[StokeBloke]

I managed to catch bits of Fishomania at Cudmore on Sky yesterday and was a little surprised at the fishcare.In a world where most carp anglers go to great lenghts to ensure the safety of fish with unhooking mats,keeping the fish wet,applying treatment to hookholds etc I surprised to see how badly the fish were treated live on TV.Every half hour each anglers catch was weighed and basically their keepnet was tipped onto one unhooking mat,bearing in mind many of these nets contained several fish upto 6lb,resulting in fish flapping around on the gravel,and the keepnets were sometimes tipped up from a foot off the mat.Personally I just thought more care wouldn't have gone a miss considerating the live TV audience.

[Callum91]

i was thinking the exact same thing whilst watching it mate, it was terrible.. ripping big barbel and medium sized carp out the water without a care in the world

[oliver reed]

Thats the problem with modern match fishing- as specimen anglers targetting carp we as a whole, barring a percentage as ever, tend to give our quarry some tlc when we catch them.

'Hardcore' match anglers however merely see the poor f1 types thrown into a farmers would be swimming pool known loosely as a fishery as a potential cash payout. Speed is the key factor, not fish care. Believe it or not, what you've seen on tv is an improvement on what used to go on- hundreds of pounds of carp were crammed into inadequate sized keepnets on hot days to suffer damage or worse...

Nowadays many fisheries show a modicum of concern for their stock, probably due to the rising costs of replacing 'fodder' for the next days match.

The problem with commercial carp fisheries is that the species, ie carp, put up a good scrap when hooked. Great if you're pleasure fishing on a rod n line, not so when you're in a rush to land the fish and put back out for the next bite. Because of this, matchmen have a tendancy to 'skull' the carp in which is hardly beneficial, but a lively four pounder once netted stands a very good chance of flapping and being dropped.

A 4oz roach however is a different subject-general coarse fish don't fight as hard, therefore come in quicker and behave more whilst being unhooked. But come winter time your local canal will be harder than a coffin nail to get results on, whereas the overstocked venues such as Crudmore offer good 'sport' all year round. This obviously appeals to matchmen more hence their popularity.

I think fishing for bigger fish with a pole during matches should be outlawed personally, fish care and matches hardly go hand in hand on many waters. But I guess thats the price the poor carp have to pay for becoming so darned popular...

I bet the roach n perch love the lack of attention though...

[kevw]

Maybe we come from a time when match fishing was done on the river or canal, when a double figure net of dace, bleak, roach or gudgeon was the target and not fish stocked into a muddy puddle. A chub or tench was a bonus, and a carp was unheard of

Not too much skill or watercraft on show yesterday IMO, catching carp and barbel in a muddy puddle isn't angling.

Ivan Marks must be spinning

[oliver reed]

Originally Posted by kevw

Ivan Marks must be spinning

I didn't know he used to be into pike fishing too Kev?

Agree with what you're saying though, the whole art of caster/hemp/breadpunch fishing has been wiped out in favour of fishing with cat meat and pellets that need breast pumping before use...

Why these commercials can't concentrate on stocking good numbers of silverfish I really don't know, I bet a lot of the old school match anglers who've had to basically 'evolve or die' are pig sick of carp in general, walked the dog down the canal a few weeks back and was amazed how empty of 'bit bashers' it was which seems a real shame when carp fisheries a busting at the seams...

[Deano]

You cant go wrong on these fisheries, just seems like who has the best free bait deal catches the most.I bet you could get through 10kg of pellet in a 'good' sesh. I have a few relatives who come fishing with me now and again.I am going with one next week the possibility of a blank fills them with dread as one of them even blanked on a pretty easy fishery the last time out.

Just seems everybody wants to bag up for little effort, just a sign of the times I suppose. Give me one 20 from a moderate low stock water over 10 x 100lb bags from these places anytime, just seems not everybody is the same. I know match anglers that hate carp anglers and carp and this is even on waters that I wouldnt class as prolific, they seem to blame heavy bait usage with them being crap on the waggler....

[StokeBloke]

Originally Posted by oliver reed

Why these commercials can't concentrate on stocking good numbers of silverfish I really don't know

Dunna get me started on the Barbel situation at Cudmore

[oliver reed]

Originally Posted by StokeBloke

Dunna get me started on the Barbel situation at Cudmore

Thats as wrong as 'stocking' zebra in Delamere forest...

[kevw]

Can't remember how long ago it must be since I saw a match on the Leeds-Liverpool near where I live. As kids we used to walk the banks watching the nationals, guys struggling to catch on size 26's and bloodworm as hookbait.

Used to go and scrape bloodworm with the old man from the River Douglas, then filtering them from the silt through a pair of nylons

[oliver reed]

Originally Posted by kevw

Can't remember how long ago it must be since I saw a match on the Leeds-Liverpool near where I live. As kids we used to walk the banks watching the nationals, guys struggling to catch on size 26's and bloodworm as hookbait.

Used to go and scrape bloodworm with the old man from the River Douglas, then filtering them from the silt through a pair of nylons

Jeez I nearly misread that then, had this image of you thigh deep in water with a bucket wearing fishnet tights...

I guess the challenge of trying to hook half a joker on a size 30 hook after a night on the lash in -3 degrees at 7am with numb sausage fingers after a twenty minute trek down't cut with a heavy ASI seat box just isn't deemed 'fun' for match anglers any more just to catch 150 roach/gudgeon/skimmers and weigh in 12oz... can't think why...

And they laugh at us carp anglers in our bivvies with bacon butties,comfy bedchairs and 'vd' players...alarm clock beeping,wakey wakey....nescafe...insert nose....sniff....can you smell it?

[kevw]

Maybe that's why I stopped fishing the canal and started tying 15lb hooklinks to size 6 hooks

Probably explains why I haven't caught a gudgeon for a long time as well

[CamoCarper]

What channel was this fishomania on ???

[Basil Fawlty]

Itv

[oliver reed]

????

[CamoCarper]

Originally Posted by oliver reed

????

whats that ?? was that not the right channel ??