Accidental Carp Encounter

[moturkey]

I've been fishing a local tributary creek of the MO River for the past few weeks, hoping to catch some whites making their run. I haven't seen a single white bass yet, but i did get surprised by a 10+ lb carp yesterday.  I've never targeted those hideous fish before, so this was my first time hooking up with one.  Given my intended quarry, I was only armed with a 5' UL spinning rig with 4lb mono.  As soon as i saw what it was, i was certain it would break off but i was able to play the drag for about 10 minutes and get him to the shore. It was a heck of a fight and a ton of fun.  MoCarp, you can count me among the converts!  Phone was dead, so i couldn't get a picture but it was so ugly it probably would have broken my camera anyway....

So that was fun, but I'm still trying to find the whites! MO river water temps have been in the low 50's in this area for a week or so... has anybody seen them running up the tribs yet??

[jfrith]

Yep found the whites middle of last week on a creek that feeds the Lower Meramec. They were gone though the next day when I went back.

[MickinMO]

In my teens I caught a carp crappie fishing at night under the lights with minnows. Sometimes would catch walleye this way and boy I thought I had hooked a big walleye at first.