(GA) needmotime2fish
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Posts posted by (GA) needmotime2fish
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could there be a youth only contest next year?
Thanks. That's a suggestion that is certainly worth considering.
CAG is always very supportive of youth anglers. Our main "problem" here in Georgia is that most young anglers are introduced to fishing for other species -- usually whatever their parents and grandparents fish for -- instead of learning to fish for carp. We have so many "other" species here, especially bass, but trout, catfish, and panfish as well, that we just don't have a lot of younger carp anglers. I'm very pleased that Georgia has a number of young anglers overall, and even happier that some of them have recently learned about the enjoyment of carp fishing -- as you have.
As for your suggestion, we'll see what sort of interest we can generate among young anglers next year.
Provided we can get a commitment from at least a handful of young anglers, plus a little help from some other CAG members, maybe we can schedule a youth "fishing event" sometime this year.
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Received mine just in time for Christmas (thanks, Andy).
It's (almost) too nice to wear fishing. I'm not sure if I really want to get carp slime on it or not
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Most of the time I fish a combination of paylake and Euro styles. I fish with alarms, either pod-mounted, or on bank sticks, but I usually begin with a paylake style "running rig" with pack bait and some sort of pickup (usually - but not always - a corn puff or canned corn). I seldom fish hair rigs unless I'm fishing with boilies, but will go to them if I'm failing to connect with biting fish. My pack bait base varies widely (bread flake, grits, rice, oats, millet), as does my choice of flavors.
I will occasionally fish boilies on the hair, and when I do, I'll almost always add some sort of stringer with a few "free" boilies on PVA tape.
I grew up carping by fishing corn or doughballs on the hook, with no chum of any kind. Since I was used to fishing my "pickup" on the hook (as opposed to on the hair), I suspect that I just continued doing that, while adding pack bait as an attractant to improve my chances. I'm probably missing out on some opportunities -- and I AM willing to learn new ideas -- but if it works most of the time, my philosophy is "why change?".
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Keep the entries coming !!!
To allow time to enter any fish caught through December 31, entries will remain open until midnight, January 10, 2015.
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OK -- it's approaching the end of 2014, and we are are finally getting some more entries !!!
Congratulations on some very nice captures to all of you who have entered so far !!!
I'm pleased to see that so far the entries are from folks who are fairly new to the sport of carping. I hope the contest has stimulated a bit of interest.
Thanks for entering, guys. I hope you will all take advantage of the great information on the forum and use it to expand your knowledge and your skills to help you become a better carp angler.
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Reminder to all. We have a nice set of Olympic-style medals to recognize three of the "outstanding carp" caught in Georgia in 2014.The contest is still open. Any carp caught by rod & reel in the state of Georgia between 1/1/14 and 12/31/14 is eligible. Even if you were a non-resident visitor to GA, your catch is eligible as long as you were fishing legally.See above for complete rules.As you can see, there was only one entry submitted to date. I declared myself ineligible, but I do have some photos of captures by other guys I've fished with during the year. If necessary, I'll post those as "entries", and award the medals accordingly.Note: I (re) posted this today on the GON freshwater fishing forum. Maybe it will catch the attention of some guys who aren't active on CAG.
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I enjoyed the article very much. It is interesting, well written, and supported by some great photos.
BTW -- Congrats on the PB !!!
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I already signed up for the 2015 FFF, but don't want to go it alone.
Does anyone in Georgia want to give it a try this year? Any good ideas for a venue?
All the spots near me with commons are in state parks or Corps of Eng. parks that won't open until 7 or 8 AM, so if I go, I'll probably just plan on a short -- about a 1/2 day -- session through mid-afternoon, then head home to watch football.
PM me if you're interested.
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Very interesting, and it does seem to make sense.
Even more interesting, a British fishing buddy told me this summer that the European "ticket lakes" require the use of barbless hooks. Having never been to Europe, I don't know if that's true in general, or whether it was just the rule on the lakes where he had fished -- but maybe not on all lakes. I've read that they pay BIG prices to stock quality carp, so I certainly understand their desire to protect those fish.
However, if there's enough evidence to show that barbless hooks can damage a carp's mouth more than a barbed hook, those lakes might want to re-think their "barbless only" policy.
