The State of Carp Fishing in the United States

Many of my friends and family are perfectly content spending the day fishing for 1/2 pound and 1 pound bluegill, 2 pound crappie; and 3 or 4 pound largemouth bass with an occasional channel catfish hooked every now and then. Carp provide a viable alternative to those smaller fish. Catching 10 - 12 pound common carp is normal among fishermen targeting carp.

When I am out fishing in some of the local spots people commonly ask me whether I eat the carp I catch - I don't. Their next reaction is usually very negative. Some people actually shake their head at me in disbelief and continue their line of questioning with comments about it being a waste of time to fish for something you can't eat. Some more knowledgeable fishermen who have tried eating carp or know others who have, often comment about removal of the "mud vein" to help improve the taste.

22 pound fall carp

There is another group of people - including many visitors to this site - who are sickened by the fact that I take great care of the carp I catch and do everything I can to return them to the water unharmed to be caught again another day. Some of them leave comments on my posts expressing their disdain that I promote carp fishing to others as something desirable to do. One person left a rather lengthy comment about how I shouldn't be returning carp to the water at all. He said I should kill them all like he does when he bow hunts for them. Really? Well, no.

I know bow fishing is a legitimate way to catch fish, but I do not support bow fishermen who shoot fish and leave them laying on the bank. I've seen pictures posted on the internet with three or four bow fishermen posing with at least 50 or 60 carp laying on tarps with comments below the picture bragging about their kills. Call me a cynic, but I have a lot of doubts about those guys eating one single fish from their kill. I've seen other pictures and comments about taking the kills and planting them in flower beds for rose bush fertilizer. I understand it's not illegal to bow fish, but I think it should be illegal to kill fish (or any other animal) just for the sake of killing something and then discarding it like an used cigarette butt or an old newspaper.

Bass fishing in the U.S. hasn't always been a multi-million or multi-billion industry either. Bass fishing has benefitted from promoters who have profited handsomely from tournament fishing series and television shows.

Carp fishing is going to get there too someday. It's been widely popular in Europe and other parts of the world for decades. I am completely confident that carp fishing will rise in popularity too. There are economic benefits for companies that cater to carp fisherman. Right now it's probably still in the niche stage, but the momentum is slowly shifting. The possibilities for carp fishing in the U.S. are huge; and I want to be prepared to ride the wave when it does finally arrive.

Here is an example of the popularity of carp fishing in the U.K.: Carp Universe Magazine

Pictures of Carp Caught in 2015

Here are a few of my favorite fish caught in 2015.

More Photo Editing Examples

It's so tempting to edit all the fish pictures that are taken. Sometimes I convince myself that a tweak or two will make a difference, but I am not always right. The two photos below help demonstrate the downside to "over-editing" a photo.

The edited photo has been cropped slightly and the lighting was adjusted to make the fish brighter.

I like the original photo much better than the edited version. The edited photo looks "fake" and even slightly out of focus. The original photo may have been out of focus, but in the original photo it does not stand out and is not as noticeable. The editing emphasizes the lack of focus even more.

On a mobile device, the edited version appeared acceptable, but in the larger format of the laptop or desktop, the photo suffers quite a bit.

Edited photo

Original photo

This appears to be a clear case of "too much of a good thing" actually creating an undesirable result.

I think the photo stands on it's own without any adjustments to the lighting. The photo seems to stand on it's own in hindsight, but if I did anything to it at all; I should have cropped it slightly and be done with it.

Photo Filters to Improve Carp Fishing Pictures

I have been playing around with a photo filter app I found on Google Play Store. Here are a few of my first attempts with it.

Small mouth buffalo with the lighting improved significantly compared to the original cell phone picture.

The filters allowed me to remove most of the green from my John Deere sweatshirt and highlight the fish to a greater degree.

My current personal best common carp at 29 pounds and a few ounces

I will always love it when I catch multiples

Those pictures were some of the photos I experimented with when learning to use the tools available via Photo Filters in Google Play Store.

I have continued to use the application the past few days on various photos with mixed results. I have noticed that photos which look great in the smaller format provided on a mobile device (e.g. cell phone and tablet) tend to distort when viewed on my laptop.

I will keep using the Photo Filter app to "clean up" photos I post on Facebook, but I think editing those photos posted to the carp fishing blog need to be edited in a larger format on the laptop.

Another point worth noting about the free app is that from time to time when you open your cell phone to use it, Photo Filters sometimes displays unprompted advertisements that require me to "exit" them in order to use my phone. I don't really mind it at this point, because the "pro's" do seem to outweigh the "con's". I will, however; continue to be on the look out for a photo filtering app that works even better.

25 Pound Common Carp and 2 pound Wild Feral Goldfish

As we get deeper into autumn I fully realize that every fishing session I plan might be the last one for 2016. After water temperatures fall into the 40's fish activity will fall off considerably and fewer fish will be caught. The chances of catching carp in those cooler temperatures drop off too. But the weather on Friday was quite good with sunshine, few clouds and temperatures in the upper 50's to keep the water temperatures in check.

