Fourth Tip for Catching More Carp

Last year I used to mix up my ground bait for a carp fishing session before leaving the house. I mixed 2 TBSP's per can of cream corn. Also, I used to mix up 2lbs. of oatmeal all at one time. Needless to say it dried out, before the session ended.

Photo courtesy ShopBettys.com

 

This year I have been mixing my flavors into my ground bait after arriving at my favorite fishing spots. I mix it in smaller batches, which reduces the tendency to dry out. I've also been using much more flavoring per can of cream corn. I think the smaller batches creates more intensity of flavor in the ground bait as well.

I firmly believe this small change in methodology has added several more carp to my fishing totals in 2014.

Thinking Positive to Catch More Carp

Many carp fishermen are a little superstitious. Some have a favorite hat, shirt, socks, shoes, boots, rod, reel, line, bait or other gear that they are absolutely convinced increases the chances to catch carp. Sometimes it's easy to dismiss these superstitions as meaningless and ineffective, but maybe there's a lesson to be learned that will help us all catch more carp.

A few years ago author Rhonda Byrne wrote a phenomenally popular best selling book called The Secret. It's a positive thinking book along the lines of Anthony Robins, Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill many others. In fact, while at Greenfield Village today, I flipped through a book written in the mid-1800's that focused specifically on how to use positive thoughts to live a better life and be more successful.

There is a popular positive thinking guru who writes a blog and hosts webinars telling us that we all manifest vibrations that float through the universe and influence our lives positively or negatively by changing our spirituality and impacting our personal fate with these good or bad vibrations.

Elite athletes use mental imagery to see themselves jumping higher, running faster, throwing farther, and more accurately to achieve victory. Baseball, basketball, football, golf...you name it; it's prevalent in sports at all levels. These days it's even being taught in Little League by some of the more progressive and dare I say successful coaches.

Another train of thought is that such positive thinking is kind of hokey, that it doesn't really work because in the end only God can help guide us to success and we as individuals have little to no control over anything.

I'm not writing this to favor one theory over another, but I think there is something to be learned in this intellectual exercise that will help us all catch more carp.

During a fishing sessions yesterday an acquaintance of mine spoke about his ability to literally look at his fishing rod and "will" a fish to bite. We all kind of chuckled when he said it. I have to admit that I sometime "hope" that it's possible to will the fish to bite; and I spend a lot of time staring at my rods, but I can't point an instance where it's actually happened according to my "instructions". It usually happens at times when I least expect it.

For example, one day last year I fished for 4 hours after work without a bite. After I packed up all the equipment and 2 of 3 rods I caught a nice sized carp at the precise instant that I started to retrieve the 3 rod and leave. During a session last Saturday something very similar happened and I caught a very nice 23 pounder. Just last night, after a very difficult day on the banks, I was helping a friend who had a double run and two carps on the hook, and got a run on my own rod catching a nice catfish.

In my personal examples, I was completely relaxed and had already resigned myself to the possibility that I might leave without catching another fish. I wanted to catch a fish. I badly wanted a fish to bite, but ultimately I was o.k. if it didn't happen. I was Zen - as my wife sometimes calls it. The pressure was off. My negativity was released; and then positive things happened.

Many times while fishing I'll be reading the newspaper, surfing the internet on my phone, or talking to my wife and paying absolutely no attention to my rods; and then get a nice fish on the line(s) (or even 2 at the same time not long ago).

What are my conclusions?

• Sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves to catch fish.
• It's easy to overthink things.
• When fishing is slow we overcompensate sometimes and stray from the normal things we do that have worked in the past.
• Mistakes cause more mistakes. Sometimes we might be better off packing up and going home vs. enduring more painful time on the bank.
• We generally catch more fish when we least expect it.

Examples:

• We often try so hard not to hit a well-known snag when casting that we cast directly to it.
• We often try so hard not to tangle our lines when fighting a fish and we tangle them anyway.
• We often try so hard to make the perfect bait and we add too many ingredients and actually do more harm than good.

My own goals:

• Put more fun back into fishing
• Enjoy time outdoors in the sunshine and good weather because winter's on the way
• Learn from mistakes; but don't dwell on them
• Enjoy the small fish equally as much as the large fish
• Enjoy the catfish equally as much as the common carp/small mouth buffalo

Candidate for October Discovery Month for C.A.G.

 

I think I'm going to give Pavilion Shore Park on Walled Lake a try during October Discovery month for C.A.G.

Common Carp and a Catfish

Today was one of the toughest days of fishing I've had in quite some time. It was especially difficult for me because I was getting a lot of bites and runs; but I only landed two small fish. I hooked 7 fish, but lost a bunch due to hook pulls. I was experimenting with shrink tube. My only logical conclusion is that the shrink tube was rigged incorrectly causing the hook pulls due to poor hook penetration.

I also snagged 5 times in one of my favorite spots on the lake. I have never snagged in that area before, so I was either lucky or something has been purposely submerged in that spot during the past week or two, since I last fished that particular spot.

This small 5 - 6 pound carp came early

 

 

This small channel catfish came later in the day

This guy's been playing in the mud

Great Camera for Fabulous Carp Close-Ups

This camera/lens combo is probably overkill for most carp fishermen and fisherwomen, but if you are the kind of person who absolutely wants the highest quality equipment for every job, then look no farther for your carp camera needs.



Sony Alpha SLT-A99V Full-Frame SLR Digital Camera

• Full Frame 24 Megapixel resolution
• Uncompressed Full 1080 HDMI® output
• Up to 25600 ISO Range sensitivity
• World's first Dual AF system10
• The World's Lightest Full Frame DSLR Camera



Sony SAL-85F14Z 85mm f1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar T Coated Telephoto Lens 

• 85mm f1.4 telephoto lens boasts professional performance for portraits and close-ups
• Astonishing sharpness at fully open aperture
• T* coating to reduce flare and increase contrast
• Smooth, visually pleasing background effects
• Focus hold button for full creative control, auto clutch to stop manual focus ring rotation

3rd Reason I Started Catching More Carp in 2014

I discovered imitation sweet corn on the internet carp fishing discussion boards and decided to buy some try based on the recommendation of a friend who fishes for carp. I store my "fake" maize in my flavored "real" maize container.

Available at BigCarpTackle.com
(Photo courtesy Big Carp Tackle)

Labor Day at the Lake Catching Carp

It was a pretty slow day at the lake. There were four of us fishing and 3 carp caught. On the plus side though, all the carp were bigger than 17 pounds.

I caught this nice 20 lb. 3 oz. specimen early on and hooked two others I didn't land.

20 pounds 3 ounces

This fish fell for a piece of yellow maize tipped with a piece of fake fluorescent orange maize.

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.