Just read on another site Benson from Bluebell lakes has died. That makes two fish this year Bluebell has lost, the other being Creature. Both their biggest fish too....A sad day for British carpers!!!

Peace

Bet there's a couple more wrong'uns on route to bluebell as we speak to make up for the loss........

, couldn't have put it better

Monk...x

Innit


One of the best/worst examples of whats happened to British Carp angling in the last 20 years imo.... sad to hear of any fish death but maybe the girl will get a rest now

I know there's a lot of carp anglers on this site, but it's one of the few "disciplines" of fishing I just don't get, not at all.....well, that, and fluff chucking in stocked ponds, actually it's the whole concept of stocked pond fishing i don't get......

Poor fish, hope he/she got eaten whatever....

Monk...x

Just a couple...and some... ..still sad though...

Only if you like fishing for wrong'uns......If I wanted to catch French fish Id go to France I just wish they'd put a ban on importing fish into the UK.

True Blue all the way for me

I didn't get carp fishing until I started, all those noisy alarms and such....now, cant get enough of it...really strange. I must say its once a year before the British GP that I visit Bluebell so not a major deal for me, but I know a lot of people out there will be very disappointed. I've also never seen the appeal in pole fishing. Put me on a canal or river after carp, tench or barbel any day of the week


And it is a shame, as to be fair all carp were at one point imported to the UK. E2A (If you run back through a few hundred years....basically im trying to say they werent native at one point or another....)

Peace

A guy I met years ago had a 50lb fish,he told me fisheries were putting in a sealed bid to buy it I dont know how much it eventually went for but there were loads of fish were being brought over in oxygenated tanks at the time,dont know how prevalent it is nowadays?J0e,you would like to live here,I know someone who caught a 17lb barbel walking distance away,renown for decent sized barbel.

at the ECHO/ENOCH fanboys

got your St. Georges Cross Heatons at the ready to batter (pun intended) the "non local" anglers too????

RIP a big fish

"The big plated" in St. Johns is still my favourite fish but rip Benson you didn't have a choice getting brought here.

Wtf...fishing for wrong ens? sad at the loss of a big fish dying............

I thought it was the american actor who had died

Owd

How will they justify their prices!

Peace

One of the UK's most prized carp, Benson, has died, after being caught more than 60 times. So is all that hooking and unhooking bad for fish?

A few nuts are being blamed for the death of Benson, one of the UK's largest and most-loved carp.

The 64lb (29kg) fish could have ingested the nuts, the remnants of which were found on the banks of her home lake in Cambridgeshire, and unprocessed nuts can be fatal.

Benson was a celebrity in the angling world. She had been hooked, photographed and returned to water at least 60 times.

The owner of the Bluebell Lakes, Tony Bridgefoot, said she liked having her picture taken.

But could all that fishing have affected her health?

Plenty would assume so, but anglers tend to believe that if done competently, their sport doesn't stress a fish.

The issue hinges on the age-old question of whether fish feel pain. In 2003, the first conclusive evidence of pain perception in fish was said to have been found by UK scientists based in Edinburgh.

Researchers shot bee venom into the lips of trout and found sites in the heads of the fish that responded to damaging stimuli. They concluded that the fish responded in a way that was not simply reflexive.

This year, scientists in the US announced similar findings after experiments on goldfish.

THE ANSWER
Anglers say fish suffer no stress if the angler is competent
Some scientists say they have proved that fish can feel pain and trauma

But anglers, such as Martin Ford, editor of magazine group Angling Publications, say fish like Benson, who are caught often, actually choose to take the bait, knowing it's on the end of a hook.

"When they get to that size they will get very selective about what they eat and very often they may not be caught for 14 to 15 months.

"So, does pressure perhaps become detrimental to the fish? Yes and no. Some choose not to be caught."

Mr Ford says he prefers to fish in waters that were not so busy, but if a fish was traumatised by the experience, it would not choose to go through it again.

"Benson has made a choice to visit the bank and see what the other side of the world is like."

Educated anglers do their utmost to ensure that a big carp, once on the bank, is cared for extremely well, he says.

"I'm confident that a fish goes through no stress from a competent angler."

Angling has taken great strides to improve the well-being of the fish, says Mr Ford, and all good carp anglers should use fish-friendly nets, soft and padded unhooking mats and only keep the carp out of the water for a maximum of five minutes in summer, and about double that in winter.

'No pain'

Photos should be taken near the water and all anglers should carry a gel to apply to any wounds their hooks cause to the mouth.

"Wounds heal very quickly and modern tackle is made so that if the line breaks, the carp is able to get rid of any end tackle.

"The area of the mouth is very sinewy, there's no blood or veins and in my opinion I don't think there's a pain issue. But if a hook slips out of the mouth and catches near the gill area, then there will be pain."

A regular part of the BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer some of the questions behind the headlines
"We get knocked by the anti-anglers who say that fish feel pain, and I believe some university bods have proved that some fish do feel pain, but until you sit me down next to a carp and it says to me ' I feel immense pain', then it's an open-ended question."

But a spokesman for animal rights campaign group Peta, says: "If common sense isn't enough, the science is clear: being repeatedly impaled with a hook and yanked into an environment in which fish cannot breathe, like Benson, undeniably causes distress, pain and can lead to infections.

"Even simply handling or netting fish can abrade their protective coating and lead to death.

"According to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, up to 43% of fish die when they are hooked and then thrown back. No one should be hooked on fishing, including the fish."

This fish is about to be on News at Ten "It was the peoples fish"

It was MURDERED Human error that guy just said,the ferrari of fish

Our search turned up nothing other than a ring pull

R.I.P benson tremendous looking fish.

Estimates that the same fish was caught between 65-100 times?Gimmee a wild fish anyday over a fish with a name.

My local tackle shop sells fish first-aid kits for carpers

Does he get many fish in the shop?

There was a haddock battered in one of the local shops in the high street

He must have been in the wrong place

Perhaps he will be eaten now - Benson and wedges.

Please biggest load of bollocks Ive read in years......I cant believe with all the shit going on in the world today a fecking fish is getting front page on news papers and hitting the news channels the worlds gone fecking mad

I bet bluebell ent to bothered now with all this free advertising there getting a couple more big fish will get brought in and life will go on there....

I love me Carpys but this is ridiculous if anything its making Carpers look fecking stupid

Yup,thats what they said on News at Ten last night,Gordon Brown will probably mention it in the house of commons,kids will get a day of mourning off school and theres a minutes silence at the precise moment Benson died next year There was one guy who said upon hearing the news his mate burst into tears Gives true meaning to the term "Get a life"

"The owner of the Bluebell Lakes, Tony Bridgefoot, said she liked having her picture taken"

I'll have a quarter of what he's been smokin.............for f*ck sake ive never heard such a pile of old shite in all my life !!