Carp fishing- Yay or Boo! 2024

farmpond1 reply :

If the only thing you were ever able to catch were carp, would you still bother? (The answers to this would probably differ if posted on the general bass forum).

My answer would be: I doubt it but thankfully I haven't been left with that choice.

jrhennecke reply :

Since all my fishing is catch & release anyways, sure I would. Besides carp put up a pretty good fight.

Micro reply :

I depends on if I could find carp that weren't semi-tame. We have some around here that will literally eat out of your hands.

If I knew of some that were truly wild, as I understand truly wild carp are very spooky fish, I probably would.

Jake. reply :

If I had to, yes. The grass carp around here put up incredible fights.

IDbasser reply :

I have done it. They fight good. Our local Lions Club has an annual fishing derby for the carp, and they get a pretty good turnout. I have to brag that my team won two years in a row. Haven't been able to fish it the last few years. Carp are pretty fun to catch.

Crabcakes reply :

Sure. I probably wouldn't fish as much for lack of variety but theres nothing wrong with a carp.

Daniel My Brother reply :

Yes! I grew up fishing for carp, and sometimes I still miss it. I wish I still had my old carp bait recipes.

At one time I remember hearing that carp were the number 1 sportfish in the world.

skillet reply :

I probably would. I like fishing for Bass but I LOVE fishing ...

As Ever,

skillet

bassdocktor reply :

Of course I still would. I love bass but as long as it isn't a tournament I just loving setting the hook on something. I haven't ever targeted carp but when I catch one its always cool. Plus some of them grow pretty big. Who doesn't like catching something big every now an then?

.ghoti. reply :

Absolutely. If you want a real challenge, try carp on the fly rod. In clear water these are the wiliest of fish. It takes a perfect presentation to even get one to take a look, let alone bite.

I've been doing this for several years, a few times each year, and I've caught three.

farmpond1 reply :

Quote
Absolutely. If you want a real challenge, try carp on the fly rod. In clear water these are the wiliest of fish. It takes a perfect presentation to even get one to take a look, let alone bite.
I've been doing this for several years, a few times each year, and I've caught three.

A friend of mine (who is a real fly fishing fanatic) will try to catch them. I think he uses a fly which looks like cottonwood "fluff". What kind(s) of flies do you use? Do you use a really light tippet?

fooman reply :

I have targeted carp specifically..

I've taken many nieces,nephews,neighbor kids and my own out to the river to catch carp..at the end of the day you cant wipe the grin off their faces..

They dont care what the species it is as long as they caught a big thrashing fish..

Grey Wolf reply :

I sure would.

Popeye reply :

I used to fish for carp all the time when I was a kid. They were usually the largest fish in the ponds I fished and often won via size and weight the fishing tournaments that were held around my home town. As many other guys have already mentioned, they DO put up a pretty good fight. I prefer NOT to fish for them now since the other species I go after are more challenging.

.ghoti. reply :

Quote

Quote
Absolutely. If you want a real challenge, try carp on the fly rod. In clear water these are the wiliest of fish. It takes a perfect presentation to even get one to take a look, let alone bite.
I've been doing this for several years, a few times each year, and I've caught three.

A friend of mine (who is a real fly fishing fanatic) will try to catch them. I think he uses a fly which looks like cottonwood "fluff". What kind(s) of flies do you use? Do you use a really light tippet?

I use a 6wt rod, WF line, furled leader, and 4lb test flouro tippet. Takes a good drag and lots of backing. For flies, two of my three fish caught came on a small craw imitation, the other on a size 8 wooly bugger. I started out with 8lb tippet, then 6 then 4. Got no takers until I went to the 4lb flouro.

I've heard this described as "poor man's bonefishing". Pretty good description.

It doesn't take long to subdue a 5lb bass on a 6wt fly rod. A bit longer than on a casting rod, but not that much. The 5lb carp I got on the fly almost spooled me. That was 90' of fly line and about 120 yards of backing stripped off on the first run. I got most of it back before he did it again. Didn't take as much the second time.

Popeye, I don't know what you mean by more challenging. This is about as challenging as it gets. This is sight fishing, and you rarely get more than one cast at one fish. They're very finicky feeders and are easily spooked. I'm guesstimating that I've done this about fifty times over a ten year period. And I've caught three fish. I hooked two others who snapped the light tippet.

Carp are a great sport fish, and, for some reason, are much maligned in this country. I don't get it.

tkite16 reply :

Nope I'd be playing alot more golf.

arthurspooner13 reply :

When i was younger, 12-16 yrs old, me and my buddies used to always walk or ride our bikes to some local smaller bodies of water and fish for Carp and Catfish from offshore.

It was a very fun experience. The two biggest carp(common carp) that i personally landed were both 30inches, and although i never carried a scale on me, i have to imagine that they were easily in 20lb range. And for a teenager to catch a 30inch, 20lb fish, it was quite the thrill.

We'd fish them on the bottom using bell sinkers about 18 inches above a hook rigged with a hotdog slice. We tryed bread, homemade doughballs, and manufactured stink baits but none of them came close to the production that hot dogs brought.

What we'd also do is bring another rod, to walk along the shoreline and cast into the shallow weeds for bass...

