Growth Rates

I get a lot of people asking me about our Carp and the growth rates, One thing I have always said is that I never want my fish to rely on anglers bait, I have always added a lot of very old horse and cow manure to the lakes when they were empty, the benefit of once being an organic working farm, I have tons of this stuff, 20 years old and full of worms and goodness ! I have then left the lake without fish in for a complete growing season, the blood worm beds and snails in the lakes are phenomenal, the margins are covered with 1000s of black dots that look at first glance to be gravel, but it’s actually snails, 1000s if not millions of them. The stick in the picture below was a small post I had in the margins and was literally covered in snails. Some of the carp go uncaught for well over a year and then come out as lake records, they have been feeding hard but just not on anglers bait. This fish is a good example, caught at 24lb last year and caught at the weekend at 30lb.8oz and another new 30 for us. Not Bad for a lake that is fished and not a fish farm, Our growth rates are anywhere from 5lb - 9lb in a year. Yes I supplement them as well with high quality pellet and cereals throughout the year as and when possible (No anglers or when I close for spawning). If the fish have feed then the naturals keep blooming as well, So it’s a great position to get the lake to. An abundance of “safe” feed available as and when the carp need it.. There is one thing that will stop a carp from growing and that is being caught !