Notes From Editor
Talking with a staff member
today the subject came up of
American pay-lake carp care.
My go-to explanation was that
pay-lakes have been here since
the 1930’s and probably fur-
ther back if you count farm-
ers getting together around a
farm pond for some weekend
recreation or competition fish-
ing. Yes it is in the best interest
of the angler and lake owners
to take care of the fish. Both
would benefit from prop-
er care in so many ways. The
overall cost of maintaining the
lake would be less thus more
profit for the owner. The fish
would be healthier so more
bites and a much better fight
for the angler. The problem is
you do not bring about change
quickly especially a trend that
has been going on for coming
up on 100 years. The way to
bring about change is to prac-
tice it whenever you fish a pay-
lake. Talk to owners about the
benefit of proper care. Next
came the question of how can
we get our pay-lake carp to
grow and get huge like the ones
you see on facebook with mas-
sive shoulders and gut. That is
also easily accomplished. You
know American pay-lakes and
European fisheries are two dif-
ferent results from a typical
model. Both styles anglers pay
for the opportunity to catch
the lakes treasures. Both have
purchased expensive gear,
baits nets, tackle etc. Both
have stores, food and people
who manage and take care of
the lake. Pay-lakes are often
stocked with way to many carp
so natural foods are non exis-
tent leaving the anglers bait
the only source of food. The
thinking is the fish get hungry
they will have to eat what is
out there. How is that work-
ing? Well you would think in
this scenario that you would
always be catching. Doesn’t
work that way. They adapt
by learning new ways to feed
without being hooked. I know
you have been on a lake with a
crowd at one time or another
with only one person catching.
I’ve heard all sorts of explana-
tions to this one but the only
one that makes sense to me
is that person has something
that the carp need desperate-
ly to survive. They know the
anglers are there and smart
enough to recognize danger.
The only thing that would
override that is survival. Now
in order to get them growing
larger and living longer is 1
better care and 2 giving them
the nutrition needed to grow.
Pay-lake carp are pressured
day in and day out over and
over. They actually learn to
survive by feeding on whats
familiar and getting caught.
They know what to expect.
Boilies being introduced only
serves to scare them off. If add-
ed during the slow/offseason at
least three times a week (daily
would produce better results)
without a threat it will become
an excellent food source. So
yes feed them boilies and in a
Jeff Skelton
short time they will be caught
on a much more nutritious
food source. Getting the vita-
mins, minerals, protein and
nutrition needed to grow. It is
a win-win situation for both
the angler and the owner. The
fish will grow and if taken care
of by the anglers live a much
longer life. Just think if your
lake had forty pound common
carp where would the majority
of anglers want to fish on the
weekends? They would travel
from all over to fish a tourna-
ment there. If you packed out
on Thursday through Sun-
day you could afford to close
Monday through Wednesday
giving owners more free time,
fish time to heal, lake time to
recover. Feed the fish boilies
on off days to keep them inter-
ested in healthy food sources.
The models are in place across
the pond and people pay huge
amounts to get a chance to
catch monster carp both com-
mon and mirror over 50 lbs.
Some lakes like Gigantic have
carp over 80 pounds. Managed
a little differently and your
lake could be the most popu-
lar of all the lakes, Just saying.
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