Angling Lines blog

One of our owners, Dagan at Oakwood asked me the following question;

We want to have a net dip on site.  Obviously there are many different ways of making up net dips but are you able to let me know of what any of your other venues are using in France?

I sent the question out to all our lake owners & here’s a selection of the responses… I must admit I’ve been surprised at the range of views;

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We find the safest way is to provide the net heads and the anglers bring their own handles this eliminates the use of net dips. But if you do need a good disinfectant Malachite Gold is the one to use.

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Best way is permanganate de potassium.  Easy, cheap and the most effective.

You put a small amount of powder in a 200l tank and dip what you want for few minutes.

I use it to dip ill fish and have saved several.  It kills mushrooms, bacteria’s, parasites etc.

A very small quantity of powder is needed for hundred litres of water. A kilo will last years.

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There is no need for dips !!!

Just make sure all nets are bone dry for 48 hours and there is no need for dips in our experience.

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by Ian Gemson
The most important aspect of carp fishing, and possibly the one that gets overlooked the most, is bankside carp care. People spend thousands of pounds on the best rods, sparkly reels and expensive alarms and then buy small unhooking mats and inappropriate landing nets. We need to ensure the fish we catch are returned back to the water in excellent condition, suffering the least amount of stress or damage so that these fish can be caught and admired again by other anglers.

Before you cast your rods out into the lake you should set up your carp care kit. Being prepared to handle and treat carp once caught means that you never leave a carp unattended on the bank.

Let’s start with the landing net; a 42” or larger net with a deep and soft mesh is the least you should have. Make sure the net has a fine mesh as this will prevent the carp’s front pectoral fins from catching in the mesh whilst it is being landed. The landing net should also have removable arms which will make carrying the carp to the unhooking mat much easier.

A large deeply padded unhooking mat is essential to protect the carp as they are naturally buoyant in water and do not feel their own weight. Once out of water they feel every ounce, so a soft unhooking mat helps protect their body from damage, as and when they begin to struggle. Place the mat on flat even ground staying

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The theme of fish weights has come up in a number of articles on this blog over the last few months, we even have a video with Quest Baits boss Shaun H. running through the technique. Below is an article by Jon Perkins a French lake owner and regular contributor to the comments part of this blog. He brings up some interesting points on the way fish weights are recorded.

By Jon Perkins
Being a fishery owner changes your perspective on carp fishing, there are many reasons for this, but here I will outline one of them..
I get to see in the course of a year, anglers of all levels and abilities, here at our French Fishery. we are happy to accommodate people who are fairly new to carp fishing, as well as experienced anglers. When we have somewhat less experienced anglers on the lake, I do feel the need to keep an eye on things/offer help and advice more than when we have people who are obviously well practised at carp fishing. For me the condition of the fish is one the most important factors in running a lake, and all our customers have commented on the excellent condition of the fish here. Nobody wants to see fish with torn mouths or damage to their bodies. continue reading…

By Paul Cooper

Carp fishing has come on leaps and bounds over the past 20 years with carp care being at the forefront of the conscientious carp angler.
Even the sacking of carp is slowly decreasing with a more carp fisheries, banning the sack altogether. This has come about as a result of the occasional angler abusing the carp sack, by retaining a carp well beyond a safe period and causing unnecessary stress in doing so. The answer to this is in self photography which I have covered in a previous blog.

It’s stressful enough for the carp being hooked and brought to the bank then netted, so lets make the time it spends on the bank has comfortable as possible.
Before you even cast a line out, prepare your fishing area to receive a captured fish.
These steps may appear straight forward but they are necessary.

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Following on from Paul Cooper’s excellent piece on how to weigh a carp correctly, I filmed Quest Baits boss Shaun Harrison this summer where he runs through the correct technique for weighing fish for the camera.