Scamping, thoughts and talk

The two small club lakes, over at Marshside, are typical of many local mixed fisheries. They exist to cater for the average angler, be they pleasure, match or carp fishers, and to this end they are superb facilities. The monies generated from day ticket sales ensures that Wantsum AA is a viable club with the resources to provide safe access to all of our waters. Although the two "carp puddles" do contain a few larger specimens, these are hugely outnumbered by the hoards of lesser fish. No big deal, you pay your money and take your chance.

One of the very early carp that I caught, on m return to the hobby. At the time all I was after was
action and a bent rod; these ravenous scamps provided just the sort of sport I desired. 

Since March 15th, I have had eight visits to Homersham, the larger of the two ponds, and landed forty-one carp, just two doubles! I took sixteen of these in little over two hours on 1st April, missing as many again - just crazy! Tactics? Small cubes of wholemeal bread on the top, amidst a scattering of dog biscuits. As you can tell, this is real cutting edge stuff. From these results I am able to deduce that a:- my tactics are basically sound, b:- location isn't a major problem, there are lots of fish present, c:- I'm not fishing for big fish, d:- nothing about the situation is an indicator of angling ability, under no circumstances can this be taken seriously, therefore I must be simply fishing for enjoyment?
So how do I quantify enjoyment, as if it needs me to defend my current mind-set? Quite simple as, due to the close season,  that split cane thirty project is removed from the equation. I cast a bait with the sole purpose of catching a carp, whatever the size, and making the most out of the encounter by using tackle which is tailored to a situation where scamps dominate. Should I hook a bigger fish? Then the fun lasts a little longer, nothing more, I won't use tackle that will, in any way, jeopardise fish welfare in these encounters.

With the new season still eight weeks away I have set myself the challenge to take one hundred carp, off the surface, before I return to the serious business of the split cane thirty project. I'm not overly bothered about success, it is simply a way of remaining focused, all I want is to continue enjoying my fishing and tweaking the bait presentation as the carp wise up to this type of approach. The one massive difference with this style of angling, over my normal approach, is that I have to be constantly active, no requirement for the bite alarms or rod rests. A single rod, held at all times, my eyes providing the bite indication as a carp slurps down a small cube of wholemeal.

I'm due to give a talk at the Wantsum AA AGM, on Friday 10th May, and have started to sift through my huge collection of images in preparation for the event. The gist of the presentation will be my slant on the angling journey I've experienced and my perception of the negative effect that modern carp fishing has had on the appreciation of all other species which inhabit the freshwater environments of the UK. I suppose what I'll be attempting to highlight is the lack of requirement for an angling apprenticeship, so to speak? It won't change anything, modern angling will continue to be dominated by this blinkered approach, no matter what I say, or think! The other point that I am hoping to highlight is the future of angling, within the UK, requires the involvement of the younger generations. Angling, as a whole, has a major problem because it is failing to attract youngsters into the hobby, our club being no different to many others. The average age of those attending the work parties, is well passed retirement. At sixty-three I'm one of the youngsters! How can this situation be turned around? It's a far bigger problem than anything a single angling club can deal with, but it is an important issue which needs to be addressed by each and every one of us that derive pleasure from time spent besides the water, rods to hand. If we fail to recruit new blood then this club mentality will play no part in the carp dominated industry moving forward. Carp, an introduced alien species, are the water providers dream, they are low-level pollution resistant, thus the requirement for high quality treatment processes are lessened if the only fish that matter are able to thrive in the ecosystem. If there is no interest in other species, then who will care if the native aquatic fauna have been decimated by the legal pollution due to water companies pitiful lowering of standards, all in the name of profit?