# Angler lands one of world’s largest goldfish in French lake



## erwin123 (22 Nov 2022)

Angler lands one of world’s largest goldfish in French lake
					

Andy Hackett catches the Carrot, elusive 30kg leather carp-koi hybrid released into fishing lake 20 years ago




					www.theguardian.com
				




Wow I would have thought it was photoshop except that it was in the Guardian and its not April Fools


----------



## Wookii (22 Nov 2022)

It does look a weird colour on  a Leather Carp.

Funny how they incorrectly refer to it as a Goldfish though. There are a fair few ornamental carp or common/leather/mirror carp and ornamental carp hybrids in European lakes these days:












Then there are naturally occurring Golden Tench:





Or a Golden Orfe (almost a goldfish):


----------



## plantnoobdude (22 Nov 2022)

Perhaps a bit off topic and a long shot given what forum we are on. But does anyone here enjoy fishing?
Recently been quite enjoying the bass down in Portsmouth🙂 off the top on lures, they go mad!


----------



## Wookii (22 Nov 2022)

plantnoobdude said:


> Perhaps a bit off topic and a long shot given what forum we are on. But does anyone here enjoy fishing?
> Recently been quite enjoying the bass down in Portsmouth🙂 off the top on lures, they go mad!



I do - or rather used to pre-kids - I don't get the time now, but will return to it when the kids are older and more self sufficient. Nothing in my life has ever been able to calm my soul quite like a summers day spent knee deep in a river, surrounded by nature, trotting a stick float in the flow.


----------



## plantnoobdude (22 Nov 2022)

Wookii said:


> I do - or rather used to pre-kids - I don't get the time now, but will return to it when the kids are older and more self sufficient. Nothing in my life has ever been able to calm my soul quite like a summers day spent knee deep in a river, surrounded by nature, trotting a stick float in the flow.


Never gone river fishing to be honest! All the rules and such just scare me… permit this permit that water wanderers permit… I’d love to start, but it just has me a bit overwhelmed!


----------



## Wookii (22 Nov 2022)

plantnoobdude said:


> Never gone river fishing to be honest! All the rules and such just scare me… permit this permit that water wanderers permit… I’d love to start, but it just has me a bit overwhelmed!



All that you need is a rod licence (Buy a rod fishing licence). If the river bank is operated by a club/fishery you can usually buy a day ticket on the bank (if its even policed), but always worth checking.


----------



## John q (22 Nov 2022)

plantnoobdude said:


> But does anyone here enjoy fishing?


Used to do a lot of coarse fishing, and then... well life and the kids take over. For the last few years I've been dabbling in fly fishing, although I don't get out as much as I'd like. 

Agree with wookii, a few hours alone by the waters edge is soooo relaxing.


----------



## plantnoobdude (22 Nov 2022)

John q said:


> Used to do a lot of coarse fishing, and then... well life and the kids take over. For the last few years I've been dabbling in fly fishing, although I don't get out as much as I'd like.
> 
> Agree with wookii, a few hours alone by the waters edge is soooo relaxing.


Never done fly fishing! Seems I should try it some time.


----------



## Garuf (22 Nov 2022)

How big is the biggest (actual) goldfish?


----------



## Wookii (22 Nov 2022)

Garuf said:


> How big is the biggest (actual) goldfish?








						carps up 5 kg >> Carassius auratus
					

Records and photos of the 500 largest freshwater fishes worldwide. The first database that includes all large freshwater fish worldwide! Official and informal world records of freshwater fishes.




					www.fishing-worldrecords.com
				









A bit over 7lb - hard to know if they are a pure species and not a hybrid though by the looks of it.


----------



## castle (22 Nov 2022)

Garuf said:


> How big is the biggest (actual) goldfish?


Carassius auratus, gets to about 50cm, but I’m sure there are bigger out there than has been recorded.


----------



## Yugang (23 Nov 2022)

John q said:


> a few hours alone by the waters edge is soooo relaxing


Agree, water is amazing and relaxing. I am just not so sure if the fish enjoy this hobby.


----------



## tiger15 (23 Nov 2022)

It's not a goldfish, but a gold carp.  Goldfish are mutant, with double tail and crooked spine.  Gold carp are natural gold morph carp, similar to koi but without human selective breeding.


----------



## plantnoobdude (23 Nov 2022)

Yugang said:


> Agree, water is amazing and relaxing. I am just not so sure if the fish enjoy this hobby.


To be honest, I think fishing and enjoying your catch in a nice meal is much more ethical than  buying a fillet of fish at the super market. I always make sure my fish are killed instantly after catch, (blow to the head, or spike in the brain) and bleed them out quickly. This way the death is instant. Whereas commercial fishermen just leave the fish out to suffocate. 
Undersized fish are of course returned, and they don’t really seem to mind the hook being taken out, probably because the tissue around their mouths is so thin.


