Carp are starting to bite well!!!

[MoCarp]

have not posted as much of late been doing more fishing

here is a pic of a 'shoals low teen by forum member Wayne a few weeks back

as well as a couple from near Butler Missouri a nice 15 pounder from memorial day and ( my 1st)a rare full scale mirror This week end with another forum member Jim M it had unusually large fins. it weighed just under 11 pounds.

you guys need to give this a shot,usally when all the traditional gamefish slows down carp fishing is at its best!!

[crappiefisherman]

carp are fun to catch ill admit, but I have never eaten one.Ive never actually fished for them, they always intrigued me at the docks as a kid and i always thought of them as giant gold fish.Do you really eat those things

[jim m]

I personaly don't eat them just catch em for the fun of it. man do they ever test your tackle. a group of us are getting together the evening of june 24 at powersite. stop by and visit or if you want to fish with us send me a pm.

Jim

[MoCarp]

they always intrigued me at the docks as a kid and i always thought of them as giant gold fish.Do you really eat those things

No, I turn them all loose, I have tasted a few a guy from our club that lives in Warsaw who smokes some, IMHO they tasted as good as any Trout I have Tasted.

But then again I turn almost all fish I catch loose. every couple of years I keep a walleye or two, or some big sunfish/Crappie from some strip pits in Kansas, but even those I almost always turn loose too. Most of my fellow Club members turn loose the biggest ones to get bigger, I have had fish I have caught more than once, usally a little bigger each Time.

if a guy was to fix ones to eat fish of around 5-7 pounds would be the best size, they should be skinned like a cat BEFORE they are filleted, remove the dark strip, be warned even filleted they have a floating row of bones sorta like a pike, some pull these out with a pliers, then that is smoked.

I have fished and caught alot of all kinds of fish, and the speed and power of a carp are bested by none, not even Hybrid Stripers, some guys are really getting into flyfishing for them, stalking them on wadeable gravel flats like bonefish in the gulf..those who have caught both say the carp is simular in fight to a big bonefish.

one I learned how to bank carp consistantly its a lot of fun, and not at all easy especially for bigger fish. you done need all the fancy euro gear a bass rod and something to chunk 2 oz of lead to make a bolt rig work and your set.

the key is learning to tie a hair rig properly and setting up a bolt rig

some where I posted on here a bit about euro gear, check it out on the rigs

if you want to go sometime PM we always are bringing newbees to fish

but I warn you--its VERY addictive

Mo

[snagged in outlet 3]

Hey Mocarp.

I enjoy your reports. I live in St. Charles Missouri (west St. Louis metro area on the banks of the Missouri River)and was tired of driving 4 hours to chase trout so I started looking around here for something to catch. Sure we have some good bass fishing within an hour or so but I wanted something within 20 minutes so I could fish more than drive.

I started driving around the Missouri River near my house and I found the sloughs off the river were literally loaded with carp and gar. Needless to say there was never anyone trying to catch these nasty things so I decided to give them a try.

In the heat of the summer both species would cruise the sloughs in massive numbers when it was so hot you couldn't catch a bass during the daytime. At first I targeted the gar. Boy were they easy to catch but the fight wasn't that great even for a 3 footer. Next was the carp.

I tried fly fishing for them but never had any success so I used the tried and true river rat method of chumming them up with corn. I figured if I could at least start catching some I would learn enough to catch some on a fly. I would drive up to the slough before work and throw out a couple cans of corn in different locations and return in the evening after work.

I use a medium heavy spin casting rod with a fourth oz. weight above a swivel and a 2 foot leader of 10 pound flourcarbon and a scud hook. Couldn't hook them with a regular bait hook even when they would pick it up and swim off.

Put on two kernels of corn and don't put the rod down. The good slough is just loaded with them and they range anywhere from 5 to 10 or 12 pounds. They fight just like redfish. Like you I have caught all kinds of fish including bone's and red's and carp fight just like a saltwater flats fish. Long line peeling runs and when you get them near shore they take off again. They put a bass to shame with the fight they put up.

I was talking about it with some fishing buddies and they tried it and were surprised how well they fight. On a good evening you can catch them one after another till your tired of it. You'll wear out your line after 20 or 30 of them. Your line will be peeling apart. We call it happy hour but instead of going to the local bar we go to the slough.

I take my wife and seven year old daughter up there a couple times a summer and they love it. Nonstop action with doubles almost the whole time. I told my daughter the difference between a fisherman and an angler is an angler can get one of those big carp in on a snoopy pole with 4 lb line and a fisherman can't. It takes her 10 to 15 minutes of longer but she gets it done. People always laugh when they ask her how big her biggest fish is and she holds out her arms all the way apart. Like she's telling a fish story.

I can go up to the slough in 20 minutes and get my fill of fighting fish and be home just as fast. Lately I don't even go up early to chum. I just show up and throw out a can and get to fishing. The slough is so full of them it only takes a couple minutes to get the first one on.

I love to trout fish but until they start showing up in the Missouri River I have to drive quite a ways to get them. In the mean time I get my fix with those carp up at the slough. I don't throw the can in water just the contents of the can. We sling it out with a big gulp cup.

Anyway that's my carp story.

Snagged in outlet three.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Great story!