CTFishTalk.com: Carp? - Connecticut Lake Fishing ( CT Lake Fishing ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

bigpoppa · Joined: 04 Jul 2011 Posts: 9 Location: Willington, CT

Anyone here do any carp fishing? I regularly see huge carp in Lake Pocotopaug, but I have no idea how to catch them. I did a little research and it seems like it's a whole different world of fishing! Do you need specialized gear? I was thinking of using my surfcasting rod, and putting some carp hooks on there with store-bought bait. Would I be wasting my time?

therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

5 minute guide to carp fishing:

Your surfcasting rod would be more than sufficient, but you can get away with a medium/heavy bass rod (that’s all I use). I’ve been using 15 pound mono, I wouldn’t go any lighter than that… these guys can make some pretty powerful runs. An excellent hook to use is the Gamakatsu split shot/drop shot hook, size 2 or smaller. Size 2 was the smallest they had at wal mart and it works ok for me!

Look up online how to tie a hair rig, that’s really the best way to go. I’ve had the best luck using either canned sweet corn, or tightly balled up (marble sized balls) cheap white bread. I have some commercial fruity flavored dough bait, which I’ve yet to catch a carp with. Anyway, straighten out an old worm hook to thread your bait on the hair, and you can use anything as a bait stop… I usually use a short piece of twig.

Run a 1-2 foot leader, to a swivel, with a sliding 1 or 2 oz sinker… and fish with your reel unlocked or bail open. When the line starts going out there’s no need for a sharp hookset, just smoothly tighten up on your line. You can also fish your hair rig under a bobber rather than on the bottom, both methods have produced for me.
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PB's:
LMB - 4 pounds - Stump Pond, Thompson
Carp - 11 pounds - W. Thompson Lake, Thompson

Still searching for some toothy critters big enough to be worth weighing...

steven1smith · Joined: 05 Apr 2010 Posts: 206 Location: South Windsor

Try tossing out a couple handfuls of corn right near your bait, it will get the carp feeding in that area. And if you've got alot of time on your hands, throw a few handfuls of corn out to where you're fishing a couple days before you're gonna actually fish it.
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A 4lb bass is not going to grow to 8lbs on your wall.

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SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629

Hi Steve!

Talked to a friend who is into Carp fishing.

His trick is to puree some kernnel corn in a blender then put it into an ice cube tray with a weight (small rock) and freeze it.
Then to toss 1/2 a dozen or so of the frozen corn cubes in an area where he knows Carp will congregate.
The cubes will melt slowly and the corn scent will stay in that area for some time keeping the Carp interested.

SeaDog1

therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

now that sounds like a good idea! things i need to try...
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PB's:
LMB - 4 pounds - Stump Pond, Thompson
Carp - 11 pounds - W. Thompson Lake, Thompson

Still searching for some toothy critters big enough to be worth weighing...

Flipper · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 347 Location: Enfield

I use plain white bread. First rip the crust off then fold it in half. Next wrap the bread around the hook and squeeze it until it is a solid mass. It will stay on the hook, and no weight is needed. Watch for that initial run - it's gonna be a powerfull one.
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SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629

JustinSolak · Joined: 17 Jul 2011 Posts: 245 Location: East Hartford, CT

i could go on for days about where to go, when, answer all the whys and give you hundreds of baits and methods to use. my personal best is 29 lbs, two of my buddies are up near 50 fish so far THIS season, many over 20 lbs. Heres a short overview for you beginners to get started nailin some good fish.

look up a good boilie recipe and get a baiting needle. the basis of boilies is a base mix with some eggs rolled into small balls and boiled. for instance, 4 eggs, 1 1/2 cup corn meal, 1 1/2 cup flour. beat the eggs, add liquid flavor and/or color. or add powder flavor (jello mix, pudding mix) to your dry mix. slowly add the dry mix to your eggs til you get a nice dough. make sure you go slow, and make sure things are mixed evenly. roll into small balls no bigger than a quarter, preferably no bigger than a nickle. water to a rolling boil, drop a few in for 2 mins, take em out and let em dry overnight b4 freezing/fridgin. if the water goes off boil when you drop em in, drop less. you can sweeten the water in sugar, roll the baits in salt, sugar, cinammon, etc. after you boil em. experimentation as key.

