Dick Warner: Carp gaining status in our lakes

The other day I found myself looking into the eyes of a large, beautiful and rather unusual fish, writes Dick Warner.

It was a common carp with a muscular, golden-brown body about 40cm long and it was lying placidly on a soft un-hooking mat where it had been placed by the angler, so he could take a photograph before he released it.

It was a man-made lake called Oaklands just outside New Ross in Co Wexford that has been developed as a general coarse fishery with an emphasis on carp.