[philB]

Dieter

Last year I fished Lough Corrib with a pal of mine and we had several trips in the company of a German guy who fishes and stays there on a regular basis, he told us of the killing policy and how all the Carp he catches are undersized .

[philB]

Originally Posted by KcDano

Yes there are plenty of people here in the states who use live bait and real critters. In Florida they once used large shiners( a type of minnow) to fish for bass, I don't know if that is still is the case or not. The nightcrawler worm has caught about every variety of freshwater fish you can think of and many people still fish with them. When anglers here fish for catfish they almost exclusively use dead bait, live bait or a prepared bait. I couldn't give you a percentage but I bet there are plenty of Muskie fisherman who use live bait, Spike might better answer that question. I guess most consider it more of a challenge to catch a fish with a artificial bait. Yes, we are privileged to have so many resources at our disposal.

Hey Dan

Them fellas fishing for cats with bait have got it all wrong. Fly fishing is the way to go, a wooly bugger on a 5wt . Just a little tip I picked up off Lincoya whilst I was in his company , glad a 30lb'er didnt grab it though.

[philB]

Spike

Tempting, tempting, very very tempting.

[philB]

Originally Posted by hazmail

Hi Phil- I will second that, I could not imagine half the U.S population sitting on the edge of a lake with those weird 20'+ 'Coarse Fishing' poles, firing corn with a slingshot, out into the lake either - This type of fishing is becoming more popular here too, can't imagine me having the patience, something you poms are renowned for. Virgin Airlines are opening up a route to the US @about $1200, which is about 1/2 what I paid, might make it again. pete

Naaaah, we got the French and Italians to thank for the 'Pole'.

[hawnjigs]

Hey Euro guys, Thanks, that was very interesting, guess I won't be planning any fishing vacations out your way. In our island(s) state there is no ocean fishing license, and I was surprised to learn you had to pay to play on the continental US when I first crossed the ocean about 6-7 years ago. However, without license fee revenue here there is no stocking program & I have never seen a game warden to enforce size/season/bag limit rules. Shoreline fishing success here therefore requires skilled, creative, and often death defying solutions.

[KcDano]

Yes, I did forget about your flyrod adventure with catfish. Gene did offer you some good advice on the flyrod fishing for cats. However, he didn't mention his real secret. That being his abillity to custom cutting a hot dog in a manner that creates a action catfish find irresistable. He is so willing to share, but won't budge on that.

[diemai]

@ King Bait Co

Don't know nothing about the PETA except that they are the natural enemies of all anglers and hunters worldwide !
May well be possible , that their head is a German , since in the wide public over here obviously the welfare of animals is considered more important than the one of humans(at least mistreated animals always generate bigger headlines as crimes , violence or even murder against senior people) !

I also can frequently read of them in local fishing magazines about having lost for one more time a lawsuit against single persons or organisations involved into fishing or hunting over here .
Their complaints and arguments are just of the most unbelieveable and foolish nature , so that no judge could follow them !

And we haven't yet lost hope , that things could also turn out better one day :

Since many years it was forbidden nationwide to keep your caught fish in a livewell net , you had(and have) to kill them instantly !
As a result , on a hot summer day you have to leave the waters edge before time , since you don't want your early day caught(and killed) fish to be rotten in the heat !
I consider this a massive impact on the planning of your rare leisure time !

But the newly reworked restrictions(2006) in the state of "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" allow such livewells again , which is evident to me , that the common sense is not entirely lost , and we hope , that other states would follow soon .

@ philB

Off course this "Kill Policy" does not allow a very good stock of fish to grow over here and also that seldom bigger fish are caught .

This German guy , that you mentioned , might as well also not have caught legal sized carp , because there is another restriction about not stocking legal sized fish anymore into the waters , so there are a lot of small ones against few big ones , the "Kill Policy" probably removed the rest inbetween !
But this really depends on each single water .

Not to forget , that big carp are pretty clever , and most likely you don't catch them just like that !

In my local waters in Hamburg you hardly catch carp without special carp gear , especially not big ones .
But they are the ones to be caught frequently from March through December , since these carp guys are the pioneers of CPR over here , and many of us predator anglers have learned our lesson and follow them nowadays , though it is still illegal !

Here is a pic , that I took on the 23rd of May , saw this guy playing this fish from the bank , when passing by with my small boat .
I went ashore to look more , and he was so happy , that I took some pics with his own camera as well , since he was alone .
Also made some shots , when he released it again , it was his PB of 38 continental pounds , so almost 42 lbs .

Why , the heck , one should kill such a beauty , the quality of its flesh would be minor anyway !
Next season it would have gained another few pounds to probably make up for someones PB again !

@ hawnjigs

Not really worth it to take a trip to fish over here , though we still have some excellent pike waters , a good share of Europes largest are still caught in German waters , but only frequently fishing natives most likely catch these trophy fish .
Only option for a tourist might be to fish the coastal waters of the Baltic in "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" . They have professional guiding there , a tourist license issue is possible and there are frequently big pike caught there at certain times of year .
But in general the numbers of fish caught over here are smaller , on good days(long time gone) over here I have caught and landed 5 or 6 legal sized pike , in other European nations ( Ireland , the Netherlands) you could maybe catch them by the dozens on excellent days !

Dieter

[diemai]

Sorry , forgot to attach picture !

[hazmail]

Diemai - What do you do with those carp, eat them???????? They are in plague proportions here (like rabbits) and usually if they are caught, the are left on the bank, for pigs etc (they taste like mud). They are undermineing the river banks here, and are destroying the native fish habitat at an alarming rate. In the larger rivers they are netted and canned for pet food (that's when the rivers have water). pete

[diemai]

@ hazmail

Different countries , different habits , hahaha .

I have heard before, that rabbits and carp have turned to a plague in Australia , since the early colonists have imported them to keep up the old British habbits of hunting and fishing , as they where used to from home .

Eating carp has a long tradition over here , the fish is originated from Asia , normally they had(and still have) scales , the one pictured here doesn't , it is a hatchery form especially bred for easier handling in the kitchen .
They first brought them to northen Germany(don't know about the rest of the country and Europe)around the years 1100 to 1200 , when christian monks had christianized the local tribes .
Due to beeing not allowed to eat meat of animals during feasting times , these monks in their monastaries started out in carp hatchery those days , and since probably the tradition goes to eat carp for Xmas or even more for New Years Eve .

But usually these hatchery carp only live for three or four years , otherwise they'd get too big for the kitchen , also their quality of flesh gets worse , when older . Usually they have 4 to 7 lbs at this stage !

They also have a better taste during the cold season , since there are not so many small particles and algiae in the water at that time of year , also the fish don't eat so much as well anymore in colder water , thus not often digging the muddy sediment anymore .

But in Australia its always warmer than in Europe , those conditions are better for them to spawn , since they need very warm water for reproduction , over here they only do in very warm years(which nowadays occur more often) .

It is always the problem with such "alien" animals brought to a place , where they don't belong , we have troubles with a sort of crabs , that got to our North Sea harbors from Asia around 100 years ago in the ballast tanks of ocean liners .

These nasty critters have by now even reached Vienna through the Danube river , they are a disease to anglers , since they eat off your bait and snap line and leader !
There are times , that you can't just put out a baitfish or worm over here , a fish never has a chance to find it on time , these crabs are there first !

I only have one solution , like for your carp and rabbit plague as well :

Sell them to Asia , they eat anything over there !

PS : In my opinion a big carp outmatches any pike in terms of playing it , once hooked .
Only bad thing is , that you sometimes have to wait for days to get one on ! Nothing for me!