Carping 2 da max!
Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:27 pm
Ah, another day at the Islands for some cheap thrills. 
Since last outing was rather slow, I had very little expectation today. But I did a bit of research on shy bite carp and some of what was said and what I had personally experienced was the exact opposite...so being that it will be a sunny, hot and humid day today, I let my personal experience tell me what to expect.
I had more than I expected 8O
So I slept in a little this morning...but made it across the harbour by 9:30am.
I set up at the first swim and started chumming. There were a few fish swimming about slowly (still warming up) so I just chummed and set up my area waiting for the fish to warm up.
While I waited, I sat back in my lawn chair and started to write my manuscript on a paper pad
It beats sitting at home on the lap top typing away And I can get a little work done while having fun
So as expected, the morning hours are a bit slow...but come 11am, things started to get interesting.
First, it was a group of three carp nose down blowing mud everywhere. Eventually, they reached my chummed area and one of the carp took my hook. FISH ON! BIG fish too!
Since my last trip, I thought about using fluorocarbon for the shy fish. I had some Seaguar InvisX 8lb and used that to make my hair rig and leader. Fluorocarbon should be strong and abrasion resistant, right? Not if it is InvisX!!!
This fish ran across the bay and buried itself in some weeds and I could feel a little rubbing. I was trying to ease the fish back out when SNAP!
Okay...no biggie...the day is still young. I tied on another leader made with InvisX and send the rig out in the chummed area again. Another 20min passed by when my float shot off! I couldn't see the fish come in because they had muddied up the area.
Again, BIG fish...took me to the same weedbed and I could feel the same rubbing...PING! Gonzo!
Okay...a few quietly spoken choice words later (being that there were kids around), I decided to use the mainline to tie my leader. This is now Sufix Seige 8lb...which I had come to really love.
Rigged up...sent it out again...and it was a long wait. The fish would come close to the swim but once they got near, they would turn around and grub in another area.
So I have read that carp, like other minnows, releases molecular signals when under stress or predation. So here I though...maybe those two fish had released enough stress signals in the area.
Okay...that's a hypothesis to test, right? So I went to chum another area about 25 feet away...a little further out from shore...and chucked my rig in there. It took the fish a little time to find the chum...when once they did, they came in droves!
Finally, I had a good hit and set the hook into another big fish. This fish went to the same weedbed...into probably the same branch...and dug even deeper in that mess. I felt my line rubbing...but after a couple of seconds, the line came free and the fish ran out of the weedbed. Next, it was aiming for the shrubs and some more branches overhanging on the left side.
Again...here's where it got interesting. I have read that fish will react to the direction where you applied pressure. If the fish is headed left, of course our natural reaction is to pull it back...so the resistance is coming from behind. At that point, the fish would run even harder forward to escape. So what you really want to do is to apply pressure from the front....so that the fish would run the opposite way.
With that in mind, I put it to the test too...and it worked! The fish felt tugging in front of its head and it ran away from the branches. SWEET!
After a little more battling, I finally slip the net under the fish.
That's my PB carp!!! I put the tape to it...32" length, 22" girth...calculator tells me it about 16lbs. Sorry I don't have a pic of the girth measurement...it was hard holding the fish down can work the tape...no hands for the camera...
WOOHOO!!!
I released the fish and there were still some fish working my chum. So I sent my rig out again...and 10 mins later, FISH ON!!!
Same tactic with this fish...straight to the weedbed...but it couldn't find the branch It also tried to reach the shrubs and overhanging branches but made less of an effort than the last fish. This one just bulldogged a lot...but finally in the net...and it was HEAVY! 8O
Measure it out....34" length, 24.5" girth...dang! Just broke my PB again! 8O Calculator said it was 20lbs.
BEASTS!!!
After that fish, it seems that fish were avoiding the swim again...hm...interesting....
Fish were fishing on the far side and I could reach that area with my light float rig...so I decided to fish the "busy" swim again. I call it the busy swim because it has lots of pedestrian traffic
When I got there, there were already carp milling around. What a great sign! I started chumming like mad and in no time, I had 4 carp going bonkers eating cron.
Strangely, it took a while for them to find my hook...maybe I chummed too well Set the hook good on the fish...or so I thought...after the fish ran into the weedbed, I tried to ease it out...and the hook came flying back at me. DUCK!
No biggie...check my hook point and found a burr....so I sharpened it and sent it back out...and 10 min later, another fish on!