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You've now joined the ranks of addicted carp anglers.
Since I joined 6 or 7 years ago, the forum has provided me with a wealth of useful information, and through it, I've met many friends and fishing buddies.
Welcome!!!
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It's been cold here (for Georgia) for the last two weeks, with some nights below freezing and quite a few days never hitting 50 degrees. Our southern carp seem to react adversely to falling temps more than northern carp do. Worse, they seem to NOT respond to brief periods of warming.
The temp was supposed to reach 65 today, so two of us went out for a few hours this afternoon. Started by spodding lightly with cooked maize and cracked corn. We had 5 rods in the water, 4 different hook baits and 4 different pack baits, but not so much as a twitch.
I was hoping that the warmer air temp along with the heat from the sun might get them moving today, but no go. I noticed that the water felt unusually cold. Our forecast is for more seasonal temps the rest of this week (low 60s for highs, low 40s & upper 30s for lows), so maybe things will pick up by the end of the week.
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I've lived in GA for the last 45+ years, and even though I grew up in PA, I've never fished through the ice. But after reading this post I started wondering about the logistics of ice fishing for carp. Here are a few questions/observations from a total ice fishing novice.
Assuming that the angler intends to practice catch-and-release, HOW does he safely land a carp through a hole in the ice? I seriously doubt that he would drill a hole large enough to allow use of a net. And I'd be hesitant to try to lift a carp out from the ice hole by its gills. It just seems as if the process of landing the fish would be a very tricky maneuver. Plus, if the angler does successfully get the carp out of the water and onto the ice, wouldn't it be important (for the well-being of the fish) to get it back into the water before the cold air damages its gills?
Of course all of the above presupposes that the angler, while fishing through the ice, can somehow manage to get a carp to bite and then hook it.
I didn't even include the obvious questions about tackle, setups, and bait.
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Happy 67th !!!!
Hope to share some bank time with you again next year.
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The washing machine can wait.
Sometimes you just have to get out there and enjoy the Creation.
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... No need to buy into the sport for thousands of dollars when you can use what you have and then adjust what you need by your style of fishing....
Absolutely correct !!! We had a fish-in here in Georgia in September, and the two guys who caught the most fish -- and the biggest one -- didn't use alarms or specialized pods. They propped their rods on a pair of bank sticks, with just a simple bite indicator hung between two of the guides.
As much as I do enjoy using my long rods, pod and alarms, I'm absolutely certain that I caught more and bigger carp in the years before I knew that sort of carp tackle even existed.
Good luck to you!
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the Columbus/ phenix city area of the hooch got me a personal best of 41 and some change. lake hardin just up stream has lots of 20's but is bowfished at the upper end.
Good information, Hullstuffer. Thanks for sharing.
The 40's I saw on the GON bowfishing forum were killed several years ago, either in Lake Russell or Clark Hill Lake (both in the Savannah River system on the South Carolina border). There may also be some big-uns in Lake Hartwell, which lies just upriver from Russell.
To me, this suggests that the entire Chattahoochee River system (at least from Bull Sluice Lake downstream through most of middle GA), as well as most of the Savannah River system, should have enough big carp to make things interesting.
Lake Lanier (on the upper section of the Hooch) could have some big ones, but it's such a deep lake in most spots (some well over 100 feet), and it gets so much boating traffic and other recreational access, that it can often not be a pleasant place to fish. Lanier is (or was) the most heavily used Corps of Engineers lake in the USA for recreation. Also, its upper end gets a fair amount of use by the bowfishermen.
The Oconee River, including Lake Oconnee and Lake Sinclair, system has a lot of carp as well, but I haven't heard reports of any big ones. Lake Jackson is where the state record common was caught, so I would expect the Ocmulgee River below Jackson to hold some good fish. And several years ago I heard reports of a number of "big carp" sighted in Lake Juliette, north of Macon (but "big" is a relative term, so a 10 pound fish would look big to a bass fisherman).
