For a good decade my snowboards stole the winters as I moved up to escape the growing city so I could ditch my "weekend warrior" title and snowboard daily. As we all know the mountains are now crazy and busy as can be, and the enjoyment slowly started to fade.
Then one day I just didn't feel that joy anymore, it finally sunk in that I'd rather be fishing. In the last six years I can count on one hand how many times I've picked those snowboards back up.
Hello my name is Cody Gales, I'm an avid carp angler out of New Hampshire and I’d like to share my experiences from a session that produced my first 40lb common.
It was mid September when I finally made the decision on where I was going to start my fall baiting campaign. It was a stretch of river I’d been interested in for most of the previous year and this was a great time of year to bait and fish it…
As a kid growing up in Holland in the 80’s, fishing was part of my life from the moment I could hold a pole. Roach, bream, perch. I got into carp fishing at age 12 when seeing my cousin (who is 14 years older than me) fishing at a local canal. Carp angling became my entire life that day, until music took over…
I broke the kit down, carried it up the hill and loaded it into the Jeep. Grabbed a quick coffee before I took a drive out to Lowell and hooked up with long time Massachusetts carping friend, Scott Osmond for lunch at one of his local restaurants. Wonderful conversation and time spent catching up (it’d been a few years since we were last in each other’s company). Talked much about the “big fish mentality” and what it takes to consistently find the big ones as Scott regularly does… Why the pursuit of big fish are all important for some anglers and not so, if at all for others.
When I go to sleep, my thoughts tend to go to a specific image; of shallow water, an active tail, a mud plume, and that feeling of simultaneous intense adrenaline and total peace right before I present the fly.
At a moment like that, there’s nothing in the world that seems to exist except you and the fish.
When I wake up from dreams about tailing carp in the shallows, I pack my bags, head into the car, and drive to one of my favorite lakes to chase these golden ghosts.
I would tell myself, "Just stop thinking, Glenn, you have a big day tomorrow; just close your eyes and get to bed." It was like the night before Christmas before every offshore fishing trip. But, like most anglers desperately searching for that trophy fish or the adrenalin that comes with it, I would always struggle to sleep the night before due to my excitement level. Whether landing a giant bluefin tuna or losing one 10' below, I enjoyed all of the thrills, good or bad, and couldn't get enough of it. I was part of a group of anglers that targeted large tuna and other pelagics on light tackle for many years. Fast forward 15 years, and those feelings are still there, but instead of me being the leading angler, I am now the mentor to my youngest son Tyler, and instead of chasing tuna, we are chasing carp.
Like most Carp anglers born and raised in North America, my first memory of where my carping addiction began did not revolve around a set of 12’ rods on a stainless steel pod rigged with boilies on a hair rig.
There were no alarms or even a bell clamped to the end of the rod and I had no idea what a weigh sling or unhooking mat even were back then. It was as basic as you could possibly imagine, kinda like business casual at the office for the most part. The internet was just becoming a luxury that was soon to be a necessity in today’s world…
The afternoon passed quickly and as we were sharing some more jokes and stories, a massive wind gust hit the Brolly, bent it backwards and snapped all of the supporting arms totally exposing us to the elements.
Of course, the heavy rain had just started and it soaked us to the bone in no time as we ran for cover to his jeep. A few minutes later Morgan showed up to pick me up at the time she said. I couldn’t believe how quickly the time had passed and I wasn’t ready... When my buddy with the jeep left, I went back to my rods to retrieve the rest of my gear.
In the earlier brolly busting storm panic, I’d left one of my two rods out and when I went to reel it in, I noticed the spool was a bit lower than when I had cast earlier. I began to reel in the line thinking I had missed my one opportunity. The line was curled in a large C shape around the edge of the pond and as my line tightened out, to my complete surprise, there was still a fish connected!
…..That evening, there was an incredible fireworks display a mile or so up the lake from us. It was really like something you might see on TV, in a major City -- it was spectacular, and went on for a long long time. Excitement over -- things were rather quiet in our swim -- maybe the fish weren't quite as appreciative as us - hehe! And it remained quiet into the night -- until I was forced to exit my warm bivvy to deal with a catfish on one of my rods - and I found out why it was quiet --- Austin had pulled in all but one rod!!
