dace friend or foe ?

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Zzippy wrote: »

It is illegal to stock carp into any water where they are not native, landlocked or not. Unless you create a new habitat by digging out a pond, and install measures to prevent any escapes, carp cannot be introduced anywhere. I had this discussion with a senior member of the Irish Carp Club a few years ago at an angling show and he completely disagreed, he thought it was fine to put them in lakes here, there and everywhere. Just shows the attitude of some people who only care about their sport, and not about the damage invasive species can cause.

Yea im pretty sure its illegal allright, but any idea who stocked the carp into the natural lakes in the mullingar area? Dont even know how long those lakes have been stocked. I take back my earlier comments where i said "any" land locked lake could be stocked with carp.

The guy from the Irish Carp Club is totally wrong! you cant just introduce carp anywhere.

I dont think we need to worry about carp being introduced into our lakes and rivers though, at it is there are very few lakes that are not day ticket waters that have carp, and with good reason. They are very expensive to buy, and in my opinion, its rare to see them thrive in ireland without lots of anglers baits being fed to them. They would struggle in the loughs and big rivers of ireland where they are competing with huge shoals of bream for food, something they dont really have to do as much in th UK. The water temp in these rivers prob wouldnt allow them to spawn either.

as far as invasive species so, in my opinion, carp are by no means the worst. If they were introduced to my local rivers or lakes illegaly, I would be more worried about the electro fishing used to get them out. I would be a lot more worried if chub or barbel were introduced. they would prob do well in Ireland, at the expense of bream!

Were lucky nobody ever decided to introduce zander.......

sickpuppy

Is there a more pointless fish than bream?
I asked here before about carp being able to spawn think reply was water temp too cold.
The damage carp have done in australia is huge the Murray river is thick with them i used catch a bloody carp a cast no matter what bait be it shrimps grubs or worms.

finlayspub1

dace are becoming a huge problem around the portarlington area of the barrow , they are prolific breeders and seem to be sweeping any food that our native trout feed on , i for one would be delighted to see them gone , if you go anywhere on the river and cast a wet fly downstream you will catch any amount of them .
the barrow at portarlington was once one of the finest trout fisheries in th country not that long ago and due to drainage board widening the river with drag lines and the fisheries board not letting you put a rock in without permission , it has gone steadily downhill , dace are only compounding the problem and we now have literally thousands of dace destroying the river .

beer enigma

Lads I'm in full agreement about illegal stocking - there's no place for it

But Ireland is not just a game fishery

Dace have been here for over 100 years - are ye saying that game fishing has been affected that long

Comment that Bream are of no value ? - to a course fisherman that's like saying fishing for trout & hooking a salmon is of no value ?

slowburner

Here's a link to a paper on Dace in Irish waters

http://www.fisheriesireland.ie/Research/invasive-species.html

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

sickpuppy wrote: »

Is there a more pointless fish than bream?

Typical response from a game angler :rolleyes:
Explain how a fish, of any species, are pointless to its eco system?

From an angling and tourism point of view, the bream brings thousands of anglers from the UK alone to Ireland, as the size of the shoals and quality of bream are much higher in Ireland.

sickpuppy wrote: »

I asked here before about carp being able to spawn think reply was water temp too cold.
The damage carp have done in australia is huge the Murray river is thick with them i used catch a bloody carp a cast no matter what bait be it shrimps grubs or worms.

I know in one lake in the midlands, they can and have spawned. This is a very shallow and small (landlocked) lake. arounf 95% of irish water would be too cold for them.
The murray is not a good comparison though, the climate of the murray basin is a lot different from Ireland and the UK! Its also a different species of carp in the Murray, not the "King Carp" strain found in most of europe. Do Murray Cod eat carp? The carp in european rivers are eaten by catfish, so that keeps their numbers under control

copeyhagen

anyone ever caught catfish in ireland, according to invasivespecies theyre here..

viper123

I have "reliable" reports of them being present in the Shannon. Never heard of one caught though. There's also apparently grayling in the Wicklow mountains somewhere.

Macspower

madred006 wrote: »

Hi all just wondering what peoples opinions are on dace ,reason I ask is that in the last 4-5 years our local stretch of river has been populated by dace .This year they are getting quiet big some over 1lb ,personally I dont mind them at least ur catching fish,but some members hate them and when they catch them just throe them out on the banks ,interested to see are there any views on this good or bad thanks .

My opinion on Dace has changed as their size has grown. I won a match recently with 4.5 lb of the little buggers!

On a day when no roach or hybrids are showing dace are a welcome catch. they are one of the quickest biters I have ever seen and are near impossible to hit on the feeder. You would require Valium if you were to feeder fish for them

My chosen method is trotting a stick float with a center pin and a lightening strike!