Keep in mind that Georgia is the largest state in area east of the Mississippi. There is a LOT of water in the state, and much of it goes unfished. Bottom line, except in those areas that are heavily used by the bow guys, I suspect that the main problem in finding big carp would be the one we bank fishermen face almost everywhere -- limited access to fishable areas because of private property. But for someone who wants to dedicate the time and effort to catching some of the state's bigger carp, I firmly believe the big carp are there -- just not many of them in places close to home, or with easy access.
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Competition is fun and battles with your friends can certainly make a session more exciting. It could as simple as "first fish", or "most fish", or "most species" or "heaviest fish", etc, the permutations are endless as is the light hearted fun you can have ! I highly recommend interjecting some fun when you're out fishing with your friends...
I agree. And sometimes it makes it even more fun to include a "prize" to the winner -- winner gets a free dinner (or coffee, or his first beer) at the expense of his buddy, OR loser carries the winner's tackle back to the car -- but never anything of great value, and never cash. Remember that it's just a good-natured competition between friends. Of course you shouldn't do it at all, if you know that your fishing buddy is one of those guys who can't stand to lose a bet.
The benefit of adding a prize is that the guy who lost will remember it longer, which will be an incentive to work harder to improve his skills to avoid losing the next time.
Nice fish, by the way !
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So, guys, why are there so few big carp caught in GA?
This is just my opinion, but I think it has at least some basis in fact and logic. Like Tony, I would be glad to hear other ideas on the subject.
I believe there are at least two factors involved. First, despite all the great habitat, Georgia doesn't have very many carp fishermen. This is a state known mainly for largemouth bass (probably because the world record was caught here, which garnered a lot of positive publicity). Most of the anglers in Georgia target other species -- bass, trout, crappie, and catfish all have a big following. The huge influence of BASS in the 1960s and 70s helped promote bass angling, but it also introduced the concept of tournament fishing, which was adopted by anglers of other species -- including crappie and catfish, which already had a following in the state. Bottom line, a lot of Georgia anglers just aren't interested in learning to fish for another species (carp) -- possibly because they have a lot of time and/or money invested in their own species of choice. Therefore, we may have some larger fish out there swimming free in our state waters, but there simply aren't many people trying to catch them.
The other factor is the fact that bow-fishing for carp is legal in the state. The bowfishers also have tournaments, and their payoff is usually based on the weight of their kills. That means that they will be targeting the biggest (and heaviest) fish they can find. Not only does that reduce the overall numbers of our biggest carp, but it prevents other big -- but slightly smaller -- carp from ever getting any bigger. Further, it removes those biggest carp from the gene pool, reducing the probability that future generations will grow as large.
On the Georgia Outdoor News forum, I've seen photos posted of bow-killed carp that were in excess of 40 pounds, so I know that carp larger than our state record are still out there, waiting to be caught. I also suspect that the bow guys do most of their stalking in the shallower areas of our lakes, which means that any really big carp living in the deeper sections should pretty much be safe from being killed by an arrow. But those deeper sections are also the ones most difficult to fish effectively. That, coupled with the overall low number of carp anglers, further reduces the probability of catching those biggest fish. I believe that many Georgia carp anglers look at carping as a social activity almost as much as they view it as a "fishing" event. For that reason, they (we) are about as happy catching numbers of smaller fish as they (we) are catching fewer but bigger fish. In other words, few of us actually target trophy carp, but instead, fish for "whatever carp might happen along". That also helps to explain why we don't see many reports of bigger carp being caught.
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Welcome aboard, Tony !!!
Our state record common carp is only 35-12, and was caught 42 years ago.
If you've caught 3 carp over 20 pounds this year, you've done a lot better than 99% of the carp anglers in Georgia. Congratulations !
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That's the first time I've heard of a carp doing that. Forty-plus years ago, I had a friend tell me about a similar trout-fishing experience.
He was wading and fly-fishing in a small stream in the MD mountains near Camp David, and caught a small 10" rainbow, which he released. He accidentally let go of his line, and the fly drifted a few feet downstream. The same little trout gobbled it up and got caught again. He released it, and -- this time, intentionally -- let the fly drift again, and again the same trout took it. He said that he caught and released the same fish SEVEN TIMES before he got tired of playing the game. That trout attacked the same fly every time it floated past.