When I was a kid I use to walk through town passing over some bridges to get to school in the morning. During the Spring as I walked over one of the bridges, I would notice dark shadows lurking just under the surface of the water below my feet. I eventually learned to carry bread in a ziplock bag each Spring morning to feed these shadows. It was amazing to watch these shadows snatch my bread off the surface before disappearing down into the depths, then to suddenly appear again for more of my bread.
Curiosity took over and before I knew it I found myself hitting the library…..
Saturday June 22nd - The Massachusetts’ American Carp Society social.
OK, as fantastic as this whole trip had been, this was the event I was really looking forward too!
The Massachusetts’ American Carp Society social was held on the Charles River in Needham with several of our members showing up, it was a fantastic event!
Thanks beyond words to both Tim and Martin Columbo for all their hard graft and phone work in putting this together for us all… It was magic guys…. Thank you!!
Finally loaded, this trip is actually happening!
I'd been in a mad scramble for the last 2 weeks attempting to get one last work project done so I could leave. The weather had not cooperated at all… I’m a concrete guy so I really don't care for rain, it balls everything up and we’d had plenty of it all month! I'd even told Melissa, my wife to tell her boss that our planned road trip wasn't gonna happen but somehow, my anti-rain dances had done their job and everything had eventually worked out, albeit a few days later than planned.
So… Leaving 4 days later than I wished presented challenges in finding a decent location to fish because it was Memorial Day weekend and that meant, that Blackfoot was likely to be extra busy with all the locals vacationing and partying there too…
So, Why would anyone want to carp fish from a boat?
It presents a number of challenges, and of course our preferred way will always be to locate and fish from the bank.
I fish from a boat because very few good carp waters locally in NC have decent provision for bank fishing. Access that does exists is often in the wrong place, after years of being hard fished, the carp may even avoid these areas. Night fishing is often not allowed on the bank either, it’s considered “camping” by the agencies in charge...
Fishing for Carp & Buffalo is kind of like surprise feeding your hungry girlfriend… it doesn’t always work out but when it does, you will reap the rewards.
It’s a common reaction to be asked, “why would an angler fish for carp”? I think at one point in time, most have pondered that very same question. I would say it’s a pretty safe bet that most carp anglers’ response on their first take was, why haven’t I done this sooner. Carp fly fishing brings a whole new gallery, or genre, to the meaning of, “the art of fly fishing”. Here, my goal is to give the interested carp angler a foundation of how to fly fish for them and a deeper appreciation for the fish.
I’ve quickly learned over the last few months that fishing for carp in the middle of winter is not for the faint of heart. Things I’ve took for granted during the warmer months, like watercraft, proved quite difficult. As more and more swims locked up with ice, scouting missions to hunt for open water had to be incorporated into my normal commutes….
Hello all, my name is Jacob Nuzum and like all of you, I love carp. I live and fish in West Virginia and am lucky enough that my home state has such a wide range of fishing opportunities. Large reservoirs, farm ponds, big and small rivers are all less than an hour’s drive from anywhere in the state. Like many other anglers in America, I grew up fishing for bass, sunfish, and catfish. Fishing was a way for the family to get together and enjoy the beautiful outdoor recreation West Virginia has to offer. However…
I have to park the Jeep about 75 yards away when fishing this swim and because there was some rain forecast, I was a little concerned about getting drenched and freezing cold staying by the rods all night. Plus my knee was still very painful and looked a bit of a mess.
Well, it certainly wasn’t an option not to fish all night; I mean I’d traveled so far for a great chance to catch some awesome mirrors… So I gritted my teeth, put the wet gear on and just went for it. It took me two hobbling trips to the swim from ‘Hotel’ Jeep to get my gear down to the swim where I eventually got set up and put the baits out with great anticipation…
It seems visions of huge carp have haunted me since I was a wee kid, with the passion for fishing for them growing over the years - and to this very day still has a huge bearing on my daily thoughts. An obsession some may say --- and of course they may be correct - but what know they of the stirrings deep within the psyche, on seeing the bubble trail moving towards ones float in the pre-dawn 'half' light, or the tightness in the belly as that pair of huge orange lips gently suck the floating crust from the surface?
