Think About Fish Before Fishing

Carp fishing last week was very slow. Fisherman who are willing to pay a few dollars more for their license can fish with two poles in most waters in this state. I pay those few dollars, so I can fish with two poles. Many people do not, and the fine I was told is $140.00. The difference in dollars for the proper license makes me realize how much people are willing to gamble.

I caught only one Carp on last weeks outing. I had three more bites, but they never came to fruition. I was using two different baits, and I had one bite on each one. I caught my one Carp on corn. There were two men close by, who were wandering along the lake shore as I was. We checked up on each other through the day, to see who was catching what.

They were intent on catching Catfish, which I found odd, because they started fishing at 08:30 am. That would be late night snacking for any self respecting Catfish unless dinner fell right in front of its nose.

The two men were frustrated as they made a long drive to fish for Catfish and they were not catching any. I told them about the catfish I caught a few weeks ago in the early evening hoping they would read between the lines, but they did not. I them mentioned that Catfish were night feeders because they are not developed for capturing prey with speed, they use darkness and stealth instead. I think the men were too frustrated to realize I was telling them nicely; middle of the day is not a good Catfish fishing.

The Carp were far out in the lake. They were jumping forty or more meters from shore and on the far side of weed beds. Perhaps fishing pressure on this particular lake is heavy enough to force them from shore. I fished in close to shore on the bank side of the weeds, and the Carp were having none of it. I changed to my twelve foot Carp Rod so I can cast halfway to Texas, or at least out where the Carp are.

There is a parameter within fifty or so feet of shoreline where any fish is very wary about eating any food that is not natural. Hence my long Carp rod to get my bait well out beyond the reach of most fisherman. My non standard long rod is not normal lake fishing gear and is looked at with skepticism, until I start catching fish. It does not create believers, but it makes them wonder what my real secret is.

Fishing on the far side of a weed bed is always a challenge. Carp when hooked head right into the thick weeds. Weeds are a defense for most fish, and fish try to swim to the nearest cover when frightened. I thought I lost my one fish, but once I mowed a five foot patch of weeds down (that floated to the surface), I could feel a fish still on. It was over a six minute battle, and the fish was only average for the lake. Its size was nothing remotely close to the big carp pictures on the net. That says a lot for Carp’s ability to provide a good fight.

Taking an informal poll, I found I caught one more fish than the nine people I spoke with. That does not reflect any skill on my part, only the willingness of Carp to eat. As one of the men fishing for Catfish told me, at least I could drive home knowing I caught something. I think all the fisherman present may have caught at least one fish if they did a little homework, and thought about what they know about fishing. Catfish generally do not feed in the middle of the day. Bass are spooked by anything splashing through the the water. All fish have a healthy fear of anything unnatural near shore. Where fish are jumping is a good indicator of where there may be fish.

Carp bait you can make when there are no Carp

Fishing a new lake is an experience in how to compete. Not competing with other fisherman, but competing with with the local food supply. I knew Catfish, Trout, and a hybrid fish named a Tiger Muskie were present, it seemed possible that Carp were around as food for the Tiger Muskie. I was wrong, there were no Carp to be found.

What there were in amazing numbers were Shad. These looked like thin silver and bronze Goldfish, but as I have never seen Shad before, I imagine they were a local variety. Thousands and thousands of minnows from an inch to perhaps three inches along the shallow shores of the lake.

Because I had some time to think about what to bring for bait to the lake, I took whole kernel corn, chicken liver, some hamburger meat mix, and a dough ball recipe I have made up that appeals to Carp here locally. I thought that even if there were no Carp, I was prepared for Trout, and Catfish. The Tiger Muskie were catch and release, and I did not want to spend money on the wire leaders, spoons, and lures to be able hook and land these toothy fish.

What I did not prepare for were the Shad. I knew when I saw bigger fish in the shallows, herding and charging the swarms of minnows that it was going to be a tough day fishing. It is very hard to entice fish to take your artificial bait when they have an endless supply of minnows to feed upon.

I fished shallows, and deeper water. While moving about I watched what baits different fisherman were using. I felt more confident, that if I caught even one fish, I would be one fish ahead of them. Like many people who want to fish, but do not think about fishing, they had wares from local stores. In their arsenal were jars of Norman’s never fail catfish bait, Steve’s smells like manure but still catches fish, and Marvin’s dead pickled minnows.

Store bought fish bait is about the same as buying a car. The car you buy is unique until you drive it off the lot. Then you realize that every third car is exactly like yours. Store baits are the same way, even chicken liver to some extent. On lakes with heavy fishing pressure, whatever you buy off the shelf gives off a, “Danger Will Robinson” alert as soon as it hits the water.