----------



## Wookii (23 Nov 2022)

Yugang said:


> Agree, water is amazing and relaxing. I am just not so sure if the fish enjoy this hobby.



It's an age old debate, and one I don't really want to get into on this forum. Suffice to say though, if it were not for angling, many of the fish, and the aquatic habitats they live in, would simply not exist today.

Income from the sale of rod licences in the UK is currently around £25 million per annum, and that money gets pumped directly into the maintenance, preservation and improvement of rivers, lakes and aquatic habitats in the UK. I buy a licence every year, regardless of the fact that I probably won't be able to go fishing, and I consider it an important contribution to help maintain those fishery environments.

Many of these habitats, particularly the lakes and gravel pits wouldn't even exist, or would be in a much more sorry state if it weren't for angling being the largest participation sport/hobby in the UK, and would have been filled in for housing, or polluted to the point of collapse, decades ago. Historically it has been anglers that have been the early warning and reporting system for industrial pollution, and one of the main pressure groups to push the Environment Agency to take action against polluters, and commit to spending on repairing the damage done.

My local Attenborough Nature Reserve gravel pits are a perfect example - over 360 acres of some of the most pristine aquatic habitat in the UK, supporting over 250 species of birds, and now a site of 'Special Scientific Interest' - if it wasn't for the dominance of angling on that site over the past prior 50 years, and the fight anglers put up during the 60's to prevent the aggregate company filling in the gravel pits to build housing, combined with the local Nottingham Anglers Association purchasing fishing rights at the site from the aggregate company for over that 50 years, using anglers money, the site and everything it represents would not exist today.

Also fish like the massive barbel being caught today on my local River Trent were direct stockings of 1 inch fingerling fish made by the Environment Agency in the 80's and 90's, following massive devastation from industrial pollution in the proceeding decades. That was a direct result of angling pressure put on the EA, and angling funding. The Trent wouldn't be the thriving aquatic habitat it is now, if it were not for anglers:











** Steps down off soap box** 😂


----------



## GHNelson (23 Nov 2022)

Great post....I think most of us of the older generation have been course fishing to some degree and welcome appreciate the work and vigilance of dedicated Anglers all over the UK!
Long may it continue👍


----------



## Conort2 (23 Nov 2022)

Used to go with my grandad when I was young all the time, haven’t been in years now though. Still have all the gear lying about in the garage. I always think about giving it another go but never seem to have the time these days.


----------



## Tim Harrison (23 Nov 2022)

Used to love coarse fishing as a kid and continued in to my 20s. I still have most of my gear. But like most others just got too busy with life the universe and everything.

I grew up near the Trent too @Wookii and also had the Grantham canal near by, along with Attenborough gravel pits and Finger lakes at the back of the National Water Sports Center, amongst other places.

I didn’t really care whether I caught anything, just being outside surrounded by nature was enough. These days I often walk along water courses and look wistfully at folk fishing and promise myself I’ll give it another go soon. But somehow never seem to get around to it.

But I’m kind of poacher turned game keeper, having been a  research ecologist specialising in wetlands. And I doubt I could actually bring myself to participate any more knowing what I do now about animal behaviour, physiology, and ecology.

 But I agree the health of our riverine ecosystems owes much to anglers, especially in the latter part of the 20 century. Without these efforts conservation NGOs, like the Wildlife Trust, wouldn’t have so many reserves to manage.


----------



## Yugang (23 Nov 2022)

Wookii said:


> It's an age old debate, and one I don't really want to get into on this forum.


Indeed, and I am not suggesting I have the wisdom here   We deeply care about our pets, but I am a bit struggling how we then embrace hobbies that make fish suffer to some extent (pain / stress) for our entertainment (rather than for food). I used to go fishing a few times as a boy, while keeping fish at home in an aquarium, and stopped fishing because we felt we could not justify. And frankly, today I am just not sure what would be my take on this, but I do think it is important to reflect. We can also watch and enjoy nature without touching it.



Wookii said:


> ** Steps down off soap box** 😂


Yeah, agreed


----------



## Wookii (23 Nov 2022)

Yugang said:


> On this forum we deeply care about our pets, but I am a bit struggling how we then embrace hobbies that make fish suffer to some extent





Yugang said:


> We can also watch and enjoy nature without touching it.



 . . . and yet we capture fish from their wild habitat, ship them thousands of miles in inadequate conditions, and keep them in a 'relatively' (to their natural environment) tiny glass box for nothing more than our selfish viewing pleasure.