I guess sometimes a fish -- any species -- gets so interested in feeding on some particular food (or bait or lure) that it simply throws caution to the wind and ignores danger.
I guess we're all trying to find the secret to flipping that "let's eat" switch in a carp's brain....
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Just last week, fishing with John ("skeet3t"), I caught my first 'decent' buff and lost another one -- both on canned corn soaked with anise. Both John and I caught fish -- carp and buffs -- and he was using vanilla-flavored corn.
I can't say that the added flavors helped, because I've caught carp on both flavors, as well as on unflavored corn. But if adding flavors to your corn gives you more confidence in your offerings, then you'll probably catch more fish if you use them.
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Name: Barry Shildneck
CAG forum name: needmotime2fish
State of residence: Georgia
State of your FFF 2015 venue: Georgia (probably) -- we'll try this again and hope for a better turnout than 2014.
Junior (17 or under as of 1/1/15)?: Nope -- So far I've made it through more than four 17 year cycles
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All good stuff, makes you wonder what happened to the lake? When i made that post i didn't necessarily mean all of those factors at the same time make the fish small, what i meant was that it may only be one of those factors at a time. Like for your lake it may not be genetics, its just maybe that there are too many in there and they stunted their growth even though they have good genes. Not saying thats whats happening was just explaining kinda what i meant.
Austin, I agree. The reason I gave all the above information was because I'm still searching for (1) the reason there are no large carp, or (2) if there are still some bigger ones, HOW I might go about finding and catching them.
I suppose it's possible that somehow, an inferior, but genetically dominant, strain of carp could have been introduced into the lake and interbred with the resident population. But considering that carp aren't usually stocked in state parks, I doubt that -- unless someone was fishing for bass or catfish with (carp) minnows and dumped their leftover bait. Otherwise, considering that the lake once held bigger carp, I would tend to rule out the genetic factor.
As for your suggestion about there being too many small carp to sustain growth, that's also possible. I have had days when I've caught as many as 15 in an afternoon, with 20 or more runs. However, I've also blanked on other days, with no action at all -- in the same spots. I would believe that if the carp were stunted from overcrowding, they would practically jump on the bank to get to my bait bucket !!! That just doesn't happen. Further, I've observed quite a bit of aquatic activity, including bugs and the mussels I mentioned earlier. Given that there are areas with decent weed growth that should support even more aquatic life, my opinion is that adequate food isn't the problem -- but I have been wrong before -- LOL.
Going back to the original question posed by Jangel, "maybe" the bigger carp simply don't frequent the areas where I've been fishing. Or perhaps the larger fish have evolved into nocturnal feeders, and they don't get caught because the park is closed overnight. Even so, I'd think that I'd occasionally run into one or two bigger fish than the sub-3-pound specimens I've caught to date.
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nmt2f, maybe we could work out a deal with the Hampton Inn- just mention carp fishing for the special rate. There was a motel in Etowah, TN that gave a certain rate for trout anglers on the upper Hiwassee; the manager was a fly fisherman.
It might be worth a try, but Pat & I "negotiated" a special rate -- $20 below the best rates offered online, even through all the discount sites. We were one of their first customers when the motel opened last fall, and the day manager offered us a good rate to convince us to try them, since they were new in the area. I kept her business card, so I called to see if they'd match the same price again this year, and they did -- but we were spending 3 nights.
That Hampton is a rather "upscale" business-oriented motel, and it would have been pretty busy, even without us staying there. Trying to work out a deal for fishermen might be worth a shot, but I think we were just lucky to have gotten the price we paid (and even with the discount it wasn't cheap).
If several fishermen were staying in the area for a night -- or a few nights -- there are other, lower cost lodging options nearby. Since I was traveling with my wife -- not with other fishermen -- we opted to stay at a "nicer" place.
FFF 2015 - Post ALL Carp Entries/Captures Here!
in FFF 2015
Posted
Although I registered, I decided against going out this year.
No excuses. Our weather was fine. But since I didn't have anyone nearby to fish with, and I didn't have a venue I really wanted to fish, I just couldn't get excited this year. So I wimped out and watched football instead.
KUDOS to all you guys who braved the elements, and CONGRATS to the ones who caught carp!!!