as I recall, I preferred to fish the other pond, often with Casters for the quality Roach and the 'bonus' Chub. So does anyone else have any interesting recollections of their first Carp or their first encounter with a Commercial water. Incidentally I wonder if the Llyswen pool might have been one of the earliest such waters?
The pool you mention is near to the one Chris Yates fished in "Casting at the Sun" known as the Dderw. I fished those pools with my Dad and one is now full of signal crayfish. Both have now been heavily ottered but there are still fish in them.
My first brush with king carp came at quarry pool in llandrindod Wells. I was 12 years old and told a friend I'd love to fish for king carp. He showed me the way to a small pool behind a council estate and it became my obsession to catch a carp from there. I was sat there one night fishing with a friend....still yet to catc a king carp, when all of a sudden the rod tip pulled over and the butt of the rod struck me on the bottom of the ear. After a short tussle I landed a pristeen conditioned common carp of 6lb and my love affair was started.

God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

Izaak Walton

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Catfish.017
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Re: King? Carp.

Post by Catfish.017 »

Interesting to see the Chris Yates connection. Would that be the pool he and his companions spotted after losing their way returning from a visit to Redmire?

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Re: King? Carp.

Post by Kingfisher »

Catfish.017 wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 9:15 am Interesting to see the Chris Yates connection. Would that be the pool he and his companions spotted after losing their way returning from a visit to Redmire?
Probably not. Chris and his Brother Nick used to work at the Royal Welsh Show, Fish Llandrindod Wells Lake and camp in the woods below the golf links in Llandrindod. They searched for information on pools which might contain carp (Usually from pub landlords) and were told of all the places Local to Llandrindod Wells. Chris did stumble upon LlynGwyn on the day he first got to see Redmire BUT he never got the chance to fish for it's carp. That was how I began writing to Chris when he asked someone who had caught the carp in a photo he'd seen. I was sent a private message asking if it were me and the rest is hisory as they say......

Was the pool you refer to in the chapter "The Bell at Byton" in Casing at the Sun? The one where the one armed fisherman sent them on a wild goose chase? :Hahaha: I like that chapter. :Hat:

Below is a small pool I look after not far from my house. Chris did fish this place although none of them knew if there were fish in it. It has carp to over 30lb in it. It's probably best that Chris didn't know or he may never have found Redmire or caught a new record.

Image

God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

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MWithell
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Re: King? Carp.

Post by MWithell »

Excuse my ignorance but how do king carp differ from wildies apart from in size? My first carp were wildies in Bushy Park, near Hampton Court, generally stalked in the margins. Didn't they motor when you hooked them...
Malcolm

Catching lob-worms is one of the greater Outdoor Sports. It is the most hilarious game in the world (John C Moore)

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Re: King? Carp.

Post by Kingfisher »

MWithell wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:26 pm Excuse my ignorance but how do king carp differ from wildies apart from in size? My first carp were wildies in Bushy Park, near Hampton Court, generally stalked in the margins. Didn't they motor when you hooked them...
King carp have a noticable bulge above their heads, are much bigger and deeper. Wild carp are much more slender fish almost chublike, built like torpedos and have the speed of a torpedo too. Hooking a wild carp on an avon rod is just about the best experience in fishing to my mind.

Wild carp

Image

Feral carp

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King carp

Image

God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

Izaak Walton

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Re: King? Carp.

Post by MWithell »

Ah thanks. So is the king carp the 'base' for all the bigger commons, mirrors etc. or have I got that wrong? Actually, I'm sure we all used lighter rods in those days. A typical carp rod had a 1.5lb test curve and handled just about anything that swam. I dragged a ten-pounder out of a reed bed a few weeks ago and there was plenty of power in the rod (a Sundridge 11' hollow glass rod probably from the late 70s/early 80s if I have my history correct. I bought that rod second hand a long time ago).
Malcolm

Catching lob-worms is one of the greater Outdoor Sports. It is the most hilarious game in the world (John C Moore)

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Re: King? Carp.

Post by Kingfisher »

MWithell wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:18 pm Ah thanks. So is the king carp the 'base' for all the bigger commons, mirrors etc. or have I got that wrong? Actually, I'm sure we all used lighter rods in those days. A typical carp rod had a 1.5lb test curve and handled just about anything that swam. I dragged a ten-pounder out of a reed bed a few weeks ago and there was plenty of power in the rod (a Sundridge 11' hollow glass rod probably from the late 70s/early 80s if I have my history correct. I bought that rod second hand a long time ago).
Yes, I think the rods are beefed up now so that you can lob your baited hook to the far margins because nobody likes to fish their own margin. Wierd eh? :Wink:

With reguard to wild carp. All strains of carp have the ability to throw their genes back to wild carp (Long slender common). The wild carp was the original carp that all others derived from. There isn't much written about their breeding or cross breeding.

This is quie an interesting read if you've got a while.

http://carpiopedia.pbworks.com/w/page/1 ... 20Part%201

http://carpiopedia.pbworks.com/w/page/1 ... 20Part%202

God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

Izaak Walton

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Cat
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Re: King? Carp.

Post by Cat »

An interesting point Kingfisher...I've never understood why anglers cast to a far bank they are able to access. I discussed this with a couple of chaps recently who where hurling lines attached to Mills grenades across the lake. When I asked why didn't they just walk around and plop it in, it was as if they'd been asked to walk into the fire!

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Re: King? Carp.

Post by JAA »

Kingfisher wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 9:34 pm
Yes, I think the rods are beefed up now so that you can lob your baited hook to the far margins because nobody likes to fish their own margin. Wierd eh? :Wink:
If you fish by your own margin you have to keep quiet and still. :Wink:
¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸,.·´¯ ><(((º>
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