Carp Bait

[Stoneroller]

Ok, lets have it. Your favorite method/recipe for carp bait. Boilies, doughballs, stinkbait, grain mixtures, ground baits, etc. what do you use, how do you make it and how do you use it.

Carp are a hugely unappreciated game fish here. I promise any of you lock horns with a 20lb+ carp, you will not look at them as trash fish ever again. Let's spur some interest!

[Chief Grey Bear]

I love carp fishing.

1. Go to your local MFA or other feed store and get a 50lb bag of Range cubes. They'll ask what % you want, just pick the cheaper one like a 16%.

2. The day before you want to fish, bait the hole with the cubes. Not all of them of course. A bucket full will do. Toss them within the range of your cast. Also open a can of corn and hand toss the corn in a spread pattern. Save the can for recycling.

3. In a pot on the stove on low heat, mix flour, cornmeal, small can of cat food, and the juice from one can of corn to your desired consistency. You may also add some corn. Remove from heat, let cool.

4. Use just enough to cover #10 or #12 treble hook. Toss to baited hole. Hang on for dear life.

[laker67]

As a kid I used Wheaties cereal. Don't even know if you can still buy it. Surely you can. Reach into the box and get a large handful, with your hand closed, dip it into the water and slowly squeeze the wheaties into a dough ball. Cast softly with a sidearm motion and hang on.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I use a hair rig,(google it) and boiled field corn. The real trick is to bait up a field, small if you're going to fish it immediately and large if you have an 8 hour head start.

In waters with a lot of carp it isn't hard to catch up to a dozen before they get warned off. If you want to fish several hours bait 2 or 3 spots so you can move when they get wise. I don't boil my baiting corn, but soak it for 3 or 4 days and if it sours It's even better.

I've never seen much of a difference in flavored corn for the rig and plain, but I do boil it in water heavily salted and with sugar.

They can be a blast that's for sure. They are near the top in fighting ability and probably are the top fish here in intelligence.

[Feathers and Fins]

I honestly dont know where to start.

Fly = San Juan Worm, Mulberry, ant, knat, wolley

Bait, I guess my favorite is to mix up Cornmeal, Floor, Anis, wheat bread and dog food(dry) add water until it is thick paste. Beware though if lots of catfish are in the area dont use the dog food or you will be catching more cats than carp.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

simply whole kernel corn, dipped in vanilla extract ( the cheap stuff ). I specify whole kernel corn, because a friend of mine was to "bring the corn" when we were kids, he went in his pantry and brought cream style corn. Lets just say, we did not catch any fish that day.

[Jason R.]

Never used bait but my favorite fly is just a short shank hook with dumbell eyes and a black marabou plume tied in like a woolly. Hackle might help but they seem to like it with just the marabou. Also do some with black rubber legs and they work too.

[Stoneroller]

I've read a lot about anglers in europe who say any kind of bitter taste to the bait at all will cause the carp to avoid it.

and I wonder why, if a person can catch a carp readily on a fly, are they so tough to get to bite on a hair jig or similar presentation? I suspect they feel the vibration from the tight line during the retrieve as opposed to the more natural presentation of a sinking fly.

I see huge carp in some of the lakes I fish, sometimes thinking it's a large rock or log sticking out of the shallows until it spooks and explodes to deeper water. Even the sound of a 1/16oz hair jig lightly hitting the water within 5 feet of them will spook them.

And this time of the year it's very common to see massive carp breaching the surface of lakes. I've always wondered exactly what are they doing. Some biologists are convinced they are simply 'having fun'. I have been told many times by old timers, "when you see the carp start jumping, the bass start biting". Anyone else ever heard this?

[Stoneroller]

check out the 'calling catfish samurai's' thread. there is an amazing video posted that shows some carp feeding on ground feed and on a baited hook with a couple of variations on the rig. Some really cool stuff!