Difference in Fishing and Being a Fisherman

For most of my life catching fish I simply threw a line in the water and hoped for the best. When I started carp fishing I had to make adjustments to that carefree approach in the name of catching more carp.

I like to study and learn new things, so fishing for carp is a no-brainer for me. A worm on a hook won't produce many carp and certainly not on a consistent basis. So I've had to learn ways to entice the carp to eat the bait I'm offering. For illustration, consider an example from yesterday's session.

I was fishing with three rods and had landed multiple fish on my left rod and right rod, but none on the middle rod at midday. So when re-baiting I took notice of the hair rigs, hook lengths, etc. for clues. I noticed that the hook length on the middle rod was about 1 inch shorter than the hook length on the other two rods that were producing all the carp. I switched out the shorter hook length with a 6" rig, re-casted and hopefully waited.

It didn't take long.

I caught the biggest fish of the session 90 minutes later on that middle rod.

22 pounder caught on 15 pound test Berkley Trilene Big Game monofilament

So many of my winter weekends will be filled with reading, watching videos and strategizing new ways to improve my fisherman skills vs. buying the newest, shiniest, latest and greatest tackle and just fishing. I want to learn to use what I've already got more effectively. Lucky for me Michigan winters provide plenty of time for that as we wait for things to thaw out each spring. But I think time spent strategizing and learning will pay off big time with more carp in future sessions.