Underwater Carp Video

Carp Killer

Patrick put the GMC Sierra in reverse and eased the trailer hauling his top of the line fiberglass bass boat down the boat ramp like he’d done 100’s of times. He put the truck in park as the trailer’s rear wheel rolled into the water’s edge. He winched the boat off the trailer and into the water, then tied it off so he could return to park the truck and trailer. The morning was shaping up to be a great day for fishing.

He returned to the boat and fired up the 200 horse outboard motor, circled the boat 180 degrees and thrust the throttle forward. The boat was humming at full speed within a few seconds. The wake slammed onto the boat ramp as he left the launching area and proceeded to the main lake.

Fifteen years ago, Lake Wannabee had enjoyed a reputation locally as the Holy Grail for bass fishing. There were three professional tournaments and numerous other amateur level events hosted annually that raised thousands of dollars for local and national charitable organizations.

Patrick grew up fishing the lake. He joined his grandpa almost every Saturday morning when the weather was hospitable from the age of 8 for several hours on the water. They’d take the fourteen foot aluminum jon boat and its puny 9 horse outboard to fish the outer edges for blue gill, crappie, and catch an occasional bass or channel catfish. Using night crawlers for bait, they’d cast out a bobber about 10 feet from the boat toward the shoreline and wait for the bobber to drop below the water line, jerk the line slightly by moving the rod tip upwards, reel like hell and land the fish. It didn’t much matter what they caught, but that they caught something. Anything would do. It didn’t much matter, but it was a way to get out of the house and spend time with grandpa.

By his 17^th birthday, he’d saved enough money earned mowing lawns to buy the first boat of his own. It was a ragged out flat bottom painted flat black. The guy selling it said he used it for duck hunting. It was ugly as hell, but he didn’t care. It was a boat and it meant he could fish on his own anytime he wanted. Many times he’d head out in the late afternoons during daylight savings time months and every Sunday after church during the fall of the year and even some winter weekends as long as the lake wasn’t iced over.

He traded up to an aluminum V-bottom and then to his first used fiberglass boat with a real live well. He fished his first bass tournament in that boat and even finished a respectable 9^th in the event. Truth be told, he should have won the tournament. He’d spent more time fishing every nook and cranny of the lake; more than the other fifty-plus contestants combined. But with their sponsorships for tackle, rods, reels and a few who were pro staff for the big three boat manufacturers who also provided sponsorships to include fully rigged bass boats, he was outgunned.

And now ten years later he’d been a pro staff angler himself for two of the same three bass boat manufacturers. They were practically throwing money at him at times hoping for a few minutes of precious TV time; a priceless product placement worth its weight in gold or a least it’s weight in plastic or silicone so prevalent with the manufacturers of popular bass lures. It was a good gig for those lucky enough to get the opportunity.

All the time on the water, traveling the country fishing the professional bass touring series events had been hard on his marriage.

Patrick married Kelly two months after high school graduation. She was voted homecoming queen as a senior and named most likely to marry a redneck by her classmates. He was definitely redneck, but what the hell; he was her redneck after all. Besides they’d been going steady since 5^th grade. They were the “it” couple throughout high school and getting married was almost an afterthought. It just happened, as everyone expected.

They lived simply the first couple of years with Patrick preferring to spend any spare money left over at the end of the month on fishing equipment instead of saving up for better living conditions, clothes, groceries, or a better car for Kelly. When she’d suggest a purchase for her convenience, he always resisted preferring instead to prioritize everything toward fishing.

She had to admit, he was good at it. He was getting paid to fish, something he’d been doing for free two-thirds of his life. His first win at a $10,000 to win out-of-state event down in Okeechobee, Florida turned into a nice second honeymoon. They left Okeechobee Sunday night after the final weigh in and arrived at Boca Raton a few hours later. They got a room at a beachfront hotel and spent a week lounging around the pool and on the beach watching the waves rolling in from the Atlantic. He won the next three professional tournaments he entered and used the money buying a second bass boat, a new 4 x 4 to tow it with and even bought a little house for the two of them.

Through the years she’d always played second fiddle to fishing. Fishing paid the bills, but for the past few years, money from fishing was slowing a little.

Patrick pulled back on the throttle and let the boat settle in the water as it neared a shallow bay on the north end of Lake Wannabee a full 3 miles from the launch ramp. It’s where the bass came to spawn. Lately he’d been spending more and more time in this area of the lake than years past. He’d need a calculator to count the numbers of prize winning bass he hauled out of this honey hole. Three of the keepers he caught here during the bass tournament a few years ago, clinched the tournament and the $25,000 purse. He won enough to pay for the new hair plugs to cover up his balding head and replace the veneers on his upper and lower teeth. He needed to look good in the winner’s circle, on the TV commercials his sponsors insisted he be in and for the occasional out of town rendezvous becoming more and more common as he spent more and more time away from home. With the slowing economy the big money tournaments were fewer and farther between and Kelly didn’t like spending so much time away from home anymore. She knew the deal; keep the fisherman happy and the checkbook stayed fat and happy. She sure as hell didn’t mind spending the money he won.

