Any Carp Fisherman Here?

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Nikkogi

Gold Member
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Jan 19, 2009
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2,342
Hey guys, I was wondering if there are any avid carp fisherman on here. I have been an AVID fisherman my entire life. I live in New England and I truly believe it's one of the best fisheries in the world. I mostly fish saltwater as my Dad and I have a boat we keep in Newburyport MA. But, I also fish freshwater quite a bit.

Recently, I have discovered Carp fishing. In North America, they are not a prized gamefish like they are in Europe so they are extremely easy to catch.I went a few weekends in October and caught about 5 Carp total. The biggest was a whopping 27 pounds! The beauty of it is that I use sweetcorn for bait and it's DIRT CHEAP!

Nikkogi
 
27 lbs is a nice one. I fish for carp a lot. Also use whole kernel sweet corn, and wheaties as well. They are hard fighters.
 
One of the best fights I've ever had was when I hooked a BIG carp on my 5 weight fly rod. Think I had 2x tippet on and was using a GloBug (salmon egg pattern). Saw him tailing, cast a bit upstream from him and the fight was on. He ran upstream a bit and then rocketed downstream. Got him sort of under control until he got close enough to see my legs and then - back to the races. Took about 45 minutes to land him. :D

I land them significantly more quickly with my bow. :D

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Beckerhead #42
 
I don't target them exclusively as of right now, but I love hooking into them. One of the best fights of my fishing career was a 10lb carp on my light smallmouth rod and 4lb line. Almost 20 minutes and came close to spooling me several times. The little spinning reel was only rated for 80 yds of line, and I'm sure there was less than that on it.
 
carp are great fighters & usually you need real food to interest them. we use line 10lbs or smaller & very small treble hooks with tiny split shot. our best bait is post toasties & big red. mixing this up to where you have a tuff paste. carp generally are light biters so you really need to pay attention, windy days i do'nt carpfish since it's important to study the small line movements. there are procedures to bleed out carp & make good dinner fare out of them--too involved to mention here. in japan & europe carp are regularly put on the table. biologists say carp are our smartest fresh h2o fish & can remember being hooked for a year.
dennis
 
GingivitisKahn said:
One of the best fights I've ever had was when I hooked a BIG carp on my 5 weight fly rod. Think I had 2x tippet on and was using a GloBug (salmon egg pattern). Took about 45 minutes to land him.

GingivitisKahn, we have a local Bass Pro who lives in our area that did one of his weekly shows at Cowan Lake doing this. It was unreal watching him catch these on a flyrod & trying to get them into the boat. Too bad Suffix doesn't make 65# braid for fly lines . . . :D
We used to do the same with the bow when we were youngsters growing up on our farm. The bottom cornfields would flood each spring from the creeks that ran thru our farm & would catch them in the shallows. I might have to give up my bass rods next spring & get my fly rod out of the closet. Looks like it could be fun.
Be safe.
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JUST1MOR said:
GingivitisKahn said:
One of the best fights I've ever had was when I hooked a BIG carp on my 5 weight fly rod. Think I had 2x tippet on and was using a GloBug (salmon egg pattern). Took about 45 minutes to land him.

GingivitisKahn, we have a local Bass Pro who lives in our area that did one of his weekly shows at Cowan Lake doing this. It was unreal watching him catch these on a flyrod & trying to get them into the boat. Too bad Suffix doesn't make 65# braid for fly lines . . . :D
We used to do the same with the bow when we were youngsters growing up on our farm. The bottom cornfields would flood each spring from the creeks that ran thru our farm & would catch them in the shallows. I might have to give up my bass rods next spring & get my fly rod out of the closet. Looks like it could be fun.
Be safe.
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They don't jump much but man are they torpedoes! Friggers get in the current and they are *really* tough to turn. It's lots of fun trying though. :D


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Beckerhead #42
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As a kid I use to get small carp for the pond in my parents back yard from a local pond. They were very easy to catch on buttermilk dough. Last year I found a swam of larger carp ( 2 to 7 libs) in a group of 10+ and I had been panfish/trout fishing with an ultralight spinning rod all day. I hooked four of them, and each time they broken my line which was 4 lb test. After looseing four hooks I gave up on them. I plan on trying this spring to get a few.
 
I have a camp along a side channel of the Mississippi.Fishing can be done right outside the door . I buy floating commercial fish food and feed the carp. Then scatter some canned corn. Once they eat the floating food they start on the corn. Ill put two kernels on an octopus hook and use a 1 ounce weight, pitch it out , place in a holder and keep the line tight. When a carp feels that weight, he will often bolt, the octopus hook catches at the corner of his lips , the rod straightens out and the fight ensues. Its quite fun.
 
There are a few places around here (WI) where Mulberry trees overhang water. They school and wait for the berries to fall.
Fly casting to them with a purple or black woolly bugger is a blast.
 
I caught lots when I was little and live next to a river. They are fun to catch and grow pretty big. I target them on weekdays around local ponds after work with a fly rod.


I rather go steelhead fishing than carp, but they are fun none the less.
 
I was a kid during WWII. My family moved to Portland, OR in 1942 so the adults could work in the war industries. Just north of Portland and reachable by city bus/trolley was the Colombia River and a vast area called the 'slough.' This was a shallow, swampy area many square miles in extent just south of the actual river. At certain times of the year, the carp would come into the sloughs so thick you could almost walk on them. The only sound you heard was that weird sucking nose they make at the surface.

Anyway, we fished them with any kind of bait and also shot them with bows and arrows. Used to take big gunnysacks of them home, much to the displeasure of the bus/trolley operators. They were a welcome protein addition since most forms of meat were severly rationed and sold out quickly when available in the stores. Horse meat (not rationed), fish, and even lowly carp became important foods.

BTW, I did catch an episode of 'Diners, Drive ins, and Dives' when Guy Fieri visited, I believe an eastern eatery, where the main menu item was carp cooked several different ways. Guy was amazed and said it was some of the best fish he'd eaten. All in how you cook it I guess.
 
lifterg said:
There are a few places around here (WI) where Mulberry trees overhang water. They school and wait for the berries to fall.
Fly casting to them with a purple or black woolly bugger is a blast.
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Ive caught carp under mullberry trees using mulberries. Ive also caught them on wild grapes.
 
there is a reservoir that has carp that the rangers want badly caught out of there, but few target carp...i want the good fight; i will take some of the bait suggestions here and take my shot...i could never figure out how to catch them...
 
Carp & redhorse I prefer to bowfish (probably because I'm allowed to). Always like to eat these smoked!
 
whats the life span of carp? there are 3 living in my irrigation pond and they have been there as far back as i can remember (18 years or so) and who knows how long before that.

never hooked one but then again i'v never really tried
 
plowboy87 said:
whats the life span of carp? there are 3 living in my irrigation pond and they have been there as far back as i can remember (18 years or so) and who knows how long before that.

never hooked one but then again i'v never really tried
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They live for a while. Are you sure it's the same 3?
 
well every year when the ice melts there are 3 massive carp basking in the sun. so it must be the same unless carp can get that big over a winter
 
My buddy and I go each year and get as many of the buggers as we can when they go up the ditches for spawning. We use bow and arrow and I usually have 200lbs or so of carp meet in the freezer for my dogs when we are all done.

For a good fighting fish I like catching channel cat fish (my biggest is 37") and big muskies/pike (several over 40"). Winter is all about ice fishing for me though and I love hooking big lake troup and also walleye. Good eating in both cases.

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I like to bow fish carp. hope to do a little of that this year on the Yakima river
 
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