USA Carp Angling intro - Part 2

USA Carp Angling intro - Part 2

by

Wayne Boon

Hello again and welcome to the 2nd article in this series which is designed to introduce and instruct anglers of all persuasions on the new age of Carp Angling…

We’ll start this month with what is without a doubt, one of the biggest advancements in carp fishing in the last 40 years!

As you may already know, with a few amendments to our approach and existing tackle, carp can be caught by placing bait directly onto the hook and striking on the 1st signs of a line twitch. This is good for catching young carp who are inexperienced and well, shall we say, “carelessly hungry…” but as carp grow up into the 20 and 30 lb plus bracket, they become very much more learned and picky about both what they eat and how they approach finding and eating their food.

So… What is the biggest advancement in carp fishing in the last 40 years that will help us actually hook and land more carp?

It’s simply a method of baiting your hook that takes full advantage of how a Carp feeds…..it’s called a ‘Hair-rig’ and we gave a few sneak peeks at in the some of the rig photos last month.

The hair-rig specifically targets and takes advantage of the way a Carp feeds. When the hair-rig is tied correctly (as described below) so that the hook turns during pick-up, it safely hooks 99.9% of the fish in the bottom lip. At first (in the mid-70s in the UK) it was literally a human hair tied to the bend of the hook that had the bait mounted onto it; later, a very thin filament link was used.

When the super easy to tie, knot-less knot was invented to make a hair rig, it again revolutionized Carp angling because it offered a way of both producing a hair and securely tying the hook to the hook length line with one very strong “knot” without any strangle points on the line being used to tie the hair.

The Hair Rig is the foundation of most carp rigs these days and use various hook length materials, rig rings, shrink and silicone tubing to make them even more effective in many varying fishing conditions. Even in its simplest "naked" form shown below, it is a game changer for the angler who learns the mechanics and how to tie it effectively.

Note: In an emergency situation, you can make your own baiting needle by carefully heating and straightening out the hook section of an old Crappie jig head (see photo below) and you can use a short section of grass stalk or a thin twig to replace the plastic bait stops.

The mechanics of the hair rig are as follows:

Carp feed by sucking any potential food item along with much of the sand, sticks, mud etc. that's laying or floating around the immediate area into its mouth to inspect, before blowing it all out. Then often recapturing the food item quickly if it is a desired or needed by the Carp's metabolism. Carp rarely swallow the food item on first inspection, this is particularly so if it's not a recognized, naturally occurring and familiar food source in their lake/river, so this can happen several times before a decision is made to eat your bait. Carp are so efficient and stealthy at this process, that it very often happens without so much as a single bounce on your rod tip or movement of your line. Many blank or Skunk sessions have been declared by anglers who have had their hook-baits stolen or just simply picked up and spat out several times. This is even more prevalent when bait is placed directly onto the hook…

Not having hands and fingers to inspect the potential food item, this is how Carp learn. They have many taste sensing cells/sensors are in and around the mouth area and these sensors are how a carp learns about the food item, even sensing its calorific make-up (Carbs verses Proteins and minerals etc.) They are also instinctively inquisitive creatures and we can often use this to our advantage too. So, knowing these facts, helps us visualize how a Carp feeds and how better to tie an effective hair rig.

Let's now look at the actual mechanics of the hair rig. As can be seen from the above photos, the bait hangs below the bare hook. When the carp sucks in the bait, it will suck in the hook also, quickly followed by the carp blowing out the bait.

Next, because the weight and bulk of the bait offers much more resistance than the hook in the torrent of water exiting the carp's mouth during this "blowing out" phase of tasting process; the bait exits the mouth attached to the hair first dragging the hook behind it. The hook then pricks the bottom lip of the carp.

Therefore hooks need to be "sticky" sharp when carp fishing because this light prick in the carp's lower lip will stop the hair rig from being fully ejected. The fish will then panic and what we call “bolt” (like a horse getting spooked and bolting off across the field) giving that precious few seconds for us to strike and set the hook properly.

SoCal’s Evan Bull with a beautifully proportioned hair rig caught common.

To take extra advantage of this "Bolting" phenomenon, keep reading and we’ll explain what is known in the carp angling trade as a bolt rig, which is another tactical advantage that can be incorporated in conjunction with the hair rig to great effect.

The Bolt rig is designed to take full advantage of the Hair Rig's self-hooking properties and vastly amplify it. It does this by effectively adding a "dead weight" to the point of the hook, thus sinking the hook deeper in to the bottom lip, achieving a good hook hold when the fish bolts upon initial contact with the point of the hook. 

