Weird fish story

I was fishing from shore on the Mississippi in the St. Paul area trying to relax. It was going very well and very quiet, until….I notice this empty coke bottle floating down the river towards my line, then as it goes right above my line, the tip of my rod goes up and down(Yipee! I’ve got a Lunker!!). Well, as I’m pulling this thing in, the coke bottle is following, and about 5 minutes later after a good fight, I land this huge carp. It was actually tied to the coke bottle, and I had hooked the line that was tied to this fish. My question is why would anyone do this to a fish? It measured in at 30 inches. Needless to say, I did release the fish.

all I can think of is that they figure “things go better with Coke”!!….

or is it the old trick I once heard… except this was with balloons…. they would take a crappie and hook some mono on it attached to a balloon… then release the fish… the theory was the fish you return to the school and you would be on them and stay on them…… cant say if it really worked, I never tried it… I would guess it would be illegal…..

I may be able to add some light to this. While we were pulling plugs last night in Pool 2, there were several shore fisherman we would weave out and around. I noticed several people using a coke bottle as a bobber. At the time, I thought it was funny, can’t they afford some bobbers?? The first guy I saw doing this, OK, to each his own. But then when I saw another group doing the same thing, I started to think it must a local river tactic that I’m not privy to since I’m a newcomer to the area. I guess if you break off a lot and lose all your gear, you make do with whatever you can find.

OK, I’ll admit it, I don’t have a clue why someone would use a coke bottle. Other than “things go better with a Coke”

The upsetting thing about this was that the person who did this made sure to cut a hole in the side of the carp’s cheek and run the mono line at least four times through and double tie the line. Well, anyway, this was my first carp. I’m looking forward to catching the different species that the Mississippi has to offer!

I didn’t realize they had intentionally tied off to the fish. I thought the fish was hooked naturally. That’s just wrong no matter the species. If you want to kill it, then wack it with a club or slit the throat, don’t make the thing die a slow miserable death. I must be getting older, because I don’t have the tolerance for stupid stuff like this. I might have thought it was funny at one point in my life, but I doubt it.

The fish was really in poor shape. I counted seven pretty good sized wounds on it, but you know what, it still put up a heck of a fight when I was reeling it in.

What you have here may be what people down south call jug fishin`….which is illegal up here. They bait up lines, usually for catfish, and connect them to jugs…some shaped like 2 litre soda bottles…and toss them out in the river and then wait downstream for them to float by. If the jug stands up, they motor over and grab the jug and line. Very sporting don`t you think.

Careful there, Jugging is (in my opinion) no more or less sporting than drifting with a line overboard. A little bit of added excitement when you’re chasing down a jug with a fish on. It’s certainly not something I’d do in a river with as much current as the Miss, though.

Southerners have their wacky methods, but I certainly wouldn’t put jugging on the same level as, say, spearing pike.

Anyhow, this isn’t the case here, since it sounds like they punctured the fish and ran the line through it multiple times. Last I knew, it was illegal (at least in Iowa) to return a carp to the water. I guess I don’t know if that’s still the case or not.

Minnesota did make a law change a while back that allows you to return carp and any other rough fish to the water they came from. The spirit of the law was written for sport anglers , not for spearing or archery. The bank anglers were cruel in their “fun” and were also guilty of littering.

not only does it “allow” the return to water of any fish you dont wish to keep…. it actually REQUIRES it!!…. you are supposed to release unwanted fish, unharmed just as you would any “game” species…..

I’ll have to get with someone and see if that is the case here in Iowa too. I doubt that it is, since below the Coralville spillway there are still several “carp cans.”

Is it possible that someone was using the carp for bait, and the bottle was just a large bobber? I know that some musky fishermen will use 12″ suckers rigged as described, with the line puncturing their head – typically rigged with a rubber band. Down south they do the same thing for largemouth bass, a 12″ or larger sucker tied below a balloon.

Was there another line going off the bottle, like it may have been attatched to a pole and a boat/jetski/whateverelse broke it off? How big was the carp?

At first, I thought that someone had hooked this fish by “juggin’.” Here’s how the coke bottle setup went, the heavy mono line was tied from the 16oz coke bottle to the hole(wound) inflicted on the fish. There was no other line that was on the fish or the bottle, so the thought that it may have been used for bait doesn’t hold up. It appeared someone purposely tied this fish to the bottle. It reminded me of that scene in Jaws where they attached the barrels to the shark.

here is a thought…maybe it was some meat fisherman who didnt have a stringer, but thought that they could simple the fish to a coke bottle and it wouldnt go anywhere? I have seen the things that people keep on Pool 2 (esp by the Minnehaha) and wouldnt be surprised if that was someones dinner that got away. If that was the case, I guess they were outsmarted by a carp!

Hey Dave,

Is that the Minnehaha that runs in just below the ford dam where everyone fishes?? If so, I saw some pretty weird tactics there.

Yes. There are a ton of snags and shallow rocks there, but they say that it is good for walleye there too. I have never found a good way to fish the area though. Maybe casting husky jerks over the top at night.

Anyway-I have seen some weird stuff going on there too. People fishing with pop cans to hold their lines, stringers full of drum and stuff that I didnt even recognize, etc. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

I’m new to the area, and this is the only area I know of where to get out and fish. In the past two months of going down to this area, I have seen some really messed up things as far as fishing tactics. That is why I only go very early in the morning. By the way, if anybody has any good shore spots near the Inver Grove or St. Paul area, I would really appreciate some suggestions.

Many people don’t realize the law changes, so there are still a few people out there who think you can’t release carp (even here in MN where it’s been a few years). The DNR has to realize that what some people consider trash other’s consider sport (or food). I think it’s a waste to throw any fish on the bank, not only is it a waste but pollutes the shoreline.

I boated 3 or 4 saugers just downstream from there, maybe 200 feet at the most. I think total, we boated 6 fish in that same spot. No size, but we were having fun. Right at dusk some guys came down in waders, one guy had a fly rod. I never saw them hook up with any fish. I was gonna be out tomrrow night, but the wife put the kabosh on it and has allowed me to go on Friday. I’m gonna have to straighten her out when I get home, ya right. OK, OK, she does where the pants!! Maybe we will bump into each other soon.

I think the main reason that the law didn’t allow return of carp to the water is because of the impact on water quality and “gamefish.” I had always heard that they will either eat the eggs of other fish, or stir the bottom up such that hatch rates are low or nonexistent.

I know that about 5 years back, the Iowa DNR started re-populating river otters. Very cool to be out fishing and have one swim by. Anyways, the tie in is that their favorite thing to eat is carp. I’m not too worried that we’ll ever run out, though.

There are plenty of shore fishing possibilities at the 494 ramp in So St Paul. There is a pier and a long stretch of shoreline that has easy access. We have caught plenty of different species from this area.