A friend of mine cancelled on me at 2am in the morning...so I texted a friend (Michael) I met in spring to see if he want to go carping at the Island.
The Dragon Boat Festival was on this weekend...and the crowd was unbearable. By the time we got to the Island, it was 11:30am. By the time we got fishing at our spot, it was already close to 1am.
The carp were all hiding in wood cover...so we walked around looking for bowfin.
Did we ever find them! Usually, you find the odd one here and there spread out all over the Islands...but today, we found two under two separate wood debris piles that were about 50 feet from each other.
I pitched a worm to the one closer to shore...and it took a few tries before the bowfin too notice. Michael was right beside me as I talked through the whole situation and how I position the bait and how the fish was reacting. Finally, the fish gulped the worm in, I set the hook and hand the rod over to Michael.
Beautiful male still with spawning colours! I'm glad Michael crossed off bowfin on his list with this stunning male. Now he also knows what to look for and how to spot them.
Okay...now to the second fish. Strangely, our first bowfin struggling in the area did not scare this one away. Again, it took a few casts to get the fish to notice. When I thought the bowfin had took the worm (it disappeared from view with the fish head on top of it), I set the hook, but the worm just pulled straight back. The bowfin got a little startled and muddied up the water. It didn't swim away really, but did a 180 turn and settled back in the same position. Since the water was muddied up, I could only see the back of the fish. I pitched the worm and pull it into the muddy area. I couldn't see much, but I thought the line moved a little...so I set the hook...and FISH ON again!!!
Michael let me fight this one LOL. Look at the green on the belly and the fins! I turned the belly toward the camera to show what beautiful colours they have.
Two bowfin in less than 10 minutes!!!
After the bowfin, we walked some more looking for active carp...but found none. Then Michael thought he spotted a bowfin...but instead it was a big brown bullhead. He quickly rig up another worm, pitched it at the bullhead...and GAME ON!!!
This was Michael's biggest brown bullhead!
As we were landing the fish, a bunch of kids came by to look. There were two girls who took my invitation to help them catch a fish...so I found some pumpkinseed sunfish for them and got them catch one each. Happy kids, happy Ken.
A little ways away, Michael spotted a juvenile bowfin about 12" in size. He had it hit, set the hook, fought it, but it came unbottoned when we were lifting it to shore. The fish resettled a little ways away and Michael tossed the same worm at the fish...and it took it again. But like last time, the fish unbottoned on the lift. These fish have bony mouths...so unless you set on the hook real hard...or use a circle hook, it is easy to lose them.
And that was basically it. We found a spot with a handful 20lb+ carp...but they just wouldn't go during the afternoon. By 5pm, we called it a day.
New species and a PB for Michael...now that's a good day! These days, I'm just as happy helping others cross off species as I am working on my own list.
Sunday June 24
A few weeks ago, I met up with Richard to sell him a few of my spare lures. I also met Richard's son Tristan. Tristan is really passionate about fishing at his young age. He has yet to catch a carp and he saw some of my carping reports. So I said we should go out carp fishing some time.
Well, we finally had a day set and I met them on the Island at 7am this morning.
I had a spot in mind where I caught some carp in the morning last weekend...but the fish today just didn't really want to play. There was the odd carp cruising around, but none had that feeding attitude to them. We had 3 lines out over a 40 feet area. I had my usual float / hair rig, Richard was using a float rig with corn suspended, and there was one more line with just corn and a bit of styrofoam on the line as a freeline.
When the sun was finally out, we started to see a couple of carp slowly coming into our area. One carp was especially interested, but it ate around my chum and took off.
Then Richard had a carp feed on his chum and took the float down momentarily but the hook didn't set.
Finally, one carp came in hot into my chum and started to work the area methodically. At long last, my float shot forward and we're on!!!
I passed Tristan my rod and this carp ran around the bay. After the first run, it paused a little and we gained maybe a foot of line before the second run began. This time, the fish ran right into a big clump of weeds. I took the rod over and tried to ease the fish out gently but the line finally gave out. It was a decent 7-8lb carp too!
We tried to fish the area a little more but there was no more carp coming to the area. So we decided to pack up and do a little exploring.
I was hoping to find Tristan a bowfin but they were not home today. However, we did see some more carp in this area so Richard and I decided to give it a shot.
Richard was first to get a hit on the suspended corn. The float quivered a little but again the hook did not set.
I had a carp came into my chum and turned the water muddy but it couldn't find my baited hook. I was just considering whether to chum the area again or not...when I saw a carp very close to shore. It skirted around my chum area and I lost sight of it when it went into the shadows. About 15 seconds later, my float suddenly shot forward! Was it the same fish? I don't know...but it was good to have another fish on!
This time, I played the fish on the first run to gain some control before I pass the rod to Tristan. I coached him on playing the carp and bringing it to the net. At long last, we had our carp!!!
Tristan with his first carp
Father and son with a great memory shot.
After this fish, the fish seemed to have left. At about 12pm, we decided to call it a day and grab some pizza. Thanks for the pizza Richard!
It was a lot of fun (and frustration due to a slow bite). I'm definitely happy to help Tristan catch a carp, and I'll be happy to do it again.