Fish sizes

Naruto

Naruto

Sealiner
Hi Guy!

I know most of us support catch and release. And I also believe that we must respect the fish as there won't be any fishing without them. My question is mostly related to carp and crasscarp.

Which sizes of fish would you say are recommended to be released? I have heard a lot of people saying that it is good to take out the smaller fish as this allows for more food for the bigger fish. And of course you shouldn't keep or kill fish if you are not going to use it. Say I catch a 5kg common, would I get lynched if I took it home to my Aunt who loves eating freshwater fish?
I know dams like Rietvlei asks that all fish above a certain size be released, but what are your feelings in regard to size to be released.

Hope to hear from as many anglers as possible please. Maybe we have some experts on ecosystems etc. who might give us an insight into this matter as well.
 
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eenklip

New member
Ek gooi alles bo 3.0kg terug en sal dan net so een of twee hou van so 2kg vir ons tuin en huishulp. Dit is elke een se keuse maar ek se dan vat eerder 2 van 2kg huistoe en laat die een van 5kg gaan. Ek dink net moet nie vis dood maak wat nie gebruik gaan word nie.:wfish
 
Naruto

Naruto

Sealiner
Ek stem saam met jou Eenklip. Ek gooi gewoonlik als terug. By die vaaldam is die graskarp 'n bietjie van n pes deesdae. Ek sal dan eerder n paar sub-1kg graskarp terugbring as iemand my vra. Wat ek eintlik vra is waar mens die lyn moet trek. Ek hou glad nie daarvan om vis te hou nie. Ek het al vir mense gese ek het niks gevang nie al het ek 40 vis gevang.
 
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gt40

Senior Member
sover ek verstaan moet al die gras karpe wat gevang word vrek gemaak word.

ek sal alles onder 7kg uit haal.rede daar is hope van hulle en min mooi vis
 
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T-r-o-m-p-i-e

New member
Well I would say that all fish needs to be released.

The reason for this is if you have a 100 anglers at a venue all keeping the fish under say 8kg (Stated is Tight Lines) soon the venue is going to run out of smaller fish and people are going to struggle to fish.

Also how is the fish that is currenlty sitting at 8kg going to grow up to become a say a 20kg fish if there is no more bigger fish due to some idiot's taking out the big fish to have it stuffed for his bar, and then before you know it no more fish.
 
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Sukkel maar

Senior Member
I release all fish , but I also heard that grass carps should be killed if you take them out. I know for myself they are a huge pest.
 
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gt40

Senior Member
do you really know what going on in a dam?????????female carp lays between 100 000 and a 1 000 000 eggs.

a dam needs management when there are carp in.why do you think bloemhof and similar places only produces small fish.the big fish are there just small fish feeds more often.

if more big fish an less small fish the big fish will grow nice and will c them more often.

i have been involved with a special program doing surveys in cpt.at zeekoeivlei  every catches 1-3kg but thought there are only a few big fish, wrong just the other way around.big fish dont hang out with small fish. there are more 8kg fish in that  you will be surprise  
 
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Wernerh

Senior Member
I release all the fish I catch. Carp, Muddies, Barbel, Bass, Yellowfish etc. I am also interested to know what to do with the grass carps. I fish mainly at Vaaldam, and the Grass carp are just pests.
 
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gt40

Senior Member
kill them.and donate them as food to the poor.they got a purpose atleast.it will make some ones day

 

 
 
200ts

200ts

Senior Member
Hi Naruto. Yes i do support catch and release, but i am one of the few i guess that likes to eat carp. Prepared the right way its not bad. I do not take all the fish i catch home I will take one carp of 2 -3kg if i want to eat. Anything bigger goes back after a quick pic. If i am looking to catch a barbel, i might keep one of between 500g to 1kg for bait Thats about it. U know what gets me is, the competitions they have at chelmsford at the zones. that place is packed competition time, and normally its fished overnight, and im sure every fish caught is kept and weighed. Anyways in my opinion, Bass is a good eating fish.
 
Marthin

Marthin

Sealiner
GT40 same thing we disagreed on last time. If you catch bass in an open river system i feel it should be taken to the hereafter/dispatched/killed. If i'm fishing a private venue as i intend to do at ur place by all means catch and release or keep to the regulation of the venue.

I read a piece last night by an angler that's very much against the proposed killing of the "alien species", but at the end of it he says, "we can always import more bass, carp and trout, we can not import more yellowfish"

There are bigger dangers to our water than the alien species, but every bit helps. Same would definately go for catfish in the western cape.
 
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gt40

Senior Member
where do you go and fetch the bull again.you are changing the whole discussion.this was not aimed at what you started
 
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MadCarper

Sealiner
guys, its only a discussion, so lets not spoil it... Naruto is asking about carp mainly, so lets go with that.

Naruto, most dams contain a massive amount of carp, most of them small. I dont think we have to be worried about the smaller carp being wiped out at a dam, by anglers taking them out... as gt40 pointed out, every year millions of eggs are laid during spawning, so each year a new "batch" of small carp... what more proof does one need that the Bloemhof dam netting? How many 100's of tons have they netted over the last few years, yet the fishing has been described by many to have improved since the netting program...

There will always be small carp to be caught, and plenty of them, but personally I release everything over 8kg...

When I joined Sealine I got a beating from Ryan and some of the other environmentalists on here about this subject...lol. So I looked around for some proper scientific books on carp, but eish, some of them cost over R2000! a pity because I think its in carp anglers' interest to know their quarry... not just for success at the water, but also for conservation's sake...
 
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Carpfinder18

Senior Member
But specimen angling is carp right? So do we only target common carp, mirror carp? So grass carps are carp right? So why arnt we targeting grass carp aswell as i understand they a pest but im sure a nice size grass carp will be nice! And on catch and release the way i see it is if we kill all the small carp obviously the bigger carp get old and they the 1s that spawn so if they get old and die and all the small carp are killed there will be no carp? Or am i wronge? Thats the way i see it! And all carp are nice to me so grass carp or what ever any carp is nice to me! If i catch a nice size grass carp like a 15kg ill be happy! I realease all my carp from 100grams to what ever size! Its my 2c
 
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MadCarper

Sealiner
Generally grass carp are very difficult to catch, or shall I say large grass carp. Normally you only catch them when their natural food in a dam runs out and they are basically forced to eat anglers baits... otherwise they are not that catchable... I think the reason why ppl are saying kill any grass carp hat you catch is because they can breed at an alarming rate, and they can totally destroy the plant life of a dam. So they are actually a much bigger threat to auqatic life/other species that use the vegetation to breed and hide etc... Catching big grass carp is great too, I had my 17kg a year or so ago and it was a great experience...and it was in my opinion a unique experience because you dont normally catch such big ones...

Carpfinder, its impossible that there will be a situation where all small carp are removed from a dam... and big carp will continue to spawn every year... when a big carp reaches a certain size/age it will stop spawning yes, but there will always be a younger carp taking its place... It never stops.

Let me give you an example that might help... Donaldson Top Lake is a mecca for big carp fishing... their carp are anything from 12kg to say 22kg... every year or 2 they remove all carp under 12kg (I stand corrected on the minimum size), but a year or so later the small carp are back! I think ppl should rather worry about a dam becoming so overpopulated with small carp that none of them grow, and it becomes impossible to catch anything of decent size. Take out the larger breeding carp and watch it happen.
 
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