This "dead weight" is achieved by the attachment of a semi-fixed lead weight of anywhere between 2 and 5 ounces fixed via a specifically designed clip and swivel system threaded onto the line just above the hook-length as opposed to the sliding or running rig lead weight system we looked at last month.

Note: NEVER tie the sinker/weight directly to the mainline to create a bolt rig. This would almost certainly sign the death penalty for the fish in case of a line breakage. Use either the in-line weight or attach the weight via one of the safety clips shown below as these are specifically designed to jettison the lead weight in case of line breakage during the fight.

As the images below shows, the bolt rig can be tied and presented 2 two ways: 

• As an 'in-line' lead weight but still carefully designed and constructed so that the lead weight can pull away in case of a break, so ensuring the safety of the fish. (See the 1st photo shown below).

A lead weight with swivel connected to the line via a safety clip as shown in the 2nd, 3rd photos; the 4th photo shows some alternative, component parts.

By combining the mechanics of the hair rig above with that of the Bolt rig: The fish sucks in the bait, and attempts to spit it or moves away with the hook bait in it’s mouth. The bare hook pricks its bottom lip and the carp “bolts” off. Now with a heavy semi-fixed lead in place, as the fish bolts the weight of the lead pulls the hook more firmly into its mouth and the fish is well and truly hooked before you have even seen the bite.

So instead of having to practically sit on our rods to hit runs that typically stop quickly when you're using the sliding/running rig, we can now take our time and gently lift the rod up to feel the strength of the carp that is already well connected to the other end of the line. The next phase of the capture begins; the skill needed to land and overcome the carp's infamous, encyclopedic knowledge of its underwater surroundings, including all the local snags along with its shear, unadulterated pound for pound fighting power…Good luck!

To complement the hair-rig, and to get you out and catching some carp lets finish off this month’s segment a brief talk about a couple of the baits; both hook baits and a good pack bait that are typically used.

Hook baits:

To some of you reading this it may seem like we’re stating the obvious here but never the less, the following bares mentioning for those that are completely new to Carp Angling.

Probably the best universal hook bait out there for carp is canned Sweetcorn bought right off of the shelves of your local grocery store. The only negative is the fact that sweetcorn is soft and so can sometimes come off the hook or hair when casting or other smaller species of fish can nibble the sweetcorn, eventually leaving your hook with no bait.

Maize when prepared correctly can solve these problems…

Field Corn/Maize bought in 25 or 50 lb bags from a feed store can also be extremely successfully when used on the hair as long as a few extremely important rules are strictly followed:

Egg sinker running lead/hair rig

The dry Maize MUST be soaked in a bucket of water for at least 36 hours to fully hydrate.

Then it MUST be vigorously boiled for 35-45 mins to soften them up and to release all the natural sugars/amino acids contained within the Maize kernel. This soaking and boiling process makes the Maize not only safe for the fish to eat but also turns it into a nutritionally useful food that contains some pretty serious feeding triggers and stimulators.

*Please DO NOT skimp on the preparation processes mentioned here in this section.

Next we’ll talk a little about boiled hook-baits, commonly referred to as boilies.

Boilies are hard-boiled baits that were originally introduced to carp angling in the UK during the late Seventies with the sole purpose of keeping 'nuisance' fish from eating away the bait being presented to the Carp…There have been many theories over the years regarding boilies, their use, nutritional value and importance to the carp angler’s toolbox. There’s no doubt about it though…. the right boilies made with highly nutritional ingredients do seem to separate the bigger fish and have accounted for many PB (Personal best)/Landmark Carp captures for anglers.

Very simple boilies can be made at home from eggs and whole-wheat flour, semolina and corn meal with some flavoring thrown in for good measure. These baits are rolled into various size balls and then boiled for 2 to 3 minutes dependent on size to form a tough skin on the outside of the bait. A quick google search will offer up plenty of both home made recipes and commercially available mixes and finished products.

Boilies come in a whole myriad of flavors, buoyancies, shapes, colors and sizes with nutritional values ranging from ‘Candy Bar’ to ‘Power Protein Shake.’ We mention this because over the years there has been great debate as to the importance of the ‘nutritional value’ of the boilie and the correlation between ‘how good’ the bait is for the fish and the ‘success’ of its catching abilities.

Pictured below are some home made and commercially produced Boilies ranging in size from 26 mm down to 8 mm that we're currently fishing with...

