2nd Best Reason I Started Catching More Carp

When I started researching carp fishing on the internet and the Carp Anglers Group discussion board, I read a lot about using boilies for catching carp. I had no idea what a boilie was, but I ordered some anyway. The first carp I ever caught was with a pineapple boilie in fact.

But when I switched to pineapple maize, I started catching more fish.



Graphic courtesy of WorldClassicBaits.com

I purchased a 40 pound sack of field corn from Gander Mountain earlier this year and have boiled about 20 pounds of it up to use in my ground bait mixes. I don't know about infusing the flavor into the corn yet, but I am pretty confident that I could use the boiled corn on my hair rig and catch fish. If I try it at some point I will do it in small batches and soak it in flavoring under refrigeration. I am sure it's not quite the same as the vacuum seal you get from "commercial canning", but I might try it sometime.

Best Thing That Helped Me Catch Carp

I started fishing for carp last year and employed the Nike method - "just do it" (tm). I picked up a few tips here and there on the internet and started using braided line, learned to tie a hair rig, learned about inline leads, etc. After a few months of carp fishing and catching 9 or 10 carp in spite of my lack of knowledge, I stumbled across the single best tip to date - using smaller swivels.

Ashima swivels (Photo courtesy AshimaUK.com)

I was using size 2 swivel that I purchased at Cabela's. It was too big in relation to the inline leads I use and was basically letting the carp pull the hook bait free without any resistance. Using the smaller size 8 swivels create a bolt effect causing the carp to feel resistance and then run away and thereby hooking itself.

I'll post about the 2nd best thing that ever happened to my carp fishing soon.

Pineapple Scopex Pink Pop Up Dumbbells

My wife is a reluctant carp fishing person. She tags along to provide moral support and take pictures a lot. She's been there through rain, sleet, light snow, wind, and freezing temps. A few months ago I twisted her arm and suggested that she also fish a little.

Today, I headed out early and fished a few hours before Linda arrived. Upon her arrival she asked me to bait up a rod with her favorite bait -- High Visual Neon pineapple scopex pink pop-up dumbbell. Within 30 minutes she had her first fish on the bank -- a small mouth buffalo.

Here I am posing with Linda's fish. (She doesn't like to hold them.)

I caught a fish that got away before I could get him in the net, but netted this little guy a little later on.

My first fish today weighing in at 8 - 9 pounds.

It didn't take long for Linda to hook another one, but that one got away. Then shortly after that she netted this one.

Linda's third fish in 45 minutes with me posing it for her, since she doesn't like to hold them.

She decided to leave shortly after that, saying that she needed to let me catch some. Ha. Ha.

It took a while, but I did hook a nice fish, but goofed up and tightened the drag too far when fighting the fish and pulled the hook.

With some dark looking rain clouds in the distance, I decided to start packing up just in case the forecasted 40% chance of rain decided to invade our fishing session.Luckily the rain skirted around us to the south.

I fished another 45 minutes and had just about decided to pack it in and head for the house. I was walking to my right rod to retrieve it and load up when I saw the line tighten. It was a windy day so I figured it was just a gust of wind tightening and contracting the line. Just as I bent over to pick up the rod, I got a screaming run!

I knew it felt big, but approaching the net I found a nice surprise on the line. I had actually packed up the scales already, but had to dig them out to weigh this very nice fish. It turned out to be the 2nd heaviest fish I've ever caught weighing in at 23 pounds 10 ounces.

23 pounds, 10 ounces of common carp goodness

Special thanks for Chuck for netting the fish for me and taking the picture.

Long Weekend Coming Up

With the long weekend coming up, I'm looking forward to catching some carp. Hopefully we'll be out fishing two of the three days.

I'm Jonesing to do Some Carp Fishing

I wasn't able to fish this weekend and next weekend isn't looking good either. I think I have withdrawal!

Looking at some pictures of past catches helps a little. :-)

Ultimate Carp Fishing Vehicle

For those that just have to have the most recent, up to date, trendy off-road vehicle the KiraVan  (tm)is a perfect match. It's part RV, part 4 x 4, part mobile command center, and in many ways cool enough to make even the wealthiest rap stars jealous.

But best of all, with this vehicle you can fish even the most remote areas of the globe for a fort night without coming home!


Photo courtesy Brian Ferry, KiraVan, and Applied Minds LLC

The vehicle can alternate between all time 4-wheel and part-time 6-wheel drive, has 22 cameras to monitor the surroundings and can travel up to 2,000 miles on a tank of fuel.

The KiraVan™ tractor is a modified Mercedes-Benz Unimog U500NA with a Mercedes Benz 6-cylinder  in-line 260HP high-efficiency intercooled turbo-diesel engine providing 700ft-lb of torque.  The chassis frame has been stretched and reinforced, a four-door composite crew cabin added, and an off-road articulating fifth-wheel trailer hitch attached.

