I didn't realise and it probably wasn't when i started many moons ago that "fishing" is the most participated sport in the uk, the flip side of that is as you said the amount of chavs that have no respect for other anglers, water craft and most importantly the fish. The amount of fish iv treated that have had lips hanging off etc is ridiculous. I dont do any real carp fishing locally now due to the lakes being chaved up, the constant lets cast as far as possible mentality drives me insane.
Once i caught my first 20 which also took 6 years of blanks and hard work i did the same and im lucky that one of my friends has a membership on a long stretch of the rivers leading into and surrounding Bath, we could start 10 miles from bath and wade through most of the river leading to Bath and catch pretty much every type of course fish, If you have never caught a barbel, go for one, a 7/8 barble on light tackle will give just a good fight if not better than a 20lb carp!!
As for Carping though, linear complex is very good, had some bad press and some deserved but it has something for everyone, St Johns lake was my nemesis for such a long time, but it taught me to learn about water craft and fish behaviour. Then at 4 in the morning in december this 28.8lb came along
Makes it all worth it!! Sh!t pic that one and im looking rather jaded!!
Linear, Monument, Sandhurst, Hourseshoe lakes are all some of my favourite all for different reasons