Boilies are commercially manufactured by companies the world over such as Solar, Dynamite, Nash, Mainline, Richworth, Nutrabaits, Rod Hutchinson and many, many more... There are some good bait and boilie making companies springing up here at home in the U.S.A. too such as CarpBaits-USA, Proline Baits, New England Carp Connections, World Classic Bait and Carp Maxx baits to name a few…

Of-course, we would be remiss if we didn’t do a little self plugging here and mention our very successful ‘Barnaby’s Revenge’ Range of boilies, Tigernuts and plastics that are available on our website’s store. https://americancarpsociety.com/store

Note: Boilies are also mounted onto the hair-rig with the help of the baiting needle we mentioned earlier.

The subject of boilies is very deep and this is as far as we will delve into it today…

Pack-Bait:

There are many recipes out there including our own “Ground-Bait” but one that stands out as both easy to mix and very productive in attracting Carp year round, is Cream Corn Oats:

Poor the contents of a large tub of Quakers Old Fashioned breakfast oats (approx 2 lb 10oz) purchased from the grocery store into your bucket (don’t used the 1 minute quick mix version).

Then mix 1 can of Cream Style Corn into the oats and thoroughly stir, place lid on the bucket and let it set for 10 to 15 minutes while you tackle up at the lakeside.

This Cream Corn Oats pack-bait is molded tightly around your sinker or lead weight before casting out. Once the pack-bait has hit the bottom of the lake you’re fishing, it starts to break down into a very nice attractive pile of oats and cream corn around your baited hook.

Here are a few photos showing a couple of Oat pack-bait mixes molded around the sinker/lead weight and lastly, a nice Common Carp cleanly and safely hooked in the bottom lip when it all comes together.

One last tip for this month:

All the baits mentioned above can be made even more effective by introducing them as chum before your planned fishing session - (pre-baiting). This can be done the night before or the morning of…but you’ll notice an even bigger difference in your catch rate, the longer you have previously and regularly pre-baited that same spot…

Check with your State’s Fish & Game Department' rules governing whether chumming is legal in your area. A few States or certain waters within specific States do ban the use of Corn/Maize completely, even as a hook bait. So please check your local regulations very carefully.

That’s it for this month, I hope you’ve picked up some useful information here. I’m looking forward to peeling back even more carp angling “mysteries” next month for you…

About Our Organization:

The American Carp Society was formed in 2002, with the goal of promoting and educating the public on the sport of specimen Carp Fishing in the USA.

The Common Carp (cyprinus carpio) is one of the hardest fighting freshwater fish in the world and is now being pursued by anglers of all persuasions, from fly fisherman to dedicated Specialist Carp anglers as a sport fish. The American Carp Society is a membership based organization and is responsible for promoting the sport and ensuring careful stewardship of both the specimen fish and its environment for the future generation of American Carp Anglers.

Website: www.americancarpsociety.com

Email: info@americancarpsociety.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/american_carp_society

USA Carp Angling intro - Part 1

USA Carp Angling Intro - Part 1

by

Wayne Boon

Dear Angler,

Hello and welcome to the first in a series of articles I’ve written that are designed to introduce and instruct anglers on the new age of Carp Angling… Note: Please don’t hesitate to share this series of blogs with your fishing friends as an educational tool.

I’ll start this month with some history and simple methods for locating and catching carp using gear that you probably already use to catch other species; In the following months we’ll be covering all the advanced gear, tackle, baits and tactics that the top carp anglers from around the world employ to catch their trophy catches

Right from the kick-off here, we need to differentiate our quarry, cyprinus carpio from the so called “Asian carp” (Bighead, Silver and Grass or White Amur) the former two are actually the filter feeders that are causing havoc across the mid-West right now and the White Amur feeds on aquatic vegetation.

Those three fish are often confused with and thrown into the collective “Carp” terminology by anglers around the country with the convenient support of their State’s Fish & Game department.

To be clear, the Bighead, Silver and Grass or White Amur are in no way shape or form even remotely related to the Common Carp (cyprinus carpio) or it’s history.

Smallmouth, Bigmouth and Black Buffalo also fall far outside of the designation/categorization of “Carp” but I’d love to spend an article on them sometime in the future…

So, when I or we (The American Carp Society) mention Carp, we’ll be talking about the only true Carp species, cyprinus carpio which incorporates Common carp, Mirror carp (includes Leather, Linear & Fully Scaled) and the decorative, colorful Koi carp only.

History of the Carp in the US

Getting back to our main subject, cyprinus carpio: This awesomely intelligent, challenging and world renowned sports fish was intentionally introduced all across the United States starting in the 1870s by the U.S. Fish Commission as a food fish to stave off starvation and fish population crashes as immigrants moved West...

