The welfare of the carp is something that every carp angler should be concerned about. For some reason there are still anglers about who don´t possess an unhooking mat.

The use of a safety lead system is a must whilst fishing for carp. If a hooked fish gets snagged or the mainline gets cut off whilst playing a fish and it is not able to free itself from the line and lead it will sooner or later die which is totally unacceptable for any angler.

Once a fish has been played out and is ready for the net it should be treated with great care.

A good quality landing net with a soft and carp friendly mesh like the Fox Folding Landing Net or the Hutchinson Springlock net is essential for landing the fish.

Personally I use the Deluxe Safe Mat XXL from Pelzer which is excellent as it´s well padded , very large and it has an extra cover with which the carp can be covered when it´s on the mat and starts flapping lively. If you have to play and land fish from the boat make sure that the fish is safe on the unhooking mat in the boat.   I´ve always got two Hutchinson Be-safe Flat mats on the bottom of my boat. They cover the whole length of the bottom of my Zodiac so a carp that has been netted from the boat and been lifted onboard won´t be able get hurt on the journey back to the bank.

Normally I try to unhook a carp as soon as it is in the boat and then row back to the bank as I think that´s better for the carp (it can´t get tangled in the rig, etc.)

Once the carp is on the unhooking mat you can kneel down next to the mat and carefully unhook the fish. In case the fish starts flapping on the mat bend over it with your arms and cover it for example with a wet carp sack until the fish is more relaxed. Now that the fish is unhooked it is ready to be weighed. For weighing the fish make sure that you´ve got a good quality weigh sling that supports the carp well.

Products like the Fox Safety weigh sling or the standard weigh sling are the ones I can recommend.

A fish that is on the bank should always be kept wet so make sure that you´ve got a water bucket next to your unhooking mat. When transferring the fish from the landing net on the unhooking mat into the weigh sling be very careful not to bend the carp´s fins especially when lifting the weigh sling up onto the scales. If the light conditions are good enough the photographs can be taken straight away after the weighing process. If your camera equipment takes a little longer to set up and if you´re on your own and need to take self portraits it makes sense to sack the fish for a few minutes to allow it to recover until you´ve sorted out your camera equipment. Always keep in mind that a carp lives in the water and not on the bank so the time that a carp spends outside the water should be kept to a minimum. A good carp sack should be large enough for a big fish and should   be made of soft material which allows good water flow so that the carp has enough oxygen in the sack.

Personally I use the zip sacks by Solar Tackle and Fox.

Both of them have a zip so that the carp is safe plus the material they´re made of is ideal.

Always make sure you sack the carp in a reasonable depth of water, especially in summer this is very important. Avoid sacking carp next to weed. At night weed takes up oxygen from the water which is no good for a carp sacked next to weed.

If you sack carp on a river make sure that the carp is comfortable and doesn´t get pushed against the bank by the current or each time a ship passes by. A general word about sacking carp. Only sack carp if really necessary and if you sack them don´t sack them for too long. Always put only one carp in one sack!!

If you catch a good fish at night and sack it, photograph it as soon as the light is good enough. The best light for taking good photographs is often about an hour after sunrise when the sun is not yet too high in the sky. But now back to the photo session. During the photosession the fish should always be kept wet with water so that the carp´s slime stays intact. Whilst holding the fish make sure you don´t wear rings or a watch as these items will scratch the carp´s body when you hold it, especially when the carp is lively and starts flapping in your arms. This is something many people often neglect or forget.

Also when lifting the carp up for the photos again make sure you haven´t bent any of the carp´s fins with your hands otherwise they might break, so be careful!

Never hold the carp too high away from the bottom. Kneel down for the photos, you never know , a carp might start flapping suddenly and if you were standing with the fish in your hands you wouldn´t have enough time to carefully put it back onto the unhooking mat and cover it with wet sack until it has calmed down.

I´ve seen carp being dropped ! – this is without doubt a definite DON`T   .

Often carp that have been sacked over night are very lively once you´ve put them on the unhooking mat in the morning for the photographs .

Companies like Pelzer (First Aid) and Kryston (Klinik) have this kind of product in their range which can also be used for covering a whole in the carp´s mouth caused by the hook to prevent it from getting infected.

Once the carp has been photographed carefully carry it back to the water in your weigh sling or on your mat. Make sure that the carp won´t be able to slide off the mat while you carry it back to the water.

When you´ve reached the water hold the fish in an upright position in water which is deep enough so that the fish´s body doesn´t touch the bottom until it swims away.

Don´t just put it back , keep an eye on it if it swims away alright.

Often the carp are exhausted after you´ve played them so they should be held in an upright position until they´ve recovered and swim away strongly.

If all of us look after the carp we´ve caught they will remain healthy and as beautiful as most of them already are.

Tight Lines

Christian Finkelde