The Complete Guide to Carp Care and Fish Safety: Everything You Need to Know

As anglers the last thing we want to do is damage a carp, and a lot of effort goes into making sure that the angling equipment and techniques that we use are as fish-friendly as possible.

We put a lot of effort into protecting fish and trying to ensure that they go back in as good a condition as they were in before we caught them. There are a number of different things that we can do throughout our fishing which help with fish care.

All of this does of course need to be within the rules of whichever fishery you will be going to, and those can vary greatly, or in some instances even contradict each other, but that is of course down to the owner to set, and for anyone who wants to fish there to follow.

Essential Carp Care Equipment and Safe Fish Handling

When carp care is mentioned, the first thing that springs to mind for most anglers is the way in which we treat fish when they are on the bank.

This means making sure that we have a landing net that is of a suitable size, typically 42 inches or larger, and which has a type of mesh that won’t cause damage, and has holes small enough that fins can’t get stuck in them. It is also essential to never lift a fish out in the landing net, as putting pressure on like that can easily lead to split or broken fins, or tail damage, and you must always transfer the broken-down landing net head into a weigh sling first, then check the fins are laying flat against the body, before lifting.

Our guide to choosing the right landing net will help you to make a decision and pick the one that best fits your needs.

You are also going to need an unhooking mat that is a suitable size for the fish that you are targeting, as well as being thick enough to offer suitable padding and protect the carp from the hard ground. Ideally you should position the mat on grass anyway, but that isn’t always possible and the padding should be thick enough that you can use it anywhere.

Making sure that unhooking is level on the ground is also important, and even more so when using a flat mat design rather than some sort of cradle, as if the fish does flap around it can easily slide off of a mat that is at an angle. Both types of unhooking mats have their pros and cons, which should be considered when deciding which unhooking mat to buy.

It is important to try and minimise the amount of slime that is removed from the carp during the whole unhooking and weighing procedure, and the best way to do that is ensure that everything is wet. Make sure to pour water on your mat before you even get the fish out of the lake, and do so with fresh lake water – avoid anything that has been sat in a bucket and may have heated up in the sun. You will also want to wet and zero your weigh sling, as well as having a water bucket close to hand and filled, so that you can pour more water onto the carp whenever needed.

When it comes to weighing the fish and taking photos, always make sure that the carp is over the top of the mat – if a sling is properly zipped up there is no way the carp can fall out, but it is still good practice to always keep the fish over the mat just in case.

This is even more important for photos, and if the fish does start to flap you should try and roll it back in your arms and lower it onto the mat. Often you will feel the carp tensing up before it starts to flap and that should be enough that you are ready to respond when you need to.

Once you’ve taken your photos, the fish needs to be carefully transferred back into the sling, again making sure that the fins are lying flat, before you carry it back to the lake and hold it upright in the water until it swims off.

Any damage that you do see on a fish when it is on the bank, such as from the hook hold, split fins, or abrasions on the body – whether caused by you or existing – should be treated with Carp Care products, with Propolis and Ulcer Swab both being ideal to treat a variety of wounds, and to help prevent them from becoming infected.

To find out in more depth the full procedure for unhooking, weighing, and photographing carp, follow this guide which outlines every step of the process.

How to Retain Carp Safely Before Release

If you are going to retain a fish at all then you need to carefully consider how and where you are going to do so, how long for, and whether conditions are actually suitable for that.

Ideally you should weigh, photograph, and release the fish as quickly as is practical, and that can include retaining it whilst you get your rods back out, or even waiting a short while if it is just getting light, or whilst a mate arrives to take photos for you and to help with the weighing.

It doesn’t mean that you should never retain a fish at all – other than where fishery rules dictate otherwise – but to do so in a safe way.

This means using a proper retainer sling , or for short periods, a fish can be left in one of our landing nets with the end of the pole securely pushed into the ground, but whichever you choose the margins must have enough depth that the carp won’t damage itself. It is also essential that it has enough oxygen and the water isn’t too warm, especially if you’ve just had a long fight from the fish.

Leaving a carp in a floating retainer in shallow, unoxygenated water, and with hot sun on it, is a quick way to damage the fish or even to kill it.

Never retain a fish for hours and hours, and with modern cameras there is no need to as photos can easily be done at night, and no picture is worth the life of a carp.