After we lost a rod(pulled in by fish), we quickly learned to leave the spools open and we'd constantly keep an eye on the line while fishing the nearby shoreline.

Now that i usually have access to a boat i'm going basically always fish for bass (and pike occasionally). Casting to shallow structure is half the thrill of fishing for me, so i'll do that over still fishing every day of the week.

With that being said, i'm sure that sometime when i have kids i will take them carp/catfishing to experience the thrill of landing a large fish.

Josey Wales reply :

yay!

grimlin reply :

Oh yeah! Carps are some hard fighting fish.Matter of fact i plan to target them more this year.Last year i landed around 5 carps on a bass jig and craw trailers or beaver type baits. They are however very easy to spook.

32251 reply :

Quote
We'd fish them on the bottom using bell sinkers about 18 inches above a hook rigged with a hotdog slice. We tryed bread, homemade doughballs, and manufactured stink baits but none of them came close to the production that hot dogs brought.
.

There are some 30 pound carp in the small neighborhood lake I fish all the time. I see them lumber by while I fish from the shore. I am going to try your hotdog bait on them this spring. I will be sure to leave the bail open!

arthurspooner13 reply :

Quote

Quote
We'd fish them on the bottom using bell sinkers about 18 inches above a hook rigged with a hotdog slice. We tryed bread, homemade doughballs, and manufactured stink baits but none of them came close to the production that hot dogs brought.
.

There are some 30 pound carp in the small neighborhood lake I fish all the time. I see them lumber by while I fish from the shore. I am going to try your hotdog bait on them this spring. I will be sure to leave the bail open!

http://image.basspro.com/images/images2/64500/64534o.jpg

http://image.basspro.com/images/images2/400-000/493-642-21.jpg

That was basically our setup right there.

That's the Mustad wide gap bait hook. Just as long as it's got a pretty good gap it should be just fune - we even used wide gap worm hooks when we ran out of the bait hooks.

You really don't need that heavy of a sinker, just as long as it can cast it out there smoothly and get the bait to the bottom... And actually, depending on the bottom of the lake you're fishing, you might even want to suspend the bait - so using a bobber will work too. Experiment with both and see what happens.

As for the hot dogs, just slice them like you would a cucumber for a salad or a banana for cereal... I'd recommend cutting them 1/2 inch - 3/4 inch in width. Remember that carp have pretty small mouths. So you probably won't want to got any bigger than that. Don't discard the end slices of the hotdogs. Due to the way they are packed, they are often times the best slices for staying on the hook. But the entire hot dog is good to use... Just pay close attention when you cast out to make sure it didn't fly off... And i'd probably check and re-bait every hour. But at the same time be patient, the bait has to be out there because in most cases you ain't going to get a bite as soon as you cast it out.

Bringing a net can make landing them a lot easier and a pair of needle nose plyers can be useful at time to fit into their small mouths.

Good luck!

Bassin_Fin@tic reply :

I'd say yay.

During the hot dog days of summer when the bass are sweating just as much as us, it is nice to just sit and relax and wait for someting 10 lbs or better to yank your rod in the water.

I use corn most of the time.Cream corn to really get them stirred up as it widely disperses.

arthurspooner13 reply :

The funny thing is, and i forgot to add this in my previous post, the largest smallmouth that i've ever caught(3 lber) was taken on a hotdog while fishing for carp/catfish.

Note that i rarley fish for smallies(primarily largemouth).

But yep, a smallmouth ate a hotdog on the bottom of the lake.

Ballpark Frank reply :

I love fishing for carp. The only problem I have is I start getting caught up in all the European rigs and setups, forgetting that most of our carp rarely see a bait or hook. Their carp are alot more pressured than most fish here in the States. I discovered Fly-fishing for carp a couple of years ago. Other than bonefish in the Bahamas(which I have only got to do twice), carp on a fly are my favorite. Their runs take tons of line and the drag sings away.

jwo1124 reply :

I think Carp fishing is popular over in Europe. I have seen a few videos from England where they fishing for Carp, and seem to take it almost as serious as bass fishing over here in the states

Daiwa reply :

Im going to a carp tourny on June 7th.

BassinAssassin171 reply :

Yeah they love carp fishing over in Europe, lots of huge ones come out of France. I got grass carp (imported from Germany) in my lake and they'll only hit bread or a green wooly booger. I've caught multiple fish over 10, my best being a 47 lber taken on a piece of bread floating on top at night

BassinAssassin171 reply :

and actually i forgot to mention... like the biggest smallmouth on the hotdog.... i landed my biggest largemouth while fishing for catfish with a piece of cut bluegill... 10 lber, wasn't a cat, but I ain't complainin

farmpond1 reply :

Let's heat things up a bit: for those who like carp, do you object to those who use bow and arrow to catch them?

Kevenater reply :

I've got 7 grass carp in my small pond. I hooked 3 of em one day on bread using an old 2 1/2' rod and zebco 33 bream fishing. straightened my hooks out when they got to the bank and saw me. They never have bit the bread since. They're bout leg length, would like to land one and weight it. Mine are extremely spooky, how in the world do u tame them? I feed my bluegill everyday and the carp eat it like crazy but they spook alot when they see me...aggrevates me lol.

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