There is no fair comparison between carp angling in most of Europe and South Africa. We are fortunate to have plenty of water with good fish stocks and relatively low angling pressure. Most of Europe is a different scenario altogether and big carp fishing as a whole is very different to SA in terms of the venues, the organisation of the sport, the number of dedicated carp anglers etc.
Question: if the only big carp to fish for in the country were all "known" fish, all with names having been caught several times (but not "weekly" as Biks suggests, that's not accurate), would you stop fishing for carp? I know I wouldn't. Criticizing or laughing at European carp anglers for the aforementioned reasons only shows lack of understanding of the sport in those parts of the world. And, as mentioned, in many ways it's not directly comparable with SA carp fishing.
I'm not attacking anyone here, I just think there's a lot of misinformed / ill informed opinions being shared by anglers that have not taken the time to investigate the true reasons behind parts of the sport that may seem ridiculous at face value.
I spent a couple of years in my late teens fishing the Cape streams with 1 weight fly rods for 10" brown trout, all of which had been caught plenty times before and many of which I could have named if I was so inclined, as I'd seen the same fish on virtually every outing. Does that make fly fishing in the Cape laughable?
I practice many different forms of angling, big carp fishing, or "specimen fishing" as some people like to call it, being one of those. I find it equally pathetic that some anglers would fly in the face of a stranger for not using a landing mat as the opening post of this thread, calling carp anglers names and making unfounded blanket statements about carp anglers in general. What I always find interesting though is how for every so-called "specimen angler" talking about carp care, there's at least one non-carp angler who likes to ridicule carp anglers and seem to think carp anglers should justify their beliefs and actions.
If someone like the person who started this thread took a minute to get to know the sport and the people who are serious about practicing it without prejudice and generalizations, you would be amazed to find that serious carp anglers are a pretty good bunch in general. The danger with social media and forums is you don't know who you're speaking to and often times the person crying carp care or talking about dropping tons of feed and so forth has never seen a big carp in his life and ends up being taken as an example of big carp anglers.
As for me, I will continue to fish for the carp of my dreams and when I land it I'll happily continue to ignore the criticism and ridicule of those who don't understand my passion for big carp angling. For those who share my passion, I advise you to do the same.