You also need to consider whether the fish can remain comfortably in the retainer sling, and wind also plays a part in this, as you need to make sure it isn’t being battered against the bank or blown into shallow water.

Another critical aspect of fish retention is that the sling is properly secured and can’t come adrift, as this can result in the death of a carp, where it basically starves to death if the sling becomes unattached and drifts off into the lake and isn’t found and recovered.

Safe Lead Systems That Protect Carp if Your Line Breaks

One of the biggest causes of damage to carp is via the use of unsafe lead systems, and specifically anything that can lead to the fish becoming tethered.

No lead system is ever completely safe, but you can significantly reduce any risk by using them in the way they have been designed to be set up, and avoiding making your own adjustments or adaptions which could jeopardise fish safety.

With any system where the lead is designed to come free of the main line when it breaks, you do still run the risk that the end of that line could get caught up and still tether the carp, but without a lead trailing along stuck on the line, that risk is greatly reduced.

Even with a helicopter rig it is never 100 per cent safe, as although the hook link is designed to come completely free of your main line or leader, there can still be situations where it is prevented from doing so, such as a tangle in the end of the broken line.

Virtually all of the time though that you are using a correctly set up lead system, you will be fishing in a way that is as safe as it can possible be, and especially so if you are taking into account the lake conditions in front of you, such as intentionally using a set-up that easily drops the lead in situations where thick weed or snags are present.

You must never put any sort of stop or knot above your lead system which prevents the lead or hook link from coming free in the event that your main line breaks. This includes the use of any sort of leader and ensuring that your choice of lead system is actually safe to use with that – for instance, when using an inline lead with a leader, then changing the original plastic insert for something like our Shockleader Sleeves, will ensure that the lead can always pass over any sort of standard leader knot, as well as making sure that the sleeve can actually push over the eye of your hook link swivel to give you a semi-fixed set-up (a leader knotted to this swivel means it won’t fit inside the nose of the standard plastic insert).

When it comes to different types of lead clips, the safest way to fish them is actually by ensuring that that are securely attached to the hook link swivel. The Hybrid Lead Clip, which has been designed for use with leaders, actually has the hook link swivel moulded into it, so it is always attached, and the Multi Lead Clips come with a retaining pin that gives the same effect. This means that if the lead does become stuck at all, the fish is pulling against a lead clip that is fixed in position, and this allows the tail rubber to easily be pulled free, releasing the lead completely. When there is no fixed point like this, such as if you are using a lead clip running style, it is much harder for the lead to be ejected, and in the case of a leader, where the tail rubber is buffered up against the knot after sliding down the line, that can actually prevent the lead from ejecting at all.

By far the most dangerous though is where the tail rubber has been forced onto the lead clip far further than it should be, or in some case where an angler has even glued it in place, and inadvertently created a death rig, as the lead can never come off.

The same applies to helicopter rigs, and anything that prevents the hook link swivel from passing over the top bead, which determines the distance it can travel back up the line, can easily result in a carp becoming tethered or even dying.

The No Trace Beads on our Naked Chod System or Leadcore Chod System – both of which have been designed for use with a helicopter set up such as the Korda Heli-Safe System – are specifically designed to be consumables and something which will easily come off when you get a bite, thus leaving the hook link swivel free to pass over the helicopter sleeve and then off of the end of your broken line, or easily over the lead knot first.

When it comes to any sort of shockleader such as heavier mono, or leadcore and fused leaders, any sort of standard knot should be perfectly safe if used properly with a lead system that is designed for use with leaders, and the lead should either pass over this knot; come completely clear of the line; or in the case of a helicopter rig, leave the hook link to pass over that knot, as well as lead being jettisoned with some systems.

So, if you’re using any sort of conventional leader knot, such as back-to-back grinners, or a loop-to-loop method, or anything similar, you won’t have any issues at all. The problem comes when an angler inadvertently does something that instantly turns a leader into a death rig, such as connecting the main line to the leader via a swivel, which completely prevents anything from being able to pass over it.

If you always bear in mind how the fish will easily rid itself of the lead or hook link if your main line breaks, and stick to that, then you should always be using something which is as safe as it can be.

Why Braided Main Line Should Always Be Used with a Leader or Tubing

Often leaders are used to either pin down your line close to your rigs to try and help avoid spooking fish, as extra protection for your line against underwater snags or mussels or similar, or as a way of absorbing the shock of a long cast without your main line breaking.

