Do you think the carp bubble will burst?

[Mike F]

I was looking through local ad's etc the other day and there seems more and more complete "carp setups" for sale now. Obviously the way thigs are at the moment the carp scene is thriving, but I wonder if the people who are selling these setups are becoming disillusioned with the branch of the sport and weather as some things do, we'll see the carp boom die off in the (probably distant) future?
Given some of the things noted on this site (myself included) such as the drug, booze and shitting behind the bivvy mentality of some anglers, as well as venues being rammed full or indeed requiring you book a swim (still cant believe that!) I'm guessing that a lot of people may give up carp fishing as it loses its appeal. What do you think?

[Cyprio]

I don’t think the bubble will burst as such.
I fish for Carp and always have done.
At the moment it is all about the money. Club lakes get
Taken over by commercial operators.
Once purchased the lakes get stripped of their soul.
Yes they might get a fence put up and a new drive with parking lot, BUT thats done to protect the assets swimming in the lake, without them the tills won’t ring.

Fishing gets a lot of attention on social media and the TV
Potential newbies see all this and believe the hype.
The full kit gets purchased along with ticket to fish and the instant angler is sitting in his bivvy.

But it’s not as easy as they thought. Two weekends of puffing and tinies a few fights with the bears in the woods after too much BBQ, no sign of a fish they go back to puffing in their cars behind McD’s and sell all their gear
The change my come as our sport becomes less hereditary.
Most of us started because our dads or family member fished and took us when we were kids.
Now it’s all tech and no exposure to sun light
Negativity or lack of fishing from the “influencer’s” interest in our sport could drop.
If the business owners start making a loss the lakes will be sold.
Personally I won’t pay the top prices being asked for a season ticket, just to fish in a swim surrounded by
along with abuse from others complaining where I’ve cast!
But have a couple of weeks in France on a lake I know we’ll with great company.

[peteren]

I have little interest in it, but suspect it will continue - "puddle pigs" are easy, "high output" like factory farming.

Only consolation is hopefully more room on "wilder" waters for me to rove with my lures....

[Mike F]

I have little interest in it, but suspect it will continue - "puddle pigs" are easy, "high output" like factory farming.

Only consolation is hopefully more room on "wilder" waters for me to rove with my lures....

There is that to it, but what concerns me is those who give up carp fishing may turn to pike as the their next go-to species. Nothing wrong with that but as we know a lot of carpers are not cut out to be pike anglers. Id like to see a balance in angling again as there was years ago when people fished for, and respected every species.

[Ratty46]

i highly doubt it...
Carp live along time, and the industry is worth ££££££.
some of the things they do bring out do make me laugh, like the bivvy doormat thing..
but then other bits like Bivvy lights and cooking bits n bobs can be bloody usefull in other styles of fishing.

so no, its not gonna burst anytime soon

[SamG]

I don’t think the bubble will burst as such.
I fish for Carp and always have done.
At the moment it is all about the money. Club lakes get
Taken over by commercial operators.
Once purchased the lakes get stripped of their soul.
Yes they might get a fence put up and a new drive with parking lot, BUT thats done to protect the assets swimming in the lake, without them the tills won’t ring.

Fishing gets a lot of attention on social media and the TV
Potential newbies see all this and believe the hype.
The full kit gets purchased along with ticket to fish and the instant angler is sitting in his bivvy.

But it’s not as easy as they thought. Two weekends of puffing and tinies a few fights with the bears in the woods after too much BBQ, no sign of a fish they go back to puffing in their cars behind McD’s and sell all their gear
The change my come as our sport becomes less hereditary.
Most of us started because our dads or family member fished and took us when we were kids.
Now it’s all tech and no exposure to sun light
Negativity or lack of fishing from the “influencer’s” interest in our sport could drop.
If the business owners start making a loss the lakes will be sold.
Personally I won’t pay the top prices being asked for a season ticket, just to fish in a swim surrounded by
along with abuse from others complaining where I’ve cast!
But have a couple of weeks in France on a lake I know we’ll with great company.

