Benson is Dead....

[Andip]

Sad news from Bluebell Lakes in the UK where Benson the 64lb Common Carp has died aged 25.

I had the pleasure of actually seeing her caught a couple of years back & she was the biggest fish I had ever seen.

Big loss for the Bluebell complex too I would imagine as people came from miles around to try for her.

[stevoman]

a fine fish alright. i never caught a carp before.

[Zzippy]

Meh. Once you've caught a wild porbeagle shark, catching a fat human-fed stockie thats been caught so many times before its nearly on first name terms with anglers is not that interesting...

Tbh the growth in carp fishing in the UK is IMO a bad thing, anglers aren't happy anymore with catching wild fish, they just want to catch big fish, whether they're stocked or not.

[stevoman]

Originally Posted by Zzippy

Tbh the growth in carp fishing in the UK is IMO a bad thing, anglers aren't happy anymore with catching wild fish, they just want to catch big fish, whether they're stocked or not.

carp is fishing is BIG business in england. and its not only the coarse crowd that are on the bandwagon. they are rearing rainbows over 30lb over there too.

england is different to here anyways. they dont have the freedoms to fish river like we do without having to go to a massive amount of heartache before you can get into an angling club on a river and then you also have the tweed wearing gentry who buy up miles of river so that rich people can only fish exclusivly to deal with.

anyhow is only going to get bigger and bigger over there. its only times like this i am glad to be an irishman. ( until i take a walk down to the polluted barrow that is starved of good wild trout and full of "fishermen" who want to pull everything but the kitchen sink out of and wish i lived in the uk!)

[Andip]

Originally Posted by stevoman

england is different to here anyways. they dont have the freedoms to fish river like we do without having to go to a massive amount of heartache before you can get into an angling club on a river and then you also have the tweed wearing gentry who buy up miles of river so that rich people can only fish exclusivly to deal with.

Don't hold you're breath...my favourite stretch of the Blackwater in Fermoy, Cork has just been 'claimed' by a Salmon & Trout Club & all access to course fishing has been blocked..........

[stevoman]

Originally Posted by Andip

Don't hold you're breath...my favourite stretch of the Blackwater in Fermoy, Cork has just been 'claimed' by a Salmon & Trout Club & all access to course fishing has been blocked..........

ouch! sorry to hear that!

[Zzippy]

Originally Posted by stevoman

carp is fishing is BIG business in england. and its not only the coarse crowd that are on the bandwagon. they are rearing rainbows over 30lb over there too.

england is different to here anyways. they dont have the freedoms to fish river like we do without having to go to a massive amount of heartache before you can get into an angling club on a river and then you also have the tweed wearing gentry who buy up miles of river so that rich people can only fish exclusivly to deal with.

anyhow is only going to get bigger and bigger over there. its only times like this i am glad to be an irishman. ( until i take a walk down to the polluted barrow that is starved of good wild trout and full of "fishermen" who want to pull everything but the kitchen sink out of and wish i lived in the uk!)

Yeah, I realise the situation in England, but they also have a lot more canals and coarse water than we do. My real problem with the upsurge in carp angling is how Irish anglers have bought into it, and carp have been stocked (irresponsibly) in many waters here. I once had a discussion with a senior guy in the Irish carp club, and he was actually of the opinion that it was ok to stock carp anywhere, didn't give a whit about the consequences. Wasn't too impressed when told the local fishery board here would exterminate any carp it found illegally stocked in any water

Originally Posted by Andip

Don't hold you're breath...my favourite stretch of the Blackwater in Fermoy, Cork has just been 'claimed' by a Salmon & Trout Club & all access to course fishing has been blocked..........

Ouch, that sucks! How did they 'claim' it? Was there a previous club, or have they leased it from the owner?

[Andip]

Originally Posted by Zzippy

Ouch, that sucks! How did they 'claim' it? Was there a previous club, or have they leased it from the owner?

Dunno yet - all a bit cloak & dagger, but new "no fishing" signs have gone up & according to the local course club, they think that they have paid a wadge of cash to a local farmer....

[Zzippy]

Originally Posted by Andip

Dunno yet - all a bit cloak & dagger, but new "no fishing" signs have gone up & according to the local course club, they think that they have paid a wadge of cash to a local farmer....

Might be worth checking with the local fisheries board to see if they know who owns the fishing rights. Sometimes farmers think they do but they don't, and have no rights to enter any such deals. Have a similar problem up here, a club put up signs and had an agreement with landowners, but turns out the landowners didn't own the fishing...