Carp Everywhere.

Hey, I’m 16 years old and i love to fish.

Today my friend and I walked down to Lake Rebecca. (practically rock throwing distance from the Mississippi).

We were planing to try and catch some crappys but we ran arcoss something a little diffrent.

There was this run off area of lake rebecca that we visited, it stunk of dead things but what drew our attention were large carp swimming near the surface in waist deep water. Comming unprepaired for carp we took the fake worm of a jig and put a real worm on. A half an hour later we had no sucess and it was time to leave. Haha, i kinda got a little frusturating when in reality i could have thrown a stone and got one.

My question to you guys.

What would you recommend using to try and catch a few of these suckers?

Is it possible its breeding time and they arnt biting?

Ive cought a few carp before on the vermilion river but that was with a crawler sinker setup and 15+ feet of water and i was in a boat. my reccord was a 15 1/2 pounder.

Thanks,

Joe

My dad was also talking to me about how back in the day him and his brother would bow carp. Whats involved in this?

They can be caught on nightcrawlers and also corn. They can put up a pretty good fight so be prepared to hang on.
Thanks, Bill

what type of rig?

2, 3 hook? single hook and sinker, bobber or no bobber?

Tomorrow i think i might try a 2 hook floater rig. Ill update you guys if i get any luck.

When I was a kid we used to throw on a big treble hook and snag em!! Tail hooking a big old carp, good times!

BIRDDOG

I have had great luck with an old recurve bow with a fiberglass arrow. Arrows and reels are relatively inexpensive at most sporting goods stores. Only problem I had was, what to do with 200# of carp when done. If there was some way to dispose of them locally, I and others would shoot lots more of them. Illegal to just throw them on shore!

I have caught them by throwing pieces of bread. When they start feeding on those bread chunks, throw out a piece with your hook in it. Its great fun, and good fun for young-uns. Good luck

You might try getting a fly fishing rod and give it a whirl or just floating type bait, like the bread mentioned. Maybe a foot under a bobber?? Good luck, carp a blast to catch.

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When I was a kid we used to throw on a big treble hook and snag em!! Tail hooking a big old carp, good times!

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And then the CO stops by and takes your gear away!
I’d try corn. I was never a fan of it until this Spring. Although chumming is illegal, you might want to accidentally spill a handful into the area you are casting to.

Put on corn, a worm, or a piece of bread on your hook. If you use a piece of bread, take the crust off and tear up the bread and mash some of the pieces together to make little dough balls and stick them onto your hook. I usually use a plain hook and put a small split shot weight on the line about 1 foot above the hook. Then I clip on a bell sinker above the split shot weight. They are a blast to catch!

I caught a 10 pounder on Monday night on Locke Lake in Fridley. This is the lake created by the dam on Rice Creek about 1/4 mile above where it dumps into the Mississippi.

Buddy and I were out in the row boat (not motors on the lake). Were catching bullheads and perch with night crawlers on the bottom. Mostly we were drinking beer.

I get a really light little bite on my rod and I set the hook expecting a little 1/4 lb bullhead. Nope! The rod instantly doubled over and whatever was on the end swung the bout around 90 degrees very quickly. I set the drag really loose to preserve my light line and let the monster drag us around the lake for 10 minutes.

When I got it out of the water, i saw that my cheap little Eagle Claw hook was bend almost completely into a circle in its mouth. Used the Leatherman to cut the kook in half, as that was the only way it was coming out.

Very fun fight! Big carp are only rivaled by big catfish in fighting power!

Those carp are spawning right now and they aren’t all that interested in eating when they are doing their thing.

yea i would say bow and arrow

How about spearing them. When carp are close enough you can use a fish spear. Take as long a pole as you need, 16′ to 20′ and mount the spear head to it with a screw. Wade out if you have to or can and have a ball. Here in Iowa its against the law to throw them back, coons eat them anyway.

If you have a fly rod you could use any fly that looks like a cottonwood seed if there are any in the water. This time of year Buffalo and Carp of will eat these seeds off the surface. They are a ton of fun on a 5wt. However, if they can see you odds are you wont catch much.

Spearing them is fun! I speared this hog (30lbs) on Memorial Day. I also just picked up a bow (thanks, Jon) and can’t wait to give that a shot!

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Those carp are spawning right now and they aren’t all that interested in eating when they are doing their thing.

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this board is for grown ups. knock off the locker room humor.

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Spearing them is fun! I speared this hog (30lbs) on Memorial Day.

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Pardon me, I’m a bass guy (I know, go away…)… Seriously, what do you do with them once you have them? Fertilizer?

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Pardon me, I’m a bass guy (I know, go away…)… Seriously, what do you do with them once you have them? Fertilizer?

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Yup, fertilizer is generally a good idea. Also, I know hog farmers will feed them to their pigs.