Big Fish Don't Come Easy!

[MoCarp]

When I 1st started carp fishing seriously, I found the only way to catch bigger fish (those over 20 pounds) fishing at night in our clear Ozark waters. I had thought it was because thats when the bigger fish were most active. I found out over time the fish are spooker in day, because they SEE whats going on..with the advent of underwater cameras its easy to see big commons actually look at your rig, and feed around it avoiding your hook bait...at night they are limited on what they can see.....

Common Carp have sensor cells in their fins, lots of times they will cruse through a detritus area with their pectoral fins flared to waft up bits and insects then come back and hoover them up. they also will move over a chum or detritus bed and "taste" whats it is by caressing the potential food items with their fins. This cautious feeding behavior is more prevalent in larger older fish (one reason they get that size). if its a competitive feeding event, fish don't have the time to be as selective, you either grab it or go hungry. One reason I worked on making a competitive feeding environment with the chum I use. The adage chum little and often is relevant here. 

Rigging becomes much more important if your target is the largest specimen carp. the Ronnie Rig is my go to if I am targeting a personal best out of the water I am fishing. It allows stealth and a quality hook set very important, because another seeming trait of the biggest carp is better fighting ability, getting off a few times definitely wises them up. Once watched one go to a log and rub out the hook in its lip!

Another note as they (as well as catfish) sometimes seem to act like an electric shock hit them when they came in contact with monofilament line...no so much with braid...going to mono mainline with braid hook length materials really help up my catch rates.

This is my friend Marco with his new Personal Best of 36.12# Mirror Carp

https://tinyurl.com/spooky-carp

https://tinyurl.com/Ronnyrig

https://tinyurl.com/RONNIERIG2

https://tinyurl.com/CARPFEEDING

 

[MoCarp]

My Friend Doug with a mid 30's

[Johnsfolly]

Great looking Carp! How common are mirrored carp here in the midwest? Do you catch your bigger fish ariund the spawn? Is there another time when large carp are more accessible?

[MoCarp]

2 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

Great looking Carp! How common are mirrored carp here in the midwest? Do you catch your bigger fish ariund the spawn? Is there another time when large carp are more accessible?

It seems some waters produce more mirrors....but they are still rare, kinda special to catch one, like most fish they weigh the most prespawn, but anytime you are liable to catch bigger fish....if you target them.

Once it gets hot.....fishing long stretches is harder on the fisherman...I still enjoy night fishing for that reason...Sometimes your bait needs to lay on bottom a very long time to get a truly big fish to take....pre-baiting your swim with boilies over a week or two helps get them feeding on potential hook baits, its pretty easy and cheap to make up a few pounds...I usually chum with  ground bait and toss in about a hand full of boilies with it...

A favorite ground bait mix I use is 1/2 oats 1/2 boiled corn chops, the boiled chops swell up and get sticky... I drain off the extra water add the oats and make fist size balls. I lob them out with a baiting spoon, making golf ball size to shoot them out with the catapult...bait up a 5gal bucket of chum and a hand full of boilies every 3rd day till you fish.

It will get them coming and feeding with confidence.. you should see bubbles and breaching fish in the area you chum

.No offense to the bow fishermen.... but try and keep chumming on the down low and don't share the WHERE you do this as you might get shot out before you ever get to fish, always chum at least 10 foot depth to make the area less vulnerable to your swim getting hit.

below is a good vid on the subject

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS5EKYkC9Bo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgFi5PK2FAY

 

[MoCarp]

Here are some ground bait chum ideas chicken scratch spiked with hempseed, instead of the oatmeal to the boiled corn chops..a turkey frying pot works great....add a packet of red pepper like you get when you order pizza, about a table spoon to you mix..Capsicum is a carp attractant don't overdo flavors, less is better than too much

 

Calf manna and layers pellets are good in a PVA...make boilies with some of the pellets for your hook baits, mana pellets are great for Buffs.