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Only my opinion


Guest Swamptrout

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you cant call an entire nationality bad anglers, there may be a mindset that needs educating or legislating, but it happens all over the globe, do your best to put it right lads, good anglers should come together not fight, form syndicates of the like minded, create pressure groups and influence legislation, don't give up , correct the wrongs.

Very good post young man :wink:

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As the person that both made the video and the comments, my point is that every time I go fishing there is a fresh load of crap in the swim and a couple of aussie banksticks (snappped off twigs pushed in to the ground) and to clarify, when I say crap I mean literally, I walked in to the swim once with my wife and there was literally a massive turd laying in the middle of the area with a pile of toilet paper on top of it. Keep in mind that the place is surrounded by bush and hence if someone was caught short, it would only have been a 10 metre walk to put it in an area that nobody would have ever known about. The reason i said "aussie anglers" is that every ex pat catch and release angler I know of over here has the greatest respect for the fish they catch and the surroundings they fish in. Where as most of the angling I see being demonstrated by Australians shows little respect for anything. Lip grips, letting fish lay on the bottom of a red hot metal tinny or straight on to gravel or whatever the bank is made up of. (and thats on the TV programs) then look at the waterways bottles/cans/food wrappers/turds/shopping trolleys you name it I've found it. including set lines on 30lb plus mono with massive hooks that I found because I was attached to it because the hook had gone in to my ankle. please note that I wasn't wading, this was whilst I was on dry land. once I removed the hook, i followed the line to the nearest tree and found three other lines set in the water as well.

 

The blogs I make are to promote responsible catch and release angling and appreciation and care for the fish I catch and the surroundings that I am in when conducting that angling, If I find that anyone doesn't share those values then I will do my best to educate them as to why I think they are wrong. Sorry that you didn't enjoy the video. 

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Thats a good post Luke and i'm sure that the video blog was made in the bestest of intentions and obviously SOME "anglers" of all nationalities could do with being educated to a point but you cant blame some aussies for getting the 'ump .

 

Im sure it wasnt your intention but your original post COULD have been misconstrued as tarring all Aussies with the same brush .

 

Its as bad over here in places mate :wink:

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Mate, come to Australia and watch some of the angling programs, or try and tell someone that you are a carp fisherman who practices catch and release (which is perfectly legal in NSW where I am) and you will soon see that it is more than "some" that need educating.  The attitude towards fish in general, fish care and the environment is largely appalling and the attitude towards Carp is best summed up as hatred (which is still putting it mildly) If pointing that out upsets some, sorry, but it needs saying. 

 

I know what you mean about some places in the UK mate, I lived there for 30 years, but I promise you, the attitudes over here are like nothing I've seen or heard before.and are far more widespread than a "few" :wink:

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I think that the Aussies ( not ex-pats ) that post on here do the catch & release thing dont they Luke ?

If so its them that need to spread the word . The culprits are more likely to take notice of them than what they consider to be a Pom :)

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I've seen many a good pike left on the banks, the only predator it could have been is human; no bite marks etc..

 

I agree with above comments that it's the culture, carp are considered a problem over there.

 

The one mans junk is anothers prize rule applies. We are entitled to our own opinion, rightly or wrongly.

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If I'm honest, I don't know how many of the "aussies" that post on here are "aussies" :wink:  Technically I'm an Australian, But of the 40 plus "carp anglers" I know of in Australia, only a handful (like less than five) are Australians, the rest are ex somewhere UK, Poland, South African, French.

 

If someone hasn't experienced the widespread "australian" fishing mentality, it's hard to explain. Most that you meet, honestly can't understand why on earth would you want to go fishing for a trash fish that you can't eat if you manage to catch one? whats the point??? (I've toned that language down from what they would actually say) It's not there fault, the government has blamed the state of the waterways on carp for years and hence a large number of anglers see "caring for the waterways" as trying to kill as many "mud pigs" as they can, any impact that the angler has whilst doing that is not of concern as man is not the issue, it is the carp to blame. Its the strangest attitude :confused:  I mean some of the crimes that carp are apparently guilty of are 

 

Digging in to the banks to eat the roots of gum trees (despite it being plain as the nose on your face that the erosion is caused by the V8 wakeboats that are going down the river)