K, now you got your bait, roughly 400 peices. get a 5 gal bucket. throw in a big thing of oatmeal, a loaf of white bread (rip up all pieces first) a can or 2 of corn, maybe some bread crumbs, anything similar. add some water to it all and get a nice dough goin. pick your spot to fish and bait it. for a good session, ill bait it 3 nights and fish it the 4th. you can try baiting it one night but dont expect results right away. ill even throw some boilies out there (freebies) when i bait it. for best results, half your amount every night. for instance, 12 good balls of bait the first night, 6 the second, 3 the third, fish it the fourth.

for your rig, hair rig is great. just dont go over a foot in length unless you plan on just catchin smaller ones maybe 8-10lbs. you can use a stiff small peice of mono as a stop to keep it from sliding off. even mold a peice of your baiting dough around your weight when you cast in. you NEED a sinker slide, or you'll miss many a fish. and the gamakatsu live bait hooks are what i use. size 2 is swell.

what you're doin is training the fish to feed where you're fishin, when you're fishin. so if you're gonna fish it at 9 at night, bait it at that time every night. get em to recognize your bait as a food source. these fish can be VERY finicky when big, so be patient.

That was as short as i could get it. Sounds like a whole different world with a lot of work. Well, it is. Do your research, experiment. It'll pay off. For you nay sayers who think that your corn or bread balls will work just fine, there's a time and a place for those. When that 25 pounder makes that first run on a bait YOU made by hand, you'll never go back.

Hope this helped. Good Luck to you.
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Fisherman100 · Joined: 22 Nov 2011 Posts: 140 Location: Meriden, CT

Yeah, I do alot of carp fishing, I even caught a carp this year 2011, in november on corn, with a 1/2 surf casting weight with a swivel to allow the weight to slide when the carp takes the bait, a size 4 hook and 3 pieces of corn and just cast it where i see the shadows with a surf casting rod with 20 lb test. You want to have the bail open, My 60$ rod was pulled in the pond by a huge carp when i went to get my sandwich. Reminder, Always have a second person with a huge boat net. Never know what will happen, If you leave your rod, bring a tent stake and rope. tie the rope to the stake and get a key chain clip and clip the clip to the reel and tie the rope to the clip tightly or bye bye rod. you better be ready for a fight.
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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

I caught my Personal Best largemouth bass this year, but the fish that I remember the most vividly from the year is the carp that Fishface (aka Tim) caught at Batterson Park Pond.

Tim and I were each in a kayak and it was after dark. He foul hooked the carp in front of the dorsal fin with a silver Rapala Shallow Shad Rap SSR5 on 15 pound Fireline braid, I think. I got to watch him fight it for 12 minutes. The carp wrapped Tim's line around a buoy and after he unsnagged it, the carp towed him across the pond at over three miles per hour and over more than 25 yards.

I'm glad that I was there to help Tim boat the carp. He was afraid that it would capsize him in his kayak. It weighed close to if not over 30 pounds and was a much prettier fish than I had expected to see. I thought that it would be mushy and slimy, but the gill plate was like bony armor and it wasn't slimy at at all. It was a healthy looking, totally unblemished fish.

My only regret is that I failed to get a better photo of Tim with the carp before he released it. I can't say that foul hooking a huge carp is a goal of mine, but I'd be thrilled if I did. Very Happy

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perfect hook set · Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 1069 Location: Danbury

I've got big carp on a medium action rod with 10lb mono =)
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SolocamSteve · Joined: 13 Feb 2012 Posts: 18 Location: Burlington, Ct

My most vivid memory of a carp was last this past july. I was wading for trout up in new hartford, fishing pools with my 5 wt fly rod, and i hooked into a carp. it was only about 18 inches, but when it hit and i saw the first flash of scales i thought it was a huge brown. needless to say i was very careful bringing this one in, albeit leading to dissapointment when i saw the sucker mouth of a carp.... none the less, it was an awesome experience

Fisherman100 · Joined: 22 Nov 2011 Posts: 140 Location: Meriden, CT

yeah, i was fishin at sage park on the berlin turnpike in meriden with corn and man they were jumping there was one huge one that was a good 3 ft long making these huge jumps i hooked into 5 only caught1 a 2 ftr good fight used 6 lb test boy did that boy run i played him carefully after my past experiences with them, they kept running into the signs in the pond cutting me off with 20 lb line
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fishfinder · Joined: 19 Jun 2011 Posts: 1672 Location: Naugatuck, Ct.

Is a Sucker and Carp the same thing? I thoughtful they were 2 different fish! I catch Suckers all the time Trout fishingbut I dont think they are the same.
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DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Carp have a sucker like mouth but they are not the same as sucker fish.