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Matt

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    End of Season Summary

    in Carp on the Fly

    Posted

    Worst year of carp fishing in probably seven years. Only caught about 15 or so carp this year, no 30s, no mirrors. Didn't fish new venues...I blew it in general and logged very few hours on the bank or in the water. Had a couple good days of shad fishing, a couple hot mornings of topwater striped bass and that's about it! Pathetic.

    Mirror Carp

    in Pictures, Stories & Video

    Posted

    Nice mirror! For a minute, I was quite certain that was a recapture of one of the lightly scaled mirrors louis and I had caught at the first b-ville tourney in 2007 (post 189, page 13 of this thread), but I don't think it is....

    Types of carp fishing

    in Beginning Carping

    Posted

    I was introduced to this sport in 2006 and the very first guy I saw instantly became my Hero, my goal, my passion, luckily for me he's now a very close personal friend and a mentor.

    Besides the obsession with clown punching and heels, you've picked a good mentor. :)

    Me personally, catching big fish happens because: 1. You fish venues with big fish; 2. You fish during the periods when big fish are the heaviest and most actively feeding (roughly April-May and October in my general region); 3. You have confidence in your technique, whether its fishing donky chokers over a bed of jumbo boilies, pack bait, fly, whatever; 4. most importantly...you go fishing a lot.

    The majority of my biggest fish have all come on small single bait rigs, with or without a small pva. But, that tactic catches me tons of small fish too, because that's my confidence rig. :D

    Probably my most rewarding fish (the mirror in my avatar) came after a lot of fishing, blanking and hard work and patience. A new venue on my home river, which required serious work to make it fishable, seemed destined to produce big fish. Louis and I fished it nearly every day or night from late march through mid april. After probably 8-10 sessions, I had yet to catch a single carp, which is really rare on the Schuylkill. I didnt start changing my rigs or baits or move onto another location. Louis had caught a few decent 20s, I still kept blanking. Very frustrating. Finally, after a long Friday night session I got a solid run, just as thoughts of hitting up my neighborhood bar for last call were beginning to dominate my mind. It really was a rewarding moment to net the biggest mirror I had ever seen in person. The hard work and consistent effort paid off...and that ended up being the first of many awesome fish we caught at that location. But...within a week, the big fish were now where to be found at that location...right time, right place, consistent effort.

    Basic carp angling etiquette

    in Pictures, Stories & Video

    Posted

    Louis.

    I think its a given that the carp can not eat your boilies if you haven't room to chunk them. :) But, there again, ya'll need to not be so greedy with bankspace and learn to tighten up a bit. If its your swim and you've been baiting it up, then go right to the middle and pegg up. :D A paylaker is in his comfort zone with only 10 feet of space. :P

    Well, this was more of a discussion of etiquette, not so much about a baiting campaign. So let's say your down at your favorite paylake, hauling from your favorite little ten foot section of bank, winning pots. Then, you hop in your little pink camo carp scooter to go weigh another pot winning fish. While you're putting your winnings in your dukes of hazzard wallet, you come back to find someone else fishing in your peg. I know your response would be "I can catch them from anywhere on the paylake because I am the carp whisperer", but then you go fish another empty peg cause your original got jacked and you dont catch anything, while the person that stole your peg is busting pots and winning money.

    What would you do then? How would that kind of peg thievery stand with you?

    Basic carp angling etiquette

    in Pictures, Stories & Video

    Posted

    I think trolling for big fish spots happens all the time on the forum - hence the whole members only reports. But its not just non-members who troll for big fish spots to jack - its other members too. People will travel far and wide to catch a big fish.

    Me personally, I've travelled to many of the known big fish venues in the US: Alexandria, Town Lake, TN, Tomhannock, Deep Creek and the increasingly popular Zach's mirror spot. BUT, I would have never travelled to those places without an invite from a local. That's part of the beauty of CAG, travelling around and meeting other like-minded members. And occassionally getting invites to fish special places is a real perk, in my opinion.

    I've had spots jacked locally by guys who have seen me bait up or haul. It can be frustrating. I do think that is where ettiquette comes into play. If you know someone has been putting the time, effort and money into a baiting campaign - that is something you need to respect.

    On the other hand, its a free country and most of us fish public waters open to anyone. We can't dictate who fishes where and we don't own the spots, as much as we stake mental ownership on our favorite fishing grounds.

    What did I get for my 25.00 ? Part 3 of 3

    in Pictures, Stories & Video

    Posted

    Nice one Zoomie! I couldn't agree more. I've gone fishing all over the place thanks to other anglers i've met here. 30's in Tennessee, 30's in DC, trips to TX, OK, NY, ME, MD, NJ, MI and beyond to meet and fish with other CAG members or based on solid advice from other CAG members. I bought some of first carp rods, alarms etc...from other CAG members. And I've also sold some of my older tackle to CAG members. In fact, my first set of decent rods is now in the hands of a fourth CAG member! I even still use the bed chair of CAG legend Al Kowalski, a man who gave me tons of good carping advice in my early days. Al was also our marshal at the World Carp Championship in 2005 and rooted Louis and I on the whole time. Along with other fellow CAG members (Stewart, John Tillbrook, Tommy Robinson and Mark Metzger) Louis and I were able to help make USA the Nation Champs at the event and finish third place individually. In 2007, at the first Baldwinsville tournament, Louis and I were able to take what we've learned from CAG's paylakers to put a whooping on England's carp legends Frank Warwick and Pete Castle with breakfast foods.

    A real highlight for me was the time Rodman and Horace were in Philadelphia for a visit and Louis and I were able to spend an evening fishing with them. We only caught one fish that night, but it ended up being a PB for Horace. Many of my previous PBs were achieved through assistance I recieved from other members, and I was happy to help someone else achieve the same.

    100 Mirrors

    in Pictures, Stories & Video

    Posted

    Sorry my friend, but that logic just doesn't fly. If you introduce 1 year old carp in a newly made venue, if you have an abundance of natural food, if you don't overcrowd the place with fish and if you introduce fish with the right genetics (I know, that's a lot of if's), you'd be surprised how big they get in let's say 15 years.

    Age of the water often is incorrectly mentioned as a major factor for carp growth. Once the water reaches let's say 30-40 years this factor becomes virtually irrelevant.

    In case of Blackfoot, if it's true that the place would be full of snails and perhaps other natural food sources, I would suspect that there's simply too much carp in there.

    I think that lake might really teach us a lot about growth factors. As it's all mirrors one would, because of the often higher build, suspect them to reach higher average weights than a US water with all commons. Yet, this doesn't seem to be the case.

    I have a few more questions for the guys that know the lake:

    1. What's the average depth and the deepest point of the lake?

    2. Are there weed beds, if so which kind?

    3. What's the main suspected food source for the carp in that lake?

    4. On an average day, how many carp could you normally expect to catch, let's say per two rods?

    Couldn't it just be a matter of genetics? Mario - the mirrors you catch at the Lioness definitely have a different build. The fish in Blackfoot could be quick growers that top out in the low 30s. Based on the fact that carp in America were derived from very few strains of carp its obvious most places dont have the gene pool to grow big fish such as those selectively and purposely introduced in European waters.

    For Blackfoot, I think it would be a combonation of gene pool, plentiful spawning territory and lack of predatory fish that has resulted loads of average sized fish.

    None the less, stunning session Dale! the combonation of the scenery and the quality of the fishery makes for what looks to be an incredible place to fish.

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