That’s a great post.

[Pinkie]

The carp bubble might not burst, but there's certainly a spike in pike anglers using spinning gear since the first lockdown. Many were newbies to the sport just out for a few hours to escape hours of tedium spent in doors. This, and last summer, I've never seen so many lure anglers on the banks!

[Ratty46]

The carp bubble might not burst, but there's certainly a spike in pike anglers using spinning gear since the first lockdown. Many were newbies to the sport just out for a few hours to escape hours of tedium spent in doors. This, and last summer, I've never seen so many lure anglers on the banks!

tell me about it!

thankfull ymost of the waters are now weeded up so much you cant lure fish

(ferkin result face)

[Daniel]

I asked a tackle shop owner mate your question today.
Carp gear sales to newcomers has dropped over the last two years by about 10%, but sales of high end gear to carpers wanting to upgrade has shot through the roof.
Barbel gear sales are up around 15%, some of it is people just getting into fishing, but a good percentage of it is carp anglers changing discipline.
Lure fishing has seen the biggest growth though, about 20% over the same two year period.
Lots of new lure anglers are already anglers, but fed up with the mountains of kit they're taking everywhere they go, or people new to fishing who don't want a big financial outlay to get started, both groups admit to being drawn into it by watching YouTube videos from savage, fox, Westin, kanalgratis etc.

I've certainly never seen so many lure anglers on the bank, so many in fact that I've pretty much given up lure fishing, my gears been put up in the loft.

[Kev Berry]

Most of the new barbelers are failed carpers...not even proper anglers. Never fished for anything but carp and fish for barbel the same.
Some even moan aboat being wiped out by boats on the Trent
Advice on the lines of stay awake and pay attention or wind ya rods in gets a shocked response

Not a feckin clue....even worse they only listen to what suits them s the lot of em

[Mike J]

I know a young (28) carper, he learnt off the internet and what the shops told him, in his late teens I offered him some marlin fishing and he didn't even reply.
Now things have changed, his partners Father is a river angler who has guided him onto Chub and Dace and he admits he enjoys it more than bivvying for nights on end.
Still has his best this and that on his phone which he loves to show me

They are not all numpties and some may even make decent anglers given the chance.

.

[Mike F]

Most of the new barbelers are failed carpers...not even proper anglers. Never fished for anything but carp and fish for barbel the same.
Some even moan aboat being wiped out by boats on the Trent
Advice on the lines of stay awake and pay attention or wind ya rods in gets a shocked response

Not a feckin clue....even worse they only listen to what suits them :w****r: s the lot of em

God forbid they take up pike fishing.

[Mark Phillips]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

[davelumb]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

I knew some good carpers in the 1990s, not bivvy bound carpers, thinking ones who caught more than most. They couldn't catch pike to save their lives!

[Pinkie]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like :t*ts: with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

I knew some good carpers in the 1990s, not bivvy bound carpers, thinking ones who caught more than most. They couldn't catch pike to save their lives!

The carpers I know are too scared of teeth!

[Nige Johns]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like :t*ts: with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

Full of crap as usual

[Alex Fox]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like :t*ts: with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

Any decent angler can turn their attention to other species and do well

As for having serious competition

[Kev Berry]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

Yeah?good anglers ..the Trent is lined with failed carpers...they even fail at catching barbel, which I must admit is very difficult to do....somehow they manage

[Mark Phillips]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like :t*ts: with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

Any decent angler can turn their attention to other species and do well

As for having serious competition

Yeah, that's true and being successful with multiple species broadens your skill set, I know that from personal experience. Not sure why you're scratching your head with that second statement, some of the better carp anglers are on another level to most of us. I'm on a syndicate this season where the great and the good of carp fishing are members - incredibly good anglers. Having fished a lot of PAC events in the past, honestly it's like a chimps tea party when you see some of the 'faces' in pike fishing