 

Causing algal blooms (despite the fact that the waters of one of the most important river systems in Australia have been polluted massively with fertilisers from farm lands upstream that use such a volume of the rivers water that the flow has been reduced to a standstill)

 

In fact I genuinely read a government study the other day that was suggesting that carp were a problem, because in a shallow natural lagoon that the government were pumping full of raw sewage, the PPM of sewage in the water decreased once they removed heaps of carp, as the carps movements were stirring up the sewage. Now lets think about that for a moment, It's the carps fault that the sewage in the water is above acceptable levels (ACCEPTABLE LEVELS!!!!!! :roll: ) How about you don't pump a natural lagoon full of raw sewage in the first place!

 

In regard to leaving Australia, I genuinely think its a fantastic place to live and offers great opportunities for my kids. I don't like the attitude or propaganda that exists in regard to my hobby, but thats ok, I created my blog to promote the responsible catch and release angling of carp and appreciation of my surroundings, If i can get one angler to treat take his rubbish home and even better, understand the futility of killing a carp. Then I will be satisfied that the blogs have made a difference. We all don't like things about where we live, it's just our job to articulate what and why we don't like that thing so as to hopefully change it. :wink:   

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Sounds like here Luked, which has got a lot (imo) to do with the state of our waterways and general attitude.

 

In fact I genuinely read a government study the other day that was suggesting that carp were a problem, because in a shallow natural lagoon that the government were pumping full of raw sewage, the PPM of sewage in the water decreased once they removed heaps of carp, as the carps movements were stirring up the sewage. Now lets think about that for a moment, It's the carps fault that the sewage in the water is above acceptable levels (ACCEPTABLE LEVELS!!!!!! :roll: ) How about you don't pump a natural lagoon full of raw sewage in the first place!

 

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I think things are slowly improving here, 10 years ago I ventured out to catch and release Carp with more than a bit of trepidation, but now I actually don't mind if someone comes to ask what I'm up to, whereas before I was always on red alert for a conflict, there are still some that you are going to have a "lively debate" with, but they are generally the ill prepared bogan type and they don't hang around once shot down in flames. 

 

The other positive thing is that I've noticed those who hate Carp the most are generally the ones that know the least about them and are the least capable of catching them - because they believe the hearsay and old wives tales that are constantly regurgitated about Carp - before I started to fish the water I'm on now I made a point of walking around it and asking anyone I saw fishing if there were any Carp in there, I was told they were all gone and hadn't been seen for at least 10 years. 

 

So you can imagine the glee when I caught my first 20, which was followed by many more mid and high 20's then 30's then a 40, Carp were all gone 10 years ago, gold :wink:

 

atb,

 

Chris

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We keep things pretty secure down here, I'd never dream of disclosing a water and we're always really careful with photo's, its a shame really but that's the way it has to be for the time being. I'm pretty sure Australia has the potential to produce a big one or two, my humble pb's are really just a small ripple on the surface of the potential out there, I have lost 2 really big Carp in the last few years.

 

atb,

 

Chris

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I saw that, very sad, I think there's some debate as to if it was caught and killed, or natural causes then taken from the water by a fox, either way a very sad end for an awesome looking Carp.

I think something like that happening to one of your known Carp is the worst thing and something we all dread. 

 

Chris

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  • 1 month later...

That's an intriguing angle, out of curiosity do you think that Carp and native fish can't coexist? It seems as though people in Australia always associate Carp with degraded water ways and blame them directly for the degradation, when the truth is that humans and water mismanagement did the damage before Carp were even here, that is especially the case around Parramatta, the problem waters face around Parramatta is Parramatta itself.

 

I have just witnessed one of the saddest episodes I've ever had in my angling life, the water I've spent the last 4 years on - which happens to be one of the best Bass fisheries - has been completely destroyed by a chemical spill, not only were there big Carp and Bass, some of the catfish were the biggest I've ever seen, as were the mullet. There were also quite a lot of smaller but equally precious fish to numerous to list.

 

People can blame Carp all they want, but the truth is only man can completely sterilize a river of all aquatic life and leave 6 tons of fish belly up rotting in the sun.

 

Chris

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