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It is quite simple really - fish the thousands of free public waters and rivers in France which offer much more of a challenge and fun than paid for armchair fishing.

Interesting comment - would you care to elaborate? The problem is not restricted to the Lot. Even much further South, thieves are actively stealing carp from easily accessible public water. Thanks to concerned anglers like Guy something is being done but a lot of damage has already been caused. When I am out I like to make my views known to anyone who comes near my swim.

No secret Newmarket, even less so (at least in France) the vast numbers of fish moved from public waters to stock private carp venues here in France itself, both before and after the change to the environmental laws in 2006 that made this practice illegal. Cheesed off....putting it lightly Gagnaccarp...although perhaps today the Lot is less of a target than it once was, for a variety of reasons. The very fact that so many fish have been removed over the last 20 yrs, inevitably with a high proportion of the more easily caught carp being moved, means that catching many of the remaining carp has become harder. Recent studies have shown that the mirror carp population is ageing rapidly, with far fewer mirror carp fry making it to adult weights, whereas the hardier common fry are able in most stretches to come through and maintain a healthy population structure. Many of the large mirrors in the river today originate from stockings made after a major pollution event in 1986 (zinc and cadmium). These fish are now around 30 yrs old. After the "emergency" stockings very little in the way of new blood was introduced into the Lot since. The Federation are however now starting to take the carp population a little more seriously and for the last two years they have been adding small batches of 3 yr old mirrors to try and rebalance the stocks. They have also put into place a short term programme over the next three years to add again small numbers to all the stretches where an ageing population of mirrors has been identified and more homoeopathic doses, to add a little extra new blood in others. Hopefully the new carp will be able to live out the rest of their lives in the river, unlike so many of their predecessors. The Lot may be less targeted by fish thieves than it once was, but it is still very much going on. Increased vigilance by local anglers and the authorities and a campaign to inform home owners on the banks of the river, of the problem and who to contact in case of suspicious behaviour may well help to further minimise the numbers lost..lets hope so. Today the problem with fish thefts from public waters is far greater in other areas of France....rather unsurprisingly these are centred upon the areas with a high density of private carp lakes.