My hamburger meat mix, and chicken livers were ignored by everything except the Crayfish. I knew Crayfish were present, but I had no idea they were so numerous. This indeed was making a Carp fishing trip hard, being there were no Carp, literally tons of minnows, and aggressive Crayfish.

All I had left was my dough bait. I knew it should be attractive to Trout because it is corn based, but probably so does almost every off the shelf Trout bait. I did not think crayfish would care for it, but I was not sure. That left me with using dough bait hoping to entice a Catfish or two.

Putting a dough ball on a bare hook was working but not too well. I was not sure if I was losing my dough ball to the flooded bushes and grasses or Crayfish, but I was losing dough quickly. One of the things people do in this situation is put something hard on their hook first and mold their other bait around it.

I tried putting corn on first, but the dough was firm and crushed the corn. Next were some corn pops I carried along just in case. They worked, but did not seem to provide any inspiration for the fish. Maybe corn was a danger signal too. I had some chocolate puffs too, and they were the magic I needed though I am not sure why. I caught the only two fish of the day, both catfish, one about four pounds and the second about eight pounds. Very healthy, fat and well fed.

In every lake or pond you fish there are certain flavors fish can not resist. I think it is more a nutrition thing than good taste, because I have found I catch less but bigger fish using tailored dough ball ingredients. If you think and experiment, I believe it is likely that you can easily develop you own killer bait for use where you fish. Throw what local fisherman tell you out the window, unless they have the fish to back up their statements. Every fish needs something they have to search out. When you provide that food, whether or not it is a natural bait, you are on your way to catching fish while others fail to get a bite.

Carp Cooking

Moving beyond my post Culinary Carping, the more adventurous Carp fisherman, sooner or later finds themselves in the kitchen cooking up Carp bait of some form or another. I started cooking before I caught my first Carp this year. I think it is a man thing, There is a lot more satisfaction catching Carp on bait I made than on a few kernels of corn from a can.

I wish I had some secret recipe that knock Carp dead, but I do not. I search the net for recipes, and have used basic recipes. So far my results are mixed, but it is still fun catching Carp using a bait I made. Instead of sharing some secret recipe that I do not have, I thought I would provide a few thoughts from cooking in general that you may not be aware of. Thickeners are a good place to start for those that want to try or use dip baits or gunk baits.

Thickeners besides thickening, do two basic things. They either make your sauce shiny or they make it dull. Generally if you want your dip or gunk to be shiny corn starch is the thickener of choice. If you want your gunk to be dull, flour is a better choice.

There is an old not much used any longer thickener out there, but I have not used it in so long I do not remember if it makes a sauce shiny or dull. It is called Arrowroot. It is also the main ingredient in baby teething crackers. If you do not want a slight flour, or corn flavor in your dip or gunk, arrowroot may be worth a try.

When it comes time to thicken your sauce, there is an easy way to get started. Use cold water, and better yet use water for your clothes iron. Failing that use bottled water, rain water, or lake water. There is some talk on the net about the chlorine and fluoride in tap water, but I am not an expert, and you may know if it makes a difference or not. Put your water in the refrigerator long enough to get it cold before you need it. It works better the colder the water is.

Use a cereal bowl, or other small bowl and add the dry thickener of your choice to a dry bowl. Add a few drops to a teaspoon full of water and mix with your just cleaned (odorless) fingers. If you get clumps, press them against the side of the bowl and they will disappear. If you end up with clumps you can’t get rid of a tea cup sized strainer does the trick. The mix should not be be watery, and it can not sit too long, especially if you use corn starch. Corn starch does not really mix well with water so larger particles will settle to the bottom of the bowl.

Once you have it well mixed, and the sauce is simmering, add it little by little to the simmering sauce. Stir as you add, and do not add too much at one time or it will not thicken correctly. Also take care to bring your sauce to a simmer each time. The corn starch or flour will become clear in your sauce when it reaches a proper temperature. If you are desperate to thicken your gunk, but have no thickener, oatmeal, or crushed soda crackers, and instant potatoes work in a pinch. Of course there thickening power is not as good as the common thickeners. Instant potatoes only stay thick for a few minutes. Sometimes that could be just what you want.

One time saver I found for Carp dip or gunk bait is starting with a jar of something from the store. Already made pineapple, or strawberry preserves are a good starting point. You might also check out ice cream toppings. Check ingredients so you know what they are made out of. Ensure you are paying real ingredients and not some other flavorings made to taste like the real thing. Adding kool-aid to the mix, or baking flavors is also a possibility. One good thing about carefully made Carp bait dip or gunk, if it does not work for Carp, it can be a good ice cream topping…two scoops or three?