His favorite fishing spot was cooling off lately. In year’s past, fishing this area guaranteed a 7 or 8 pound fish or even two or three every fishing trip. Something was definitely up and hurting the fishing. And it wasn’t only in this area of the lake. It was getting harder and harder to catch a trophy sized bass in the lake period. There were rumors some of the manufacturers were considering pulling out of the sponsorship deals on the annual pro tournament. And with sponsorship drying up, that would put an end to local pro tournament events on the lake requiring even more travel to events farther from home.

Some of the locals said the slower fishing might be caused by the algae blooms that were becoming more common each year. The theory was that with more housing development near the lake and a couple of luxury resorts catering to out of town bass fishing weekend warriors.

Who could blame them anyway? If you got the dough to build a mega mansion you ought to have the right to fertilize the grass to keep it green. Run-off? The water’s got to go somewhere right? If it’s near the lake, it’s logically going to run into the lake. Right?

The way he saw it, the realtors and developers were making money from his reputation anyway. It was his fishing success nationally that was bringing in the weekenders wanting to fish where the pro’s fish anyhow. They should be paying him a commission.

The development could be causing the algae blooms, but little could be done about that. Patrick had another theory. It was caused by the freakin’ invasive species - German carp - that were taking over the lake. You could hardly spit off the boat these days without the spittle hitting one of them.

Everybody knows carp eat bass eggs during the spawn. He’d met one of the biologists from the university once and asked him about the carp eating bass eggs. The biologist was not really definitive with an answer, but he said it couldn’t be ruled out, but he didn’t really know for sure.

Who cares if they really know for sure. Who knows anything for sure anyway? If it couldn’t be ruled out, then that was enough for him.

But he had a fix for them freakin’ kraut fish. He had some control over them. Damn jack wagon mother… Errgh! He was getting all worked up just thinking about it. Time to get to work.

The boat had drifted 10 feet from shore and sat in two feet of water. This area was always good for some of the larger carp that seemed to school nearby. If bass spawned here then it stood to reason carp probably did too. But who really knew for sure? All he knew is the German carp were costing him chances at some prize money. And what if the damn carp took over other popular bass fishing lakes? How many more tournaments were in jeopardy?

Those carp are not going to jeopardize my livelihood. Stupid trash fish. Stupid bottom feeders.

He took the compound bow from storage and selected an arrow.

It’s the biggest ones I’m after. If a 5 pound bass spawns 2,000 eggs, how many eggs does a 20 freakin’ pound carp spawn? 10,000? 20,000? 50,000? With that many carp spawn, those bass don’t stand a chance. How’d the carp get in this lake anyway?

He preferred broad heads on the arrows rather than the quick release variety. In his experience the broad heads provided more penetration and a cleaner kill.

Those carp have thick skulls sometimes. But everyone knows you’ve got to shoot the carp just behind the gills.

He steadied himself in the boat and trained his eyes on the water below.

Where are those mothers…? Here carpie. Ahh, there you are.

Come to daddy.

Let it  fly! Got him!

In a matter of a few hours, Patrick killed more than 30 carp – the smallest of them weighed 22 pounds – which is an average sized adult carp in most area lakes and matching the weight of the largest largemouth bass ever recorded caught in the state during the depression era.

A few weeks ago he mentioned to Kelly that he’d been out shooting carp with bow and arrow. She started asking questions about what he did with all those dead carp. He could tell she didn’t approve. She’d never questioned the bass he caught, because the bass were caught and then released. In the tournaments, there were penalties if the fish were not brought to the weigh in alive. Aware that a dead largemouth bass could cost an angler a big pay day, she did not approve of killing fish – even carp – and just throwing them on the bank for the coons and buzzards to scavenge.

Later that day he arrived home, unhooked the trailer and headed into the house. Dishes in the sink remained in sink, unwashed from the prior night’s dinner meal. Laundry lay on the couch where it was placed after removal from the dryer earlier in the morning. An empty bag of potato chips and empty container of sour cream dip lay on the foot rest.

Why should he be surprised? Did she ever do anything anymore?

He checked the basement workout room. He checked their bedroom. The bathrooms. Nowhere to be found. He found her outside later on lounging in the pool on a large floating lounger sun tanning in a pink bikini. The blue colored lounger had cup holders on both armrests. She had a margarita in one and a daiquiri in the other.

Did she even own a one piece suit? Didn’t she know she’d outgrown that bikini at this point? It’s a good thing the pool was in the backyard. The neighbors don’t want to see that.