The Commission was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1871 to perform extensive studies and reports to gauge the seriousness of the native fish population crashes and to find solutions. The Smithsonian’s own Dr. Spenser F. Baird was chosen to head up the Commission and in the following years, published major reports pointing to over harvesting by the ever expending European immigrant populations of the time along with serious man made changes to the fish’s natural habitats.

However, the commission very soon understood that it would have been political suicide to fully publish their findings and recommend that pollution, commercial fishing, wetland drainage and logging etc. be limited as the reports had concluded be part of the solution, so it was decided to look for a suitable replacement fish that would be worthy of cultivation.

At this stage, Dr. Baird was receiving 2000 letters per year requesting carp for breeding programs via his Commission’s headquarters; the new Americans, the European immigrant populations were pining for their favorite food fish. This triggered further studies that eventually concluded that “No other species except the carp (cyprinus carpio) promises so great a return in limited waters…” Carp (cyprinus Carpio) showed that it would reproduce well, grow rapidly, was adaptable to nearly all the environments that could be found across the nation, pose no harm to existing species and processed fine table qualities that many of the immigrant populations were well accustomed to back in their motherlands…

A few hundred carp were brought over from Germany and bred in Baltimore, MD and Washington D.C., these few fish were the genesis of the largest ever governmental fish breeding and distribution programs the world had ever seen! Distributed from coast to coast with much fanfare, carp helped feed a growing population, even finding itself in the best dishes served up by the finest hotels in the biggest cities around the country. At it’s peak, over 36 million pounds of carp were commercially harvested per year in the US!

Of course this “savior” fish didn’t keep it’s elevated status for too long as the Ocean fishing industry picked up it’s marketing game. The Oceans were seen as a far cleaner water source for food than the polluted lakes and rivers. Added to this fact was American carp farms had often tried to turn a quick buck and would place carp in anything that held water. These shallow ponds with stagnant muddy water produced inferior and muddy tasting fish, whereas back in the old world, European fish farmers prided themselves in raising their carp in pristine waters that provided a great tasting fish. Thus the decline of cyprinus carpio as a safe, clean food source.

Carp soon became the “poor-man’s fish” with all the connotations of a trash can diving hobo…

Outside of commercial fishing, carp are rightly recognized worldwide as a very learned, intelligent specie with awesome strength, size and sporting qualities. These attributes haven’t been lost on individuals angling for carp in the United States over the years either…whether angled for food or sport, this fish has been a popular quarry for generations of our citizens going back to the turn of the 19th century.

Introduction To Carp Fishing

By way of an introduction to the art of Carp Angling, I’ll cover some of the basic topics and concepts needed for an angler to enjoy success at the water.  More in depth techniques and strategies for targeting carp will be published in future blogs here in the coming months… So please do stay tuned regardless of your current level of experience.

Lets talk about where carp can typically be found and how to catch them in the last half of this month’s installment.

Outside of the cold Winter months, carp can be witnessed in lakes jumping early in the morning just as the sun is rising and also late evening just before the sunsets. If you cannot see them you will certainly hear them as they ‘crash out’ with quite a splash just as the light is fading at the end of the day giving vital clues as to their whereabouts and feeding patterns etc.

Carp usually patrol the margin areas early morning and late evening in rivers and lakes foraging for food and can be caught near reed beds, lilies and most structure relatively easily at these times of day but they can be caught in all depths of water from a foot to 30 feet or more.
 Warm water inlets to lakes and ponds are excellent areas to find carp as the flow of new water brings with it an ongoing supply of food for them along with extra Oxygen in the warmer months. 
They are naturally shy fish and are easily spooked so other good areas to find carp also are ‘shelves’ or ‘drop offs’ where shallower water ‘drops off’ to a deeper area where the fish will feel safe.

Locating natural food sources for the carp will also help to locate them. They feed primarily on snails, shrimp, water beetles, various larvae and some plant seeds/tubers. The larger specimens also eat Crayfish and mollusks like freshwater Clams & mussels, along with both Zebra and Quagga mussels. So natural areas where these can be located are a good start. Clear patches amongst weeds and gravel can signify a carp feeding ‘zone’. Areas of high-density weed are also good areas to find carp. Carp are opportunists and won’t be far from your local duck feeding location on the local pond.

How To Catch Carp?

Although carp feed at all depths of the water table, they’re more likely to be found looking for food on the lake and riverbeds during the day, so this is the best place to start.

Free-lining: The easiest way to catch carp is to go to the local pond with a loaf of bread, a single number 6 or 8 hook and some 10lb line to a pretty stiff rod and you are ready for action! Simply squeeze some bread on the hook, leaving the hook point free, briefly dunk the bread once in the water to add a little weight and then, quickly but gently cast out… Carp up to 10 lbs are relatively easy to catch very close to the shore and virtually all carp fishing is done from the bank.