Whilst these are the main reasons for using some sort of snag leader or shock leader, if you choose to use braided main line then you should also be using a leader of some sort to protect the carp.

Braided lines tend to be much thinner than mono or fluorocarbon, as well as being made from tough materials, and if they come into contact with the body of a fish, and especially the fins and tail, under extreme tension during the fight, then they can potentially do a lot of damage and act like a cheese wire.

So with braided main line you should always use a leader, such as a length of fluorocarbon or a leadcore or fused Tungsten one, or a length of rig tubing, which stops the braid coming into direct contact with the body of the fish, and significantly reduces any chance of damage.

It is of course essential that you choose a lead system that is safe to use with leaders, and will allow either the lead or the hook link to be released if the main line breaks – many of these braids have a high breaking strain, so if a fish does become tethered, there is no way it is breaking free itself.

Rig tubing is another option, which will protect fish from the braided line, but is harder to use - even just threading the braid through it isn't easy! - and most anglers tend to opt for a leader instead. There are of course some fisheries where leaders are banned, but on most of those the use of braided main lines for fishing also isn't allowed anyway.

Choosing Fish Friendly Rigs, Hooks and Hook Link Materials

Whilst certain rigs aren’t going to directly kill a fish, they can cause significant amounts of mouth damage which can be permanent and can become infected.

The biggest cause of this tends to be rigs where the hook twists its way into the mouth and oftens takes a hold more than once.

Most of those types of rigs, which involved the use of a bent hook, haven’t been used for years, as anglers have learned that you can create almost identical rig mechanics, but without any the dangers.

This is achieved by simply using some sort of specifically made Kicker or a piece of shrink tube which has been steamed into the desired shape, and often is fished line aligner style as well to make it even more aggressive.

Both the kickers and shrink tube line aligner have the same advantages as a bent hook, in terms of the mechanics and the way the hook turns very aggressively when the hook link tightens. But without having any of the dangers of a bent hook, as both the kickers and shrink tubing will pull straight during the fight once the hook link is under tension, and this prevents the hook from winding its way into the flesh, like a traditional bent hook would do.

We also need to consider the type of hook link material that we are using, and that involves avoiding the use of very fine diameter braids as a hook link material, as they can cut the mouth. Any of those which are sold as a hook link material tend to be completely safe and of a diameter that is unlikely to cause any damage.

Fish Safely: Only Fish Where Carp Can Be Landed

One area where anglers do go wrong and can put the fish in danger is by fishing in parts of the lake where you have very little chance of landing any hooked carp.

We are always going to lose fish, and especially so if the lake has any snags or is very weedy, as it is unavoidable. But what is avoidable is fishing in situations where the majority of fish that you hook won’t be landed, as that is just irresponsible and puts the carp in danger of becoming damaged or tethered.

If you are fishing on a weedy lake you need to make sure that you have suitable tackle to give you the best chance of landing anything that you hook, and that your gear is strong enough.

You also want to lose the lead as quickly as possible, as that reduces the chances of a fish getting really badly stuck in the weed. Plus once the lead is no longer attached to the line, you will often find that a hooked carp will come higher up in the water and that makes it easier to guide it through weed beds.

You also need plenty of patience, and if a fish does become stuck solid in the weed, you want to keep a steady pressure on, and often you will suddenly feel a kick and the fish will start moving again, or you might feel the strands of weed start to break and your rod tip gradually starting to move. Once you do get a fish moving it is important to try and keep it coming towards you, otherwise it will just get stuck again.

If constant pressure doesn’t work, then try putting the rod back in the rests, loosen off the drag, and wait to see if it frees itself.

You should avoid pulling for a break wherever possible, and prior to that should always try handlining the fish out of the weed, as you can put on more pressure and also feel more what is going on at the other end. When all else fails, many fisheries these days do have a boat which either the members or a bailiff will use to free a snagged carp.

Whilst fish can be landed from in amongst weed, you should always fish in situations where you actually have a realistic chance of getting them in, and if you are losing most of what you hook, then you shouldn’t be fishing those spots.

Similar applies to snag fishing, in terms of giving yourself a realistic chance and not fishing so close to snags that the fish is in them before you even have a chance of picking the rod up, as unlike weed, they often don’t come out of snags once they’re properly in them.