The combined tractor and trailer unit weighs in at more than 23 tons. The vehicle also has 2 alternators providing more than 800 amps of charging power. 




Photo courtesy Brian Ferry, KiraVan and Applied Minds LLC

And in case you're thinking of building one in your back yard, you better have a big, fat checkbook, plenty of room on the credit cards, home equity line, etc. because the cost of in the range of "if you have to ask, you can't afford it". And expect to spend more than 4 years to complete the project.

Trying Out New Fishing Spots

I like to fish new spots every now and then, but it's not without a few risks in the process. But how do you know whether or not it's better than another spot unless you try it out?

This morning we tried a new spot at Sterling State Park. It's in the same lagoon we usually fish, but farther west. The plan was to fish a spot just off the walking trail, but finding a spot with room enough for two people proved difficult. That part of the shoreline is not maintained/mowed like the areas around the east parking lot, so we headed farther west and crossed the walking bridge to a floating fishing pier.

A view from the pier looking west

A view from the pier facing south

My spot fishing from the pier

We fished here until 10:45 a.m. and then decided to pack up and try another spot. I had no bites, no runs and no fish. My fishing partner caught 2 small carp below 5 pounds fishing from the opposite side of the pier.

The best part of fishing here was a very nice bald eagle that flew overhead around mid-morning real slow and slow cruising the lagoon looking for a few tasty morsels.

We walked more than a 1/2 mile back to the east parking lot and got set up a little before noon.

It doesn't look like much, but it's been a very successful spot for me this year.
I've caught more than 30 carp from this particular spot.

18 pounds

After 3 1/2 hours of silence at the new location, I landed this nice specimen within 20 minutes of putting my lines in the water at my normal spot. This one was a strong swimmer. I knew right away that it was a nice fish. It made three separate strong runs, but ultimately land in my net.

I caught another smaller carp later in the day, but didn't get a picture.

My lucky red carp fishing shirt was good for a quality fish today, but I can only imagine what might have been if we'd stuck to the original location early on in the morning instead of trying something new. But you know what they say, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Reusing Old Fish Hooks

Size 4 hook

Before I started carp fishing I didn't really worry a great deal about the hooks I used to catch bluegill, bass and crappie. But fishing for carp is a different story. Sharp hooks are a basic necessity to increase success rates for landing big, bad carp in the net.

I use braided line and when it starts to fray a little I replace it. The line below the swivel down to the hair rig always frays first. The reasons are obvious - the rig drags along the bottom of the lake or river on the retrieve, scrapping against rocks and debris along the way. So early on in my carp fishing exploits, I started replacing old hooks nearly every or every other fishing trip.

Today I found a stash of old hooks in my tackle box. I checked them for sharpness and decided to re-tie some of them (the sharper ones of course).

I'm heading down to Sterling State Park tomorrow, so I might get a chance to try some of them out. If re-using old hooks turns out to be a bad idea, I'll write about it in a future post.

Scouting Potential Carp Fishing Venues

I spent some time this week scouting for new fishing venues. One night after work I visited nearby Crosswinds Marsh in New Boston. The marsh was created in the 1990's following expansion of the Metro Airport, which included development of some wetlands. Crosswinds was created to offset the destruction with wetlands replacement.




Late July to August weather patterns have left the marsh with lots of lily pads, moss and vegetation. That is great for carp, but not so good for carp fishing. I look forward to returning to this spot next spring before the vegetation kicks into high gear.

I did not see any carp, but I did see potential signs. As we walked through the winding wooden walk-ways forming trails throughout the marsh, I noticed fish moving between the lily pads. Some of the fish were large fish, which to me indicates potential carp. I guess it could be large mouth bass moving the lilies like that, but some of the fish were large based on the movement.

Here are some pictures:

Rain, Thunderstorms - Catching Michigan Carp

We actually started off the morning hoping to fish at Crosswinds Marsh off of Haggerty Road in New Boston at 6:15 a.m. The site looks very "carpy", but this time of year it's very weedy. I'll be going back to that spot next spring to give it a try.

So we decided to drive down to Sterling State Park. Shortly after arriving at 7:30 a.m. the rain started.
Then the lightning started.

We hustled to get the lines in the water and then retreated to the vehicle to wait out the roughest part of the thunderstorm. I got a run and had to jump out of the truck to land it. As luck would have it, the rain slacked up a little so we could get a quick picture. That first fish was the smallest of the day.

Then it was back to the truck to stay dry, dodge more lightning bolts, and keep an eye on the weather radar on the Android Smartphone.

I seemed to build momentum as the day went by. It took a couple of hours for the first and then an hour and then the fish started to come 30 minutes apart. I wish I could have fished several more hours this afternoon, but that's always the case when the fish are biting well.

First fish of the day

12 pounds

Biggest fish of the day weighing 14 pounds and change.
I might need to check my scale because this fish felt bigger in the net.

10 pounds

9 pounds

12 pounds