Carp fishing articles now at The Carp Times

I wanted to make a short post about my Carp fishing posts. I enjoy any fishing, and Carp fishing is especially fun. The Carp fishing site The Carp Times came across my blog and liked what I had. To make a short story shorter, my future Carp fishing articles can be found at The Carp Times.

Not exactly restricted to Carp fishing, there is an article in the works about thickening sauce with some Carp centric flavoring. If sauce or gravy making is an area you always wanted to know about, but were scared to ask, it will be published on the next site update of The Carp Times.

It is a great site, and still on the ground floor with a lot of good ideas to become a Carp fishing site with something for everyone. Even if you have never been Carp fishing, fishing at all, or choose not to Carp fish, it is worth checking The Carp Times to see what is going on in the fishing world. There is also a Q & A, if you have any Carp fishing questions you may have your question answered there.

In finishing, for my own and other great Carp fishing related articles, see you over at The Carp Times.

August 5, 2008 Edit:

After chatting the admin at The Carp TImes and sharing thoughts about The Carp Times, I have decided to publish Carp fishing articles here and The Carp TImes will link to them. The time involved in managing content on fast changing site such as The Carp Times is a lot more time and effort than anticipated. Hopefully this will reduce some of the load of the administration of the site. Thanks.

There’s no fishing like Carp fishing!

Since I am on extended vacation of sorts, I have mostly been doing whatever I want whenever I want – within reason. This week it has been even more Carp fishing. If you fish and can not understand why anyone would want to fish for and catch Carp, maybe this will help?

I love to catch Northern Pike. They are not much fun to eat because they have so many bones, but they are great fighters and a challenge to catch. Bass are the same way. However any Bass over a few pounds starts dropping swiftly on the taste scale. I love Trout, but they suffer a few problems of their own. Firstly, there are no wild Trout left that the average person has any real access to. The second problem with Trout is taste. Once a Trout goes over about twelve inches the taste starts to go south pretty quickly. Not to mention that trout are fed pellets in hatcheries until the day before when it was released into the pond or stream it was caught in.

For freshwater game fish that leaves Crappie which are outstanding, both catching and eating, but not available to everyone. Other panfish taste really good, or not so great depending on where they are caught.

Carp on the other hand are rarely eaten unless one is really hungry, or when I lived in Minnesota the springtime before they once again became mushy and their taste goes off. Most people, myself included fish for the sport rather than the eating, so does it really matter what fish is being caught as long as it is fun to catch?

I don’t think the type of fish caught really matters that much. I watched a lot of Bass fisherman fish hard all day long this week and land maybe one or two small Bass that really were not worth keeping. I watched a group of three people tonight Cat-fishing. Between the three of them they had two fish, perhaps eight pounds of Catfish. Not bad, but they had been fishing almost four hours, or twelve man hours of fishing time.

I on the other hand was able to measure my fish today by tens of pounds. I landed seven Carp, the largest of which was around ten pounds. The other six Carp were around or over five pounds each. Not bad for an afternoon of fishing. Leaving out the other seventeen people I counted fishing and catching nothing, who do you think had most fun today, the group of three or myself?

I think fishing for Carp wins hands down! Carp fishing takes a skill level equal to any one showing up at a lake with a fishing rod and reel can master. Carp fishing is cheap when you compare the cost of Carp fishing with the cost of catching other fish. Today I spent $0.86 for a can of whole kernel corn. I damaged or lost four hooks, for $0.60 (ten hooks for $1.46). I almost forgot the sinkers. One sinker, at about $0.17 (when I bought it years ago).

A Bass fisherman fishing from shore, is using some type of artificial lure, at $5.00 or more per lure. The Bass Fisherman needs many different types and colors because of the nature of Bass fishing. To be a productive Bass fisherman means that someone fishing from shore is casting into underwater cover, ie, stumps, brush, and weeds, or a combination of those. I have lost many dollars worth of lures on a day of Bass fishing and had nothing to show for my losses.

So for cheap fishing entertainment, with the biggest bang for each dollar spent, you can’t go wrong with Carp fishing. It is cheaper than Bass fishing and much more fun than catching hatchery trout the state planted in the pond or stream two days earlier.

Happy fishing!

Another day, another Carp

I was Carp fishing again yesterday, morning through the afternoon. I enjoy fishing even when the fish are not biting. Today started a little slow. I was fishing around some dead bushes in about four feet of water. I hooked one Carp, but of course it was on my lighter rod with ten pound test. The Carp made it into the brush and that was all she wrote. I got a flash of the Carp spinning around a branch, and then the line broke, of course.

A few minutes later a family showed up and set up next to me. Normally I would not mind, but there was only about twenty feet of what I thought fishable water in front of me, and they were staking claim to half of it. The lake is huge with miles of shoreline, and they have to park right where I am at. Oh well, fishing was slow there anyway.