That also means that if you are going to fish near snags, you need to be on your rods at all times, and not sitting in the next swim chatting to your mates, as well as having the rod locked up so no line can be taken. When done properly a high proportion of fish can be landed when snag fishing, and the occasional loss will be down to bad luck as much as anything.

So never cast into a spot where the chances of getting a fish back, if you hook one, is minimal, as all you are doing is likely damaging them.

Another area of the lake which should always be avoided is anywhere that the carp are spawning. Whilst it is unlikely that you will hook one if they are in spawning mode, you should leave them to it rather than putting rigs or lines near them, and either go home and wait for them to finish, or fish a different part of the lake where there is no spawning activity – sometimes only some of the stock in a lake will be spawning. 

Preparing Bait Safely to Protect Carp and Fisheries

Bait isn’t something that anglers would particularly view as being unsafe, but some types can be if they aren’t properly prepared, and can damage or even kill fish.

This mainly applies to certain particle baits which are bought in a dry form – such as nuts – and which need to be properly rehydrated and boiled, otherwise they can actually swell up inside the stomach of a carp. This is one of the reasons why you will often see baits such as tiger nuts being banned by fisheries, but there is also a lot of misinformation about these baits, and if prepared properly, they don’t cause issues for the fish.

Natural baits such as maggots can also cause issues for a fishery if large quantities are being used, as they contain lots of ammonia, which can negatively impact on water quality.

Aside from the safety aspect of the preparation of these baits, and the quantities being used, it is also worth remembering that a lot of them don’t actually give the carp much in the way of nutrition, so aren’t that good for the fish long term – even though they might be a very effective way of catching them.

This is why some fisheries these days will only allow boilies, pellets and corn, or will insist that you can only use particles that have been prepared by them and are sold on site. Or where there are restrictions in place on the quantities of certain baits that you can use, such as maggots.

Carp Safety Before, During, and After Capture: Quick Questions

How can I handle a carp safely on the bank?

Always use a suitable landing net, unhooking mat and weigh sling that are large enough for the fish. Keep everything wet, minimise the time the carp spends out of the water, support it carefully during photos, and always return it to the water in a sling before allowing it to swim away under its own power.

What is the safest lead system for carp fishing?

No lead system is completely safe, but when correctly set up, modern lead clips, inline leads and helicopter systems are designed to allow either the lead or the hook link to separate if the main line breaks. The most important thing is to use each system exactly as intended and never make modifications that could prevent components from releasing.

Why are unsafe lead systems dangerous for carp?

Unsafe lead systems can tether a carp if the main line breaks, leaving it trailing a heavy lead or unable to free itself from the rig. This can lead to injury or death. Avoid anything that prevents the lead or hook link from being released, including tightly fixed tail rubbers, unsuitable leader connections or stops above helicopter systems.

Should braided main line always be used with a leader?

Yes. Braided main line is very thin and can damage a carp's fins or body under heavy pressure. Using a suitable leader, such as fluorocarbon, leadcore, fused material or rig tubing, helps protect the fish, provided it is used with a lead system that remains safe if the line breaks.

Can carp rigs damage a fish's mouth?

Some older rig designs, such as bent hook rigs, could cause excessive mouth damage. Modern kickers and shrink tube achieve similar rig mechanics whilst allowing the hook to straighten under pressure, greatly reducing the risk of injury. Fine diameter braided hook links should also be avoided if they could cut into the fish's mouth.

Is it safe to fish in heavy weed or near snags?

Only fish where you have a realistic chance of landing every carp you hook. In weedy or snaggy situations you should use suitable tackle, fish close to your rods and use lead systems that release the lead quickly where appropriate. If you are consistently losing fish, you should choose a safer area to fish.

Can some carp baits be harmful to fish?

Yes. Some particle baits, particularly nuts, must be properly soaked and boiled before use or they can harm carp. Large quantities of some natural baits, such as maggots, can also affect water quality. Always prepare bait correctly and follow any fishery bait restrictions.

Should carp ever be retained in a sling?

Carp should only be retained when there is a genuine reason, such as waiting for daylight or a photographer, and never for longer than necessary. Use a purpose designed retention sling, avoid retaining fish during very hot conditions where possible, and always ensure the carp has fully recovered before releasing it.