This fish did the same thing...ran into the weedbed...and the hook came flying back...hm?
I was getting a little pi$$ed now. But keeping at it, back went the rig...and soon, fish on again! This fish snapped me off! (Another series of quietly spoken choice words).
This is NOT fun anymore! Of course...now that I have stung and lost 3 fish, they avoided my area...this is really interesting observation. 
By this time, I had very little corn left and I didn't have enough for chumming...so I just sent out my rig to random areas and just hope a carp would find it. Of course, this is not the best method...and it was a loooooong wait.
In between the waiting, a seagull dove and grabbed my float! It managed to get the hook on its face and I had a little fun battling a flopping bird In the end, it was only a skin wound and the bird actually co-operated enough for me to use the hemostat to twist the hook out. Seagull are dumb. Mine...mine...mine...
I started to watch the fish more carefully and found an area they funnel though. So I sent my rig right in the middle of that funnel...and before I even sat back down in my chair, I heard the rod move toward the water. Good thing I learned in the past and clipped a carabiner clip to my reel stem (attached to rope which was tied to my backpack)...and it worked like a charm saving my rod.
This fish wasn't too big...but it did ran into the weedbed twice resulting in a lot of eel grass on my line. Some of the grass was knotted in my line and I had trouble retrieving the last 15 feet of line. After some crafty rod work, I did manage to guide the fish to the net.
Just a little 22" fish I must have hooked an artery on the lower lip because it was bleeding quite a bit.
Well, the end the day, I caught a "new" species. Really, it wasn't a new species...I had never counted it because it was an invasive species...but a while ago, I decided to count it if I ever caught one again and take a picture for my list.
So here it is...round goby...Species #123.
Beauty way to end the day. Actually, I was hoping for one more carp...but the fish moved about randomly and it was hard for the to chance into my hook. After I packed up, I tossed the remaining handful of corn into the water...and a expected...the carp came in and went crazy.
So between 10am to 6pm, the finally count on carp was 3 landed, 3 snapped off and 2 popped off. This is the best session thus far. Not to mention breaking the PB twice and finally landing a 20lb carp! And to top it all off, a new species on the list
Oh...also drafted the introduction for my manuscript...what a great day!
Verbal diarrhea over...Ken out!
Since last outing was rather slow, I had very little expectation today. But I did a bit of research on shy bite carp and some of what was said and what I had personally experienced was the exact opposite...so being that it will be a sunny, hot and humid day today, I let my personal experience tell me what to expect.
I had more than I expected 8O
So I slept in a little this morning...but made it across the harbour by 9:30am.
I set up at the first swim and started chumming. There were a few fish swimming about slowly (still warming up) so I just chummed and set up my area waiting for the fish to warm up.
While I waited, I sat back in my lawn chair and started to write my manuscript on a paper pad
It beats sitting at home on the lap top typing away And I can get a little work done while having fun
So as expected, the morning hours are a bit slow...but come 11am, things started to get interesting.
First, it was a group of three carp nose down blowing mud everywhere. Eventually, they reached my chummed area and one of the carp took my hook. FISH ON! BIG fish too!
Since my last trip, I thought about using fluorocarbon for the shy fish. I had some Seaguar InvisX 8lb and used that to make my hair rig and leader. Fluorocarbon should be strong and abrasion resistant, right? Not if it is InvisX!!!
This fish ran across the bay and buried itself in some weeds and I could feel a little rubbing. I was trying to ease the fish back out when SNAP!
Okay...no biggie...the day is still young. I tied on another leader made with InvisX and send the rig out in the chummed area again. Another 20min passed by when my float shot off! I couldn't see the fish come in because they had muddied up the area.
Again, BIG fish...took me to the same weedbed and I could feel the same rubbing...PING! Gonzo!
Okay...a few quietly spoken choice words later (being that there were kids around), I decided to use the mainline to tie my leader. This is now Sufix Seige 8lb...which I had come to really love.
Rigged up...sent it out again...and it was a long wait. The fish would come close to the swim but once they got near, they would turn around and grub in another area.
So I have read that carp, like other minnows, releases molecular signals when under stress or predation. So here I though...maybe those two fish had released enough stress signals in the area.
Okay...that's a hypothesis to test, right? So I went to chum another area about 25 feet away...a little further out from shore...and chucked my rig in there. It took the fish a little time to find the chum...when once they did, they came in droves!