There is no need for expensive tackle and boats. On some occasions, you may need some patience but feeding or ‘chumming’ (where legal) an area prior to fishing always helps. If the locals feed the ducks, that is the best place to start as the carp will be used to feeding on bread on that location.

Alternatively, 3 or 4 kernels of canned sweetcorn (bought from your local grocery store) threaded directly onto the hook and cast out with or without a small sliding egg sinker/weight will certainly produce a carp if they are there feeding in the area you are fishing.

Float Fishing: As mentioned above, Bread can be molded around a hook and ‘free lined’ into an area with no float (bobber) or weight and the angler can just watch the line; this is a great method for ponds and very small areas of water, however one of the most exciting methods of catching carp is to use a small float (Bobber) as the indicator.

Mold the bread to the hook with just the point showing and set the depth of the float so that the bait sits on the bottom of the lake bed or pond or alternatively, use a few kernels of sweetcorn or cooked Maize. Make sure that the clutch of the reel is set loose so that the fish can take line when hooked.

Once you have found a spot, whether near some reeds, lilies, under a tree or just a few feet out from the shore where the water gets a little deeper, cast your line and if legal in your state, immediately introduce few free offerings to get the fish feeding. Either a handful of sweet corn or a few pieces of bread (rolled up so that it will sink) will work and give it a few minutes for the fish to find the bait. Keep very close attention to the float as a take can be so fierce that it will literally have the rod being pulled from your hands. As soon as the float disappears lift into the fish…

Tackle to Use:

Any fishing tackle can be used to catch carp although a longer rod is better suited to float fishing from the shore because they allow more leverage when playing a fish and will assist when casting from the shoreline.

8-10ft is a good-sized rod for a young angler, 12ft for an adult; 8-10lb line strength is recommended and a number 6-10 single hook. Traditionally a fixed spool reel with a ‘bail-arm’ is used for float fishing though bait caster style reels can of course be used. If you are float fishing then a ‘European’ style ‘waggler’ float is recommended over a traditional bobber. Wagglers are much thinner in the shape of their body and much easier to cast with accuracy. They also have better indication on bites for the carp fisherman. They can now be found in most fishing tackle stores.

Here is a typical small float caught carp that I tempted using an ultra lite pole float on a Los Angeles area park lake.

And below that, just to show you the vast array of float types that exist is a nice collection of floats that would cover most angling conditions we could find across the US.

Alternatively, if you already have a 6 or 7ft medium action spinning rod (3/8 - 1oz lures) or similar sitting in the garage at home, just rig it up with a sliding egg sinker weight with a bead to stop the sinker from hitting the knot (see photo below); using the line, hook and bait advice above. An even better approach is to have the bait threaded onto a hair rig that I’ll be covering next month…

Carp can readily be caught from most waters here in the USA.

Baits to Use:

As above, a great place to start is to use Sweet corn or bread as they are two of the best baits to use for carp. Nightcrawlers (earthworms) and other natural carp foods such as seeds, nuts and some fruits if they naturally occur on the banks of the water that you fish are excellent. Dough baits made from mixing breakfast cereals with syrups are also a good place to start. There is lots of good bait related information on our website.

For bigger fish and longer fishing sessions, hard boiled baits or ‘boilies’ as they are known are excellent to use on a hair rig (I’ll describe boilies and show the mechanics of the hair rig in next month’s installment).

Catch & Release:

To preserve the fish for others to enjoy, especially those larger than 10 - 15 lbs, it is important to release the fish unharmed. Who knows you may catch her or him again in the future as a 40 lber! 
Catch the carp, have fun and take some pictures to post on the Internet/Social Media platforms to show your friends but always put the care of the fish first.

Thanks for taking to time to read this brief over view of the basics. I’ll be getting more in depth and further into the meat and potatoes of carp angling in the coming months.

Good luck out there!

Wayne

Founder - American Carp Society

About Our Organization:

The American Carp Society was formed in 2002, with the goal of promoting and educating the public on the sport of specimen Carp Fishing in the USA.

The Common Carp (cyprinus carpio) is one of the hardest fighting freshwater fish in the world and is now being pursued by anglers of all persuasions, from fly fisherman to dedicated Specialist Carp anglers as a sport fish. The American Carp Society is a membership based organization and is responsible for promoting the sport and ensuring careful stewardship of both the specimen fish and its environment for the future generation of American Carp Anglers.

Website: www.americancarpsociety.com

Email: info@americancarpsociety.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/american_carp_society