I caught 11 carp and a catfish with weights ranging from 25 pounds on the high side to 2 pounds on the low side.

Here are my two favorite pictures from the session:

25 pounds



Wild goldfish, 2 pounds

That is the first goldfish I have caught since I started targeting carp several years ago. The scale pattern and metallic coloring were very cool.

Here are some other pictures from the same session:

25 pounder in the carry sling being released



Swim away of the 25 pounder

1 set of two double runs I had (and landed successfully)

The first set of double gold I landed. The fat fish weighs in the mid teens for a reference point on the smaller one.

This was my first fish of the day and I didn't get the lighting quite right for the photo.

I used a carry sling and landing mat for all of my catches. This helps protect the fish from inadvertent injury.

Thanks for stopping by the website and looking around. I hope you enjoyed your visit and I hope you come back for a visit again in the future.

Carp Release

First Triple Catch: 2 Carp and 1 Small Mouth Buffalo

In the 3 years I have been fishing for carp I have had a lot of exciting days. Few have measured up to the days I have been fortunate enough to catch to catch multiple carp at nearly the same time.

 

The video below documents a triple catch I had this past fall near Lake Erie. I was running around like a one-legged man for a few minutes, but I landed all three fish successfully.

 



New Personal Best Common Carp: 29 Pounds 2 Ounces

I have been fishing a lot this fall season. Beginning in late September when the temperatures started to cool down a little, I started thinking it might be possible to catch a new personal best common carp.

My previous best was 26 pounds and change. I caught that fish a short time after I started targeting carp exclusively almost 4 years ago.

I am lucky to work for a great company with fantastic benefits, which includes a generous number of vacation days. I scheduled a vacation day yesterday and headed out to one of my favorite fishing spots.

I ended up with 7 fish (6 carp and 1 catfish) overall, but one fish stood out above the rest - a 29 pound 2 ounce "monster" on Halloween.

While reeling in the fish I remember commenting to my friend Bill who was fishing nearby that the fish was kind of lazy and meandering. I carefully adjust the drag on my Sonik reels to ensure I had just the right amount of tension while keeping the drag lose enough to guard against the dread hook pull.

I wasn't making a lot of progress at first, but slowly and steadily the fish drew nearer the bank. And then the fish was safely secured in the net, I knew it was something special.

And the weigh scales confirmed it - 29 lbs. 2 oz.

I hope you enjoy pictures of that fish and the others.

Big carp, big mouth

This fish was not easy to pose properly. I am always surprised at the dead weight of fish weighing more than 25 pounds.

This is my favorite picture of the 29 lb. 2 oz. that has become my new personal best common carp.

Upper teens

This fish has been eating very well lately it seems.

This fish is on the way to bigger and better things. It's getting thick in the head, which is a sign of future possibilities.

Another mid teens

Look at that gut

Another quality Halloween carp

Another one

In case you are wondering, here is a picture of my previous personal best 26 pounder:

Caught in October 2014

Pictures of Recent Carp Catches

Here are some pictures of various catches from a recent session. I ended up with 8 carp and a small-mouth buffalo. I also have a pretty funny video I will be posting later on. I was using panko, chicken feed, peanut bird pellets crumbled up, and cream corn with peach or butternut flavor and hook bait dipped in 3D powder. These fish were all caught within 20 minutes of recasting fresh pack bait. Waiting longer than that yesterday did not produce results.

Carp Fishing Blooper Video

Here's a video from a few days ago of me releasing one of my better catches in 2016. It's kind of a blooper clip. You will see why pretty quickly.

Vacation Day Carp Session

In the autumn of each year I look forward to the chances to catch some high quality carp specimens. I am lucky to have accumulated quite a bit of vacation in my 20 years working at my employer, so I can actually fish several days during October.

After blanking on Saturday after driving 3 hours round trip, I headed out Monday morning with high hopes and the carp did not disappoint me. In fact I caught 9 carp and a small mouth buffalo. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

1st fish of the day

2nd fish of the day

3rd fish

Carp close-up

This fish was the second fish in a double header.
I was struggling to get pictures before another fish screamed off,
so I snapped this picture of the fish while still in the landing net.



This is the first fish of the double header.
It was the big fish of the session at 20 pounds.

This fish was still eating pack bait even after I captured it in the landing net.
It made me laugh so hard I decided to snap a picture as a reminder.

My last fish of the day was caught while I was actually packing up my gear to leave.

Here is a little better picture of the small mouth buffalo. I love this fish.
For a small mouth buffalo, this fish was in pristine condition.
It's not the biggest buffalo I've caught, but it's definitely my favorite.
And in case you are wondering, this fish weighed a little over 16 pounds.

If I am lucky I can get a few more sessions in before it turns too cold to catch. The last few years on Halloween I have had very good fishing luck. My fingers are crossed for this weekend.