River nene carp

[daveman77]

I caught 2 carp around the middle nene area today. I think the river is full of carp. What's anybody else's experience between Thrapston and oundle?

[kevtaylor]

They were in there 30 years back when my mate used to take me near to Oundle, lots of otters about so it's good to hear they are holding on strong.  I'll be doing a bit further South near Wellingborough when I can pull myself away from the lakes, by all accounts there are some there to target. 😎👍

 

[kevtaylor]

On 08/07/2023 at 21:49, daveman77 said:

I caught 2 carp around the middle nene area today. I think the river is full of carp. What's anybody else's experience between Thrapston and oundle?

You can watch Mark Pitchers do a river challenge on the Nene if not already

[yonny]

On 08/07/2023 at 21:49, daveman77 said:

I caught 2 carp around the middle nene area today. I think the river is full of carp.

The Nene is a pale shadow of what it was. Used to be loads in there, proper bigguns too. But the otters put paid to that. Having two is a real result mate, I can assure you it's not full of carp.

Well done!

[daveman77]

Thanks, I've fished mainly oundle area for last 10 years now (after the loads of carp era) but have had a quite a few, and always see signs of them in  couple of certain stretches. I have a boat moored in oundle so have a little advantage. There are definitely quite a few in the oundle area still and they seem to be thriving and hopefully on the return.

[yonny]

1 hour ago, daveman77 said:

I have a boat moored in oundle

Beautiful area. Enjoy 👌

[daveman77]

I read there was a lot of fish deaths (affecting just carp) around 2010 ish in the oundle area. Reading about old matches pre 2010 and loads of carp were caught in the matches. After 2012 they were rarely caught if ever. I suppose it's a good indication of the fish stocks in the area. Is it mainly otters? Or was there a pollution incident around that time? 

[salokcinnodrog]

7 hours ago, daveman77 said:

I read there was a lot of fish deaths (affecting just carp) around 2010 ish in the oundle area. Reading about old matches pre 2010 and loads of carp were caught in the matches. After 2012 they were rarely caught if ever. I suppose it's a good indication of the fish stocks in the area. Is it mainly otters? Or was there a pollution incident around that time? 

 

18 hours ago, yonny said:

The Nene is a pale shadow of what it was. Used to be loads in there, proper bigguns too. But the otters put paid to that. Having two is a real result mate, I can assure you it's not full of carp.

Well done!

There were decent numbers of carp in many rivers around the country.

I know in Norfolk, Suffolk and even over to Cambridgeshire areas of The Wensum, Yare, Gipping, Waveney, Great Ouse that carp were a specific target, and you could expect to catch.

 

A few causes of carp numbers going down, poaching to eat by Eastern Europeans, fish theft for other waters, predation by otters, seals even and pollution must have had an impact.

I have walked the Gipping for years, and areas where I guaranteed to see carp, I'm not, and sometimes not even chub.

If you are catching, keep it to yourself, or be very careful with backgrounds and areas.

And enjoy

[yonny]

7 hours ago, daveman77 said:

Is it mainly otters? Or was there a pollution incident around that time? 

Mainly otters, although I do seem to remember a pollution issue too. Further, a bunch of french carp (illegally imported, en-route to a lake in the valley) were dumped in there when the importer panicked when he came close to being caught. They all washed up dead, along with a bunch of originals, not far from Oundle. Parasite issues at a guess.