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Author:
therieldeal
Date:
Apr 05, 2011
Subject:
Thompson Carping 4/3
Message:
(I’m putting this in river reports because the location is a small pond located on the French River) Early last week I went to a small local pond that I had good luck bass fishing at last fall. One of my normal fishing spots is right near a pipe where a small stream passes under the road and discharges into the pond. When I arrived I noticed a big school of carp, all different sizes, congregating at the mouth of this pipe! I didn’t have anything but lures with me that day, but I managed to hook a small one with a tiny yellow bug… a trout lure I think. Anyway, I decided to head back there this past weekend with a loaf of stale bread and a bobber. I’ll pause here to mention that I’m not too diverse in my rods/reels... in fact I only have one setup. It’s a short medium/light rod with a spincaster reel and 8 lb mono. Using this to fish for carp wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made… Anyway, I broke up a couple slices of bread and threw them out in the water to bring the fish in, since they weren’t congregating as they were last week. The stream coming in right there helped spread the bait around and draw them in. Within a few minutes there were dozens! Some of them were absolutely HUGE! I put a lump of bread on my hook and tossed it out there with a bobber, and within a few minutes I had a hit. I played it for about 30 seconds, all the while this hog was running hard pulling out line. Suddenly it turned around and made a run straight for me, then whipped around and headed the other way… SNAP… I guess my drag was set too tight, it snapped off right at the reel :(. I loosened the drag, and tied on a new hook. A few minutes later I hooked into another behemoth. This time, he snapped the line off down in the water. I’m suspicious that my round plastic 99 cent bobber had something to do with it. I’ve always thought it looked like the metal bobber hook might damage the line under heavy load. Tried again… tied on a snap swivel and clipped on a snelled hook. Tied a ~10” piece of line to the bobber, and clipped that into the snap swivel as well. Chucked it out there, and it got slammed again. I wrestled with this guy for a while, finally got him over to the shore. My friend grabbed my net (which was borderline too small…) and scooped him up. I didn’t have a scale or tape measure with me, but I put my rod/reel in there for size reference: [img:ab02d7df36]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e101/therieldeal/Fishing/0403011931.jpg[/img:ab02d7df36] I usually hate fishing with bait, but the action was relatively steady and I dare say that this was more fun than bass fishing with lures! No acrobatics, but my god these guys put up a good fight. I think I might make myself a strike indicator & rod holder so I can carp fish while I bass fish… the best of both worlds. Somewhere in there I also caught a small grass carp, maybe 10-12” long. I thought I read somewhere that common carp are ok, but grass carp are an invasive species. I tried to find the reference today but I didn’t have any luck. Should I not be throwing them back? If not, what can I do with a grass carp aside from throw it away? Bury it in the garden as fertilizer? Cut bait for pike maybe? I hope this wasn’t too long/boring! I can’t wait to try again Thursday afternoon if the weather is good. I’ll be shopping for a sturdier rod/reel and some heavier line this evening… any recommendations? I’m not a fan of spinning reels so I’ll be looking at either a larger spincaster, or perhaps a baitcaster setup.
Author:
PECo
Date:
Apr 05, 2011
Subject:
That's awesome!
Message:
I see carp in most of the waters that I fish and it's frustrating that they won't bite anything I throw. They and I developed an ignore each other relationship last year. I guess that I'll bring a sandwich with me the next time I head out and try to meet some carp. Thanks for the report.
Author:
mustang11
Date:
Apr 05, 2011
Message:
Not too bad. Those bigger carp are a challenge yet pretty fun on lighter tackle. Where I fish in the summer for bass off of the CT river, if the action is slow, I will set up an extra pole with a bait casting reel and a weight, worm and small hook. Usually the carp won't touch it until it gets quiet with no other fish in the area. Then its a nice surprise when they start taking line. The drag does have to be set right as I have even broken the hooks themselves on some of the bigger ones. It is good to know bread works well, I have heard the rumors that a lot of people use either that or corn to catch them. Brian
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