I love fishing, and I love fish keeping, so I'm obviously playing devils advocate here, but I'm sure you see my point that we can't criticise one whilst accepting the other.


----------



## mort (23 Nov 2022)

My dad took us fishing when we were kids and I remember catching over 40 gudgeon on the same maggot behind Carrow road football stadium. We caught plenty of tiddlers but never took it very seriously.

I know it's cheating but I did some electro fishing with the environment agency as work experience, which was quite a strange experience.

I must admit I was always a kid that would rather slip them back to safety when no one was looking than actually take anything home. I spent some time in Malta as a kid and was looked after (can't remember why) by a local fisherman. We went out on the boat and were pulling up glass jars and tubs, for octopus, which then went into a tub of water on the boat. As we were coming back they started crawling out of the water and I was throwing them back in secret. Anyway long story short, I got caught and received a couple of whacks with a bamboo rod over my back (still have a small scar). When I told my parents my dad wanted to confront the guy but his wife had already got their first


----------



## john dory (23 Nov 2022)

My life has centred around fishing for as long as I can remember.
When I can no longer fish...I am dead.


----------



## tiger15 (23 Nov 2022)

Yugang said:


> Indeed, and I am not suggesting I have the wisdom here   We deeply care about our pets, but I am a bit struggling how we then embrace hobbies that make fish suffer to some extent (pain / stress) for our entertainment (rather than for food). I used to go fishing a few times as a boy, while keeping fish at home in an aquarium, and stopped fishing because we felt we could not justify. And frankly, today I am just not sure what would be my take on this, but I do think it is important to reflect. We can also watch and enjoy nature without touching it.
> 
> 
> Yeah, agreed



Pain feeling is not universal.   Scientists are not sure if fish and other animal can feel pain.  Unless the wound is extensive or infected,  fish with broken lips or fins don’t seem to be stressed.  An octopus can lose a limb and continue to behave normally.  A male preying mantis will continue to copulate with the female who is dining on his body.  So anglers can justify no harm hobby.


----------



## castle (23 Nov 2022)

Yugang said:


> Agree, water is amazing and relaxing. I am just not so sure if the fish enjoy this hobby.



It may seem barbaric in the future, that’s true.


I adore fishing, but like everyone else as I got older I have less time. I have more Gucci gear than I ever had as a boy, but I catch a lot less 😅

I’ve slowly moved to sea fishing, fish caught and eaten the same day is something else entirely. I now plan holidays around that activity. It’s also really quite fun to go out in a kayak, or a small boat and get into some mackerel/bass etc. Hill walks with a spot of fly fishing is nice too. Especially if you do get into a decent sized trout.

In the winter I am still chasing a 40lb pike, the one I put back two years ago should have passed this now. If I catch one, I’ll probably give up winter fishing, deep winter fishing anyway.

I’m 99% sure that when I’m on my death bed, the happiest memories will include me, knee deep in the Wensum,  being harangued by gudgeon.


----------



## plantnoobdude (23 Nov 2022)

castle said:


> I’ve slowly moved to sea fishing, fish caught and eaten the same day is something else entirely


Couldn’t agree more. Recently came across a nice group of red mullet, and my god they are the nicest eating fish I’ve had. Nicer than bream or bass imo. 
Bass are great fighters and the prettiest fish in the sea, and there’s just something special about them that can’t be conveyed in text.


----------



## sparkyweasel (23 Nov 2022)

Tim Harrison said:


> I didn’t really care whether I caught anything, just being outside surrounded by nature was enough.


Same for me. Eventually I stopped taking the fishing tackle and just go for a walk by the water.


----------



## plantnoobdude (25 Nov 2022)

Nice bass from the pier🙂

Going out this weekend so got some lures on order.

Going down to Cornwall as well, late December. Bit cold probably 🥶


----------



## John q (25 Nov 2022)

plantnoobdude said:


> Nice bass from the pier🙂


Looks like you've foul hooked it 🤣


----------



## plantnoobdude (25 Nov 2022)

John q said:


> Looks like you've foul hooked it 🤣


It hooked clean on the first set of hooks. But thrashed around just under the water surface and hooked it’s self.  One of the reasons I’m considering swapping to single hooks on my lures. Much kinder on the fishies🙂


----------



## John q (25 Nov 2022)

Size 20, barbless  ½ 0z bottom, it's the future 👌


----------



## plantnoobdude (25 Nov 2022)

John q said:


> Size 20, barbless  ½ 0z bottom, it's the future 👌


Need to find salt specific ones, as the fresh ones rust in a single use…. Will look into barbless and singles, and might keep them if I don’t feel the hookup ratio has fell.


----------

