Adventures in carp fishing
- This topic has 12 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated May 15, 2008 at 12:18 am by
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I started out with my typical carp routine today. Up by 4:30 and on the water at first light, but today was a going to be one of those challenging days. I have always been told that you can’t catch fish in a north wind on Lake Michigan. My problem is never tell a 22 year old college student he can’t do anything, cause sure as hell he is going to prove you wrong. I started my walk back this morning and there was already a good 20mph north wind blowing. I thought to myself this is going to be interesting. I get about 1/2 mile from the lake and I can hear the roar of the waves crashing on the shore. I get into view of the water and this is what I see.
Looks fishy to me.Determine to prove my point I set up the switch rod. I looked around trying to get a visual on the carp. The water is completely stirred up at this point and the wind has pushed a lot of water into the back bay I fish. So far not looking promising. I begin the patrol and I finally see some shadows cruising. I’m still a littl concerned becuase I’m not seeing the numbers I want to see. I head down to my favorite flat and wait. It doesn’t take long before I see a 20lber. jump out of the water. Yeah, carp can jump pretty awesome thing to see I’m going to have to try getting a shot of it tomorrow to post. After a couple minutes I see a shadow appear. I position adjust for the wind and cast. Right on the money. Shadow stops, tail comes out of the water, I feel tension, fish on! I can tell immediately that this is a nice fish. She makes some quick runs but I put the screws to her and have her landed in a few minutes.
I cut some tippet to get the measurements for length and girth, she was right around 34lbs. Just to give you some perspective that is a number 12 Nautilus on the switch rod. I stayed for a little while longer, but the fish started moving to deep water and I didn’t feel like dredging the bottom not to mention the wind was picking up.Now here is where the fun began to start. I’m walking out and I see a hiker on the trail I say hello, but he ask me when I got out here. I said I first light and asked why. He tells me there is about 6 park rangers looking for me because someone saw me walking in with my rod tube and thought it was a shotgun. At this point I’m just laughing inside, but I am concerned for the fact I could turn the corner and have a 9mm drawn at me. I thank the guy for the heads up and continue you out. I never ran into any of them. But I stopped at the station to inform them what I heard from the hiker and to insure them I wasn’t a terrorist or anything of that nature. After a quick chat I headed home.
Damn son! You make my typically 6-8 pounders look like minnows. Job well done. What kind of bugs do those Northern Golden Bones go for?
DustyThis is getting rediculous.
Here are some pics from today. I was by myself and fishing the flats, so no way to get a good shot of some of the fish. Here is some shots from my new camera.
Off to fight another day.
Here is the carp box, its a little thin after the past couple of days.
The carp in the in the very first post had a length of 41″ and a girth of 31″. I was unsure about the weight until I talked to some carp guys I know and they told me it was right around 34lbs. These guys catch hundreds of carp a year so I think they are pretty dead on about the weight.
Dusty, I was putting carp are similar to bonefish to the test and was throwing a pink clouser. I mostly stick to crayfish imitations, but was feeling like goofing around for a bit and decided to throw the clouser.
This is getting rediculous.
Tim, I’m not quite sure what point your trying to make.
Mark
What I mean is…the amount of carp this guy is catching is rediculous!
Tim,
I think a road trip might be in order, surely mike would share some of his secrets with a couple of his IA pals ;D. I owe him a few beers anyway.The fly box pictures does answer several questions for me thanks Mike.
MS
I wish my carp box had that many flies in it, but with the exception of the clousers mine is quite similar. I seem to relying on the NearNuff Crayfish 90% of the time this season, but once the water clears up I will give some others a try. I think the most challenging part of carp fishing is finding good spots that always have feeding fish. Once you find the spots it comes down to technique, but the more shots you have at fish the easier it will be to learn the dance.
I will post a picture from this season so I don’t feel left out. Needless to say I haven’t caught as many as Michael, but hopefully it will be easier once my spots get less muddy.
OK, I’m willing to expose my obvious ignorance when it comes to carp fishing, but what’s the difference between
Isn’t it carp have whiskers and suckers don’t? And isn’t there a difference in the fins too?
They are called barbels. One of the flies in the box I and a buddy have given the name the “Barbel Knocker” deadly pattern for carp in streams.
I would be happy to help as many of you guys out as possible. Don’t worry Tim your time will come.
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