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(