[davelumb]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like :t*ts: with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

Any decent angler can turn their attention to other species and do well

As for having serious competition

Yeah, that's true and being successful with multiple species broadens your skill set, I know that from personal experience. Not sure why you're scratching your head with that second statement, some of the better carp anglers are on another level to most of us. I'm on a syndicate this season where the great and the good of carp fishing are members - incredibly good anglers. Having fished a lot of PAC events in the past, honestly it's like a chimps tea party when you see some of the 'faces' in pike fishing

Just as with any species the best pike anglers are best for a reason - and by 'best' I don't necessarily mean 'caught the most'. . They're not chimps by any means and most can turn their hand to other species - including vermin.

[Alex Fox]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like :t*ts: with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

Any decent angler can turn their attention to other species and do well

As for having serious competition

Yeah, that's true and being successful with multiple species broadens your skill set, I know that from personal experience. Not sure why you're scratching your head with that second statement, some of the better carp anglers are on another level to most of us. I'm on a syndicate this season where the great and the good of carp fishing are members - incredibly good anglers. Having fished a lot of PAC events in the past, honestly it's like a chimps tea party when you see some of the 'faces' in pike fishing

The scratching head wasn't in any way doubting how well some of the better carp anglers could do at fishing for pike, as i said decent anglers are basically just that, it was the use of the word competition ... i just don't look at fishing as a competition with others

[Oldskoolfool]

It may for all the reasons stated. Its now a big money operation and unfortunately I can't see it keeping up yet momentum in terms of sales etc.

Also at some stage the ticket/syndicate cost bubble burst as its getting ridiculous.

[stubbojo]

The carp bubble might not burst, but there's certainly a spike in pike anglers using spinning gear since the first lockdown. Many were newbies to the sport just out for a few hours to escape hours of tedium spent in doors. This, and last summer, I've never seen so many lure anglers on the banks!

hardly seen any lure anglers in my neck of the woods , or many pike anglers come to think of it ....which is good in some respects
been out today on 3 large lakes perch on the lures , never seen another angler and the venue is stuffed with fish .....asked the bailiff a while back about the absence of anglers on there ...he reckons there all on a commercial down the road catching loads of pasties .....they all want carp .....great methinks...... great to walk around a venue that doesn't smell of bivvy spice .......

[stubbojo]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like :t*ts: with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

mark
i fish a very hard carp water , very low stocked .... well thats what the carp lads told me , not for carp........ perch .pike . eels .
and up to now i have had 3 good carp out of the there .........all caught on simple lobworms on a simple running rig , i find carp greedy and a easy fish to catch .
i like to fish the more natural baits if i was targeting carp ,works for me .......and yes i catch a lot of pike too

[stubbojo]

The simple answer to this thread is no. Carp fishing has never been so popular and you often find people selling all the gear are just doing it to fund buying a whole new set-up. The UK carp scene is worth millions as well. Pike fishing in comparison is a minority sport at best.

whilst working my way down the comments here, people are just making themselves look like :t*ts: with their frankly moronic comments each time the word 'carp' comes up. Put your average pike angler on a moderately challenging carp water and they probably struggle to catch anything, put them on a hard, low stock syndicate water and I doubt they'd get a run all year Just as in any branch of fishing, you have the noddies, but most carp anglers I know and fish with, are some of the best anglers you could ever come across. I can think of some guys that if they turned their attention to other species, such as pike, would do incredibly well. Just be grateful they don't turn to pike fishing or you'd have some serious competition on your hands

I knew some good carpers in the 1990s, not bivvy bound carpers, thinking ones who caught more than most. They couldn't catch pike to save their lives!

The carpers I know are too scared of teeth!

and they dont like to get cold , all the waters are devoid of carpers after november , apart from the proper-dedicated carper fisherman and they catch carp right though the winter
well in my neck of the woods thats the case