Fishing for Carp

Fishing for Carp
By Bryan Friedman

Because Carp are notorious for their bad reputation on the dinner table, they are often overlooked and not targeted by many fishermen. However, these fish fight extremely well and are fairly easy to catch. They grow to massive weights and are a lot of fun to hook on a light line.

The following equipment, tips and basic techniques should be used to optimize your success rate while fishing for carp.

Fishing Pole:
Ultra Light
Light
Medium Light

Fishing Line:
2-6 lb

Fishing Reel:
Designed to hold 2-6 lb line

Where To Fish:
Lakes, ponds and reservoirs.

When To Fish:
Anytime

Fishing Baits:
Bread
Corn

Basic Fishing Techniques:

Sliding Sinker
Thread a 1/16-1/4 ounce sliding sinker onto the line and tie directly to a small Swivel. Proceed by tying an additional one to two feet of line to the opposite end of the Swivel. Now tie a small bait holder hook to the end of your line.

Place a small piece of bread over the hook and roll it into a ball. Make sure to completely cover the hook because carp can get pretty picky at times. Cast out and wait for a bite.

Thread a few pieces of canned cord onto the hook. Cast out and wait for a bite.

Fly lining
Tie the hook directly to your line and bait up. You are now ready to fish! No weight is needed with this technique. This is the preferred technique while fishing for carp! Toss out and wait for a bite.

[khill]

I normally make a batch of corn meal that is mixed with water then microwaved for about a minute so it becomes kind of al most like dough but soft enough to where you can play with like playdough this is KILLER for carp

[PlatinumHooks]

Originally Posted by khill

I normally make a batch of corn meal that is mixed with water then microwaved for about a minute so it becomes kind of al most like dough but soft enough to where you can play with like playdough this is KILLER for carp

Kevin, where's your favorite Carp spot?

[khill]

And they are a good eating fish when cooked to a golden brown

[khill]

Big Bear by the cutoff road has been my hot spot for Carp

[PlatinumHooks]

Originally Posted by khill

Big Bear by the cutoff road has been my hot spot for Carp

How big do they normally run at Big Bear?

[danlabarb_DP]

my favorite baits are can corn and tortilla
there is a nieborhood pond i fish that has big carp i cought one the other day but it broke my 6lb test after about a 10 min. fight. the biggest iv seen in there is about a three footer that im still working in catching

[cst]

sandwich bread and corn are great.

[Nirvana Fan]

Originally Posted by khill

And they are a good eating fish when cooked to a golden brown

Sick dude. You're pretty much eating koi.


If you do decide to eat goldfish/carp (which is something I'll never understand), please throw back any carp over 5lbs and keep the smaller ones.

Many lakes were damaged by not using my advise. Lake Elsinore, Big Bear, Echo Park, and La Mirada Lake come to mind. If carp figure out that they're in danger by growing big, then they'll stay small pissing off the carp haters.

[PlatinumHooks]

Originally Posted by Nirvana Fan

If carp figure out that they're in danger by growing big, then they'll stay small pissing off the carp haters.

LOL! I'm not trying to get into a debate about fish, but that's not true, bro. I did not major in Ichthyology in college nor am I an expert at all; nor was my major a Science, but I did study Marine Environmentalism and Marine Biophysics (mostly because I was deeply into the Aquarium hobby at the time), that I know that's not true. Fish don't even have the capacity or the neurofunction to remember anything past 5 minutes with the exception of "territory", "feeding patterns", "and reproductive activity" which are all natural instincts. That is why fish will repeatedly strike the same lure over and over again given a small window of time.

Not only that, but even if fish did have the capacity to remember things like - "if I stay under 5lbs, I'll get thrown back", they wouldn't have the phisical power to stop themselves from growing. The only "natural and un-natural" things that reall stunt a fishes growth is their environment. Such as if there are too many of a population in one confined area, then they will tend to remain smaller; same as in artificial aquatic environments (aquariums), a fish will normally (with the exception of a few species) grow to the capacity of their tank.

Now I'm just going off what I studied. I didn't write the text nor did I do the years of research to draw these scientific conclusions, I'm just going off what I learned.....but then again...ehh who knows?

[Nirvana Fan]

That's pretty much what I meant, but was too lazy to write it all.

hf

You ever had a goldfish as a kid? If you take two goldfish from the same store, leave one in a bowl, the other in a lake, what do you think would happen in a few months?

[cst]

the one in the bowl gets stunted, but it's not the goldfishes choice. it's a result of his envoirment (the fish bowl vs the Lake).

[Nirvana Fan]

Originally Posted by cst

the one in the bowl gets stunted, but it's not the goldfishes choice. it's a result of his envoirment (the fish bowl vs the Lake).

With any animal in the wildlife, their first instict is to survive. That mean try and grow as big/dominate as possible.
The same rule applies to carp. Just compare the carp from Castaic Lagoon and the carp from Big Bear. Every year, the big carp at Big Bear are targeted by bowhunters and carp haters. What happened? The carp were stunted.
Now, take Castaic Lagoon. Not as many people go after big carp there as Big Bear. The result, bigger carp, much more different species, and everyone is happy.
Big Bear is bigger than Castaic Lagoon, but have more litle carp swimming around.

[cst]

im not really sure what the situation is with the lagoon, those carp might be grass carp because i've never seen smaller carp. even if they are commons and they spawn (which, like i said, i havent seen) there are other factors that come into play. The lagoon has a florida strain bass as opposed to the smaller northern strain found in big bear. so the bass might be eating smaller carp (maybe carp up to 3lbs) and making it look like there are only larger fish in there. since the carp dont really have as many predators in big bear, the lake is asking the bowhunters to thin the population. at one point, the carp at big bear had to have become stunted. you cant just look at the size of the lakes, you have to consider the ratio of fish to square feet of water(maybe cubic feet?).

[coseymoe]

What size hook would you use? Oh, and doesn't the bread/cornmeal mix get all crappy after a certain point? How often do you change the bait? Is it true that it's illegal to use pieces of carrots as bait on account of fish not being able to digest it properly?