And then it happened again, she started in with the third degree about the carp.

Did he throw them on the bank? Did he leave them for the coons and buzzards again? Why’d he kill those poor little innocent fish? It’s barbaric she said. You’re a monster she said. Why did he shoot the biggest ones first?

Didn’t she realize those poor little innocent German carp were jeopardizing the lifestyle she’d grown so accustomed to?

I bet it’d be a different story if I don’t keep bringing home that prize money and endorsement checks. That ungrateful little b….

He headed out to the garage and pulled the bow and broad head tipped arrow out of the boat. He walked through the gate into the pool area. Took up a position, steadied the bow, drew back the arrow, took deliberate aim, and let it fly.

Halloween Carp Fishing Video

I made this video on Halloween while fishing for carp near Lake Erie.

I apologize in advance that the carp is out of the frame for part of the video. I didn't have anyone to help take the video and had to prop the phone up on a 5 gallon bucket I use to store my ground bait and particles.

Fully Scaled Mirror and Nice Mid-20's Common Carp

I have been carp fishing for almost 3 years at this point. That's 3 solid years concentrating on carp specimen fishing. I don't fish for anything else.

There is a local venue known for mirror carp. I fished the venue a lot when I was starting out because it's loaded with carp and it's close to my house. I see others catching mirror carp at that venue on a regular basis, but they have been elusive for me at that venue. I fish there because the action is usually fairly steady, although a 20 pound common would be considered "large" for that particular location. I had always hoped to catch a mirror and finally did last year.

There is another venue that I fish quite a bit as well. I like it because it's near Lake Erie and there is a chance to catch a nice lake fish at any given time, especially in autumn.

I was at that location today hoping to catch a new personal best, which for me is 27 pounds or greater. The action was fast and furious for me beginning within 30 minutes of my first cast.

I never really considered the chance to catch a mirror carp at that location, but today I was rewarded with a very nice fully scaled mirror.

Mirror carp

I caught 14 fish in total ranging from 4 pounds to 24 + pounds. Most of the fish were in the mid-teens.

Here's a picture of the largest fish I caught today. It's not a new personal best, but I enjoyed catching it.

24 pounds

How to Tie a Blow Back Rig Video

I have been using a simple bottom bait for my first 2 1/2 years fishing for carp. While it is satisfactory for a basic rig, it does have some limitations for more serious carp fishing efforts.

The primary draw back to a simple hair rig that rests on the bottom of the lake or river is the bait sitting down in the mud, silt, vegetation, etc. and the fish doesn't see it as an easy opportunity.

I still manage to catch my share of carp with the simple rig, but I am sure I can improve my catch rate by branching out into some more flexible rigs.

I am committed to using the blow back rig as my "go to" rig next year. This winter will be spent mastering this rig and tying up as many as possible to prepare for next carp fishing season, which in this part of country really doesn't get started in earnest until mid-April.

Here is a video that provides step-by-step details for the blow back rig that my friend Adam uses. This rig caught a 53 pound common carp this year on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania.

Two Nice Channel Catfish

I got out this afternoon to a local pond and enjoyed the 60 degree weather and sunshine with hopes of catching my 100th carp for the year. With the year winding down I am unsure how many sunny days we will have left before the weather turns colder and the snow starts flying.

Things started off well with some nice fish, but they just happened to be c-a-t-f-i-s-h which are usually a big disappointment for carp fishermen, but not today for me. I loved catching these. The pair of cats had some of the best coloring on them for any channel catfish that I have ever caught.

The clouds came and chased away the sun, which killed the bite so my 100th carp will have to wait a couple of days when get back out again.

10 pound channel catfish

7 pound channel catfish

Another Carp Casting Video

This cast was so good my wife missing the splash down! So funny.

Carp Casting

A video of me casting

Screaming Carp Run

My wife took this video yesterday.

Vacation Day Spent Carp Fishing

I had a vacation day today and decided to get out and enjoy the wonderful fall day with temperatures in the mid-60s. It was cool to start and remained windy throughout the day with gusts near 30 mph, but the carp didnt seem to mind. Many times during the day there were white caps, but unlike the last time I fished this venue it was sunny without a cloud in the sky.

I ended up catching 9 carp and a small bullhead catfish today. Individual fish weights were on the low end, but I dont mind one bit. Multiple carp are better than no carp any day. I had two that were about 11 ½ pounds, but most were near 10 pounds or less.

I fished this same venue on Friday with bigger average size, but this particular spot is pressured a lot more in autumn. Water levels at this location decreases in October and this spot provides easier access for netting fish. The other spot a little further down the bank has a 3 foot drop from the bank down to the water line.

I left for home at 3 p.m. thinking that my 9 carp were enough to put me at 100 carp for the year, but after checking my records today's carp put me at 99 and not 100. I guess I need to get out again soon and catch some more fish so I can top the century mark before the snow starts flying in a few weeks.

