With the recent heavy rain, the area has been subjected to the fisheries worst nightmare flooding and the loss to stock and damage to banks that incurs.

A certain amount of fish move into the flow of the floodwater and when the water subsides are either able to make it into another lake, get washed down into the sea or get trapped in the river.

The fish wander naturally as instinct drives them to search out new homes to spread the species as far as possible during a flood.

If a carp gets washed down a big river it is, for the most part, all right but when big fish such as carp find themselves washed into a shallow river it becomes a problem.

They will be stranded in the shallowest section to await a painful death thrashing around until the water drops below the level they need to breath or they find a nook or cranny big enough to hide in.

Be on the look out on local rivers such as the Darenth in Dartford, The Eden from Westerham to East Grinstead or any other usually shallow river with fisheries next to them.

If you find any fish stranded report them instantly to the Environmental Agency who will come along and move them to a new home.

If the carp get washed into the sea a certain death awaits them and nothing can be done, but the third option where a fish can travel from one lake to another is the most hotly-debated issue in angling at the moment.

The rise in illegally-imported fish means a totally natural fishery can receive a foreign fish that could be carrying a new strain of disease and risk the wholesale slaughter of natural British stock.

This causes a situation that is going some way to re-establishing the Keep it Real campaign run by a group of hardcore traditionalists within carp fishing. They believe any fish that is foreign or even suspected of being so, should be kept out of the angling press to stop fishery owners importing illegal aquatic immigrants.

In some respects I can understand their point of view and support what they are trying to achieve, but unfortunately any Lets Keep it British campaign attracts people that are not interested in aquatic immigrants, just spreading the fact anything that is not British should be hated.

That fact alone is enough to make anybody think twice before getting involved with a group where some of its members may just want to wave a Union Jack around and go on about all things foreign in a negative way.

The argument will, however, continue until a stronger policy regarding the punishment of importers and fishery owners who are caught stocking these potentially lethal foreign fish is vigorously applied by the Government.