Finally, I had a good hit and set the hook into another big fish. This fish went to the same weedbed...into probably the same branch...and dug even deeper in that mess. I felt my line rubbing...but after a couple of seconds, the line came free and the fish ran out of the weedbed. Next, it was aiming for the shrubs and some more branches overhanging on the left side.
Again...here's where it got interesting. I have read that fish will react to the direction where you applied pressure. If the fish is headed left, of course our natural reaction is to pull it back...so the resistance is coming from behind. At that point, the fish would run even harder forward to escape. So what you really want to do is to apply pressure from the front....so that the fish would run the opposite way.
With that in mind, I put it to the test too...and it worked! The fish felt tugging in front of its head and it ran away from the branches. SWEET!
After a little more battling, I finally slip the net under the fish.
That's my PB carp!!! I put the tape to it...32" length, 22" girth...calculator tells me it about 16lbs. Sorry I don't have a pic of the girth measurement...it was hard holding the fish down can work the tape...no hands for the camera...
WOOHOO!!!
I released the fish and there were still some fish working my chum. So I sent my rig out again...and 10 mins later, FISH ON!!!
Same tactic with this fish...straight to the weedbed...but it couldn't find the branch
It also tried to reach the shrubs and overhanging branches but made less of an effort than the last fish. This one just bulldogged a lot...but finally in the net...and it was HEAVY! 8O
Measure it out....34" length, 24.5" girth...dang! Just broke my PB again! 8O Calculator said it was 20lbs.
BEASTS!!!
After that fish, it seems that fish were avoiding the swim again...hm...interesting....
Fish were fishing on the far side and I could reach that area with my light float rig...so I decided to fish the "busy" swim again. I call it the busy swim because it has lots of pedestrian traffic
When I got there, there were already carp milling around. What a great sign! I started chumming like mad and in no time, I had 4 carp going bonkers eating cron.
Strangely, it took a while for them to find my hook...maybe I chummed too well
Set the hook good on the fish...or so I thought...after the fish ran into the weedbed, I tried to ease it out...and the hook came flying back at me. DUCK!
No biggie...check my hook point and found a burr....so I sharpened it and sent it back out...and 10 min later, another fish on!
This fish did the same thing...ran into the weedbed...and the hook came flying back...hm?
I was getting a little pi$$ed now. But keeping at it, back went the rig...and soon, fish on again! This fish snapped me off!
(Another series of quietly spoken choice words).
This is NOT fun anymore!
Of course...now that I have stung and lost 3 fish, they avoided my area...this is really interesting observation.
By this time, I had very little corn left and I didn't have enough for chumming...so I just sent out my rig to random areas and just hope a carp would find it. Of course, this is not the best method...and it was a loooooong wait.
In between the waiting, a seagull dove and grabbed my float! It managed to get the hook on its face and I had a little fun battling a flopping bird
In the end, it was only a skin wound and the bird actually co-operated enough for me to use the hemostat to twist the hook out. Seagull are dumb. Mine...mine...mine...
I started to watch the fish more carefully and found an area they funnel though. So I sent my rig right in the middle of that funnel...and before I even sat back down in my chair, I heard the rod move toward the water. Good thing I learned in the past and clipped a carabiner clip to my reel stem (attached to rope which was tied to my backpack)...and it worked like a charm saving my rod.
This fish wasn't too big...but it did ran into the weedbed twice resulting in a lot of eel grass on my line. Some of the grass was knotted in my line and I had trouble retrieving the last 15 feet of line. After some crafty rod work, I did manage to guide the fish to the net.
Just a little 22" fish
I must have hooked an artery on the lower lip because it was bleeding quite a bit.
Well, the end the day, I caught a "new" species. Really, it wasn't a new species...I had never counted it because it was an invasive species...but a while ago, I decided to count it if I ever caught one again and take a picture for my list.
So here it is...round goby...Species #123.
Beauty way to end the day. Actually, I was hoping for one more carp...but the fish moved about randomly and it was hard for the to chance into my hook. After I packed up, I tossed the remaining handful of corn into the water...and a expected...the carp came in and went crazy.
So between 10am to 6pm, the finally count on carp was 3 landed, 3 snapped off and 2 popped off. This is the best session thus far.
Not to mention breaking the PB twice and finally landing a 20lb carp! And to top it all off, a new species on the list
Oh...also drafted the introduction for my manuscript...what a great day!
Verbal diarrhea over...Ken out!