Last year I was still catching double digits on November 2nd, so I should have plenty of time to add to those numbers.

I also have some video clips from today that I will post a little later on.

 

Tried a New Carp Fishing Venue

I traveled to a new venue today in search of some carp. It was in the 20's when we arrived, but with calm winds it was tolerable for a while. But then the winds arrived with gusts of up to 30 mph at times. It was cloudy in the early morning, but the sun arrived shortly before lunch time. I caught this nice catfish a little while later.

I didn't catch any carp today, but I'll be going back next spring to give it another go.

Nice channel catfish caught just before lunch

Here kitty, kitty

More Michigan Carp Fishing Pictures

Here are a few recent pictures from various local sessions.

Nice 17 pounder

Mid teens common carp

Another mid teens common carp

First fish caught at a new water last week

Interest tail "notch" on this fish

Michigan Fall Carp Fishing

I have been looking forward to autumn for a few months. The leaves are turning, college football is in full swing, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and the chances of breaking by personal best weight for common carp increases to way above average. Last year I caught my current personal best of 26 pounds 10 ounces in October when the weather was very similar to our current temperatures, winds and cloud cover.

I left the house at 6:30 and arrived to my favorite fishing spot about 7:10 after a stop at the convenience store for snacks and soda to tide me over for the next 10 hours or more. With the thermometer registering 39 degrees, I was appropriately layered up, gloved up and wearing a stocking cap to keep my bald head warm.

I started out with peach flavor for my ground bait and peach flavored maize for my hook bait and had lines in by 7:35 and my hopes were high.

My strategy was to feed them and feed them some more and keep on feeding them until I landed a couple of carp. I had a 5 gallon bucket full of panko bread crumbs and lots of cream corn so the race was on.

I re-casted every 75 minutes until the first fish was landed and then backed off to every 90 minutes. With water levels lower than normal, I had to cast out 70 to 80 yards and started hooking fish shortly before lunch time.

I made a miss-cast one time and the bait landed about 15 feet from the bank. I decided to leave it and see what happened. Well guess what happened…20 minutes later I hooked a fish. Unfortunately I didn’t land that one due to a hook pull.

Overall it was a very good day of fishing. I hooked 12 fish, landed 10 and had 2 hook pulls. My second hook pull was a very good fish. I am kind of bummed about that one. I would have loved to see just how big it was. I am sure it wasn’t new PB material, but it was very likely the biggest fish I hooked today.

My smallest fish weighed 10 pounds and the largest tipped the scales at 19 pounds 5 ounces. The majority of the fish caught today weighed in the 16 to 18 pound range. The average size for this time of year is lower than in the two previous seasons. I am sure the commercial fisherman who cleaned out the lagoon back in June impacted the average size. It will take a while for bigger fish to move back into the lagoon from the main lake.

Here are some pictures I snapped during the session. My photographer had to work today, so I had to do my best with the 10 second timer function on my cell phone. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing. Hopefully I’ll have my photographer back for the next session for some better snapshots.

 

Michigan Small River Carp Fishing

Since I started catching carp in 2013 I have been wondering about the possibilities for catching carp in a local river (really more like a creek compared to rivers where I grew up in Missouri), so I decided today was "the day" to try it out.

My day of carp pursuit started at 6:30 a.m. When I was in the U.S. Army my Sergeant Major had a saying for days like today - O Dark Thirty. Hey, that would make a nice title for a novel wouldn't it? If I ever give up carp fishing, maybe I'll give that a try (probably not).

The area of town has a shortage of street lights so I had to scout out the area in the dark and picked a spot. I got set up and rods out, but after sunrise doubt set in.



The spot was weedy, shallow and generally a "downer", but I stuck with it for awhile. I ended up catching a small catfish before deciding to try another spot 14 miles down the road to the west.



After a short drive to the second venue it didn't take long to put a fish on the bank. My fishing partner, Bill "Buffalo" Wazelle landed a nice 9 pound 11 ounce catfish.



A few minutes later I landed a nice fighting carp, which confirmed the decision to move had indeed been "wise".



It took a while to land the second one; so long in fact that my fishing partner had to leave before the "screamer" occurred. I landed the second fish and couldn't have been happier.



The fish hit the bait hard and headed for the hills before the drag got him under control and in the net. I didn't notice it until looking at the picture later on, but the fish had an interesting tail "notch".



I called it a day around 4 p.m., but regret it for not staying a little longer. I am confident I could have caught at least one more (if not two).

I am happy with my "discovery" today. It's a spot with good average size (so far) and I'll definitely go back there to fish another day.

Looking for Gold at a New Spot Close to Home

First fish weighing 10 pounds

Second fish 8 pounds

I love this close up of the scales on the 2nd fish