ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…….ZZZZZZZZZZZ..ZZZZ screams the drag on my spinning gear and it feels great. Memories from seasons past soon flood into my brain matter and reflexes instantly set in. FIGHT ON! It’s that time of year again and I finally had some time to get out to check out some early season carpin’ holes and results so far have been mixed. We’ve had no problem locating numbers of small fish on the Mighty Mississipp’ but the big girls on some smaller streams have not been as eager to show their pretty mugs for the camera, although my buddy Serpent’s dad did manage to hook into this beauty that went almost 23 Lbs. on a digital scale.
As stated above the Mississippi River in certain areas is on fire right now although the size of these fish as per usual isn’t the greatest. It does make up for it in the quantity and fun factor areas for sure though. If anyone is looking for a good time shore fishin’ with the kids right now is the time. The corn bite has been spotty but these fish have been very aggressive on crawlers as of late. A basic bottom fishing rig with either splitshot or slip sinkers is probably your bet bet (nuthin’ fancy goin’ on here). A ten plus fish day is not uncommon. Look for your typical current seams, culverts, and deeper slack water close to shore and you should score some sucker mouthed scaly critters.
Rain, rain, and a little more rain is what we need to get fish moving on some of our metro small rivers and lakes. The bite on both has been very slow. Hopefully todays weather will help in getting things rolling on these bodies of water. Our next stop is in fact, a north metro gem of a river that produces some very large carp in the spring and fall. The river is exceptionally low and fishing has been slow. We have, however managed a few decent fish on the last couple outings. Corn has been the ticket here as crawlers only yield bonus Redhorse and White Suckers which can be a blast as well. Once again for the carp a simple bottom fishing rig is the ticket here, while the suckers preferred drifting and dragging techniques similar to Walleye fishing.
Carp and Roughie season is upon and things will only improve from here on out through the early summer months. If you are looking to scratch that itch for some metro fish that actually put up a fight……get on out there and scratch it! Good luck, explore, and most importantly have some fun!
More carp and bonus fish!
Looks like fun Jeremy! Nice report!!
Nice report, Jeremy. I have noticed the carp starting to get going on a couple lakes around here, and this rain we’re getting sure doesn’t hurt. It’s on.
Nice report Jeremy. Reports like that makes me want to be home again.
Cool report
nice report…great pics!
Great Job! These fish truely are underrated in their fighting power.
Jeremy
Great post.
How do you get the big City Lakes Fish to eat in the spring.
I can see them from shore but can’t seem to get them to eat. Crawlers, Dough, worms, etc?
Any insight would be appreciated.
The Dog.
The fish on the lakes haven’t really started to show up in any numbers just yet. Should be any day now with the weather we’ve been having. I’d just look for the shallow bay areas and channels that are typical early season panfish spots. The random cruisers are sometimes hard to target. If you are seeing fish surfacing or rooting around tail-up those will be the ones to target and they usually will run in schools. A basic corn rig with splitshot or slipsinkers should work just fine. If it’s really mucky it sometimes helps to add a float to your rig to keep it slightly off the bottom. Crawlers will work also but it’s usually pretty tough to keep the panfish and bullheads away. You could also try chumming an area for a few days with corn. The fish soon learn to frequent these spots for an easy meal. Hope this helps.
My buddy Takashi’s PB carp from Sunday! Actually the biggest fish he’s caught so far. Congrats doooooood!