Hi Mate,
Maybe you are playing them for too long? “several minutes”. How much elastic are you using? Try a length of black hydro at 3ft (I know people that use only 12″) make the rest of the length up with dacron. When you hook the fish, ship straight back nice and smooth, keeping the pole parallel to the water. Break down, lift and net.

get yourself some 13 H and take your time with them, bring them back to your topkit nice and steady and point the topkit at them when they are close to you as to not put strain on the hook hold, when their head reaches the surface then steadily put pressure on so they cant get their head down again. It’s not what you hook that counts but whats in the net mate so only put pressure on them when they are either near a snag or their head is up 😉

how big are the fishes>?
i prefer 15h over black hydro these days for what it’s worth.
try it, you might like it.

Do others around you lose alot of fish too ? I go to one place and everyone loses loads of carp I think its just some venues.

you mention laccy and hook size but what pattern of hook are you using?

barbed hooks,, sorted !!! :p

Almost certainly the carp you are losing are in fact foul hooked fish. The typical time to lose most foul hooked carp on balanced tackle is when you have them close in and playing them on your top 3. The change of angle makes the hook slip from the carps body. If the carp is hooked in the mouth. Then there is no change in the angle of the hook once you start to play the carp on your top 3 so your unlikely to lose the fish.

I would suggest that if your using balanced tackle. Then, 98% of all lost carp are because of foul hooking. Blunt hooks acount for maybe .1% of lost fish and maybe 1% because the carp is very lightly hooked in a soft bit of skin and the hook cuts though that skin. Less likely if your not bullying the fish after the carps first run.

Try using a Tubertini 175 in a size 2 or 3 if this problem continues. You will land more foul hooked carp with these hooks than any other hook i have come across. Not a bad hook for landing carp that are hooked in the mouth too!

I have just been to a venue where I lost more carp than I usually do and I found through landing some that their mouths were badly mutilated. Some had unusually small mouths due to continued catch and realease. The venue I was on does insist on barbless hooks and no braided hook lengths. I can only put the poor mouth condition down to anglers using large line diameters and big barbless hooks, as there are alot of 10lb+ carp in this venue.
Are the carp you are catching on this venue in good condition?

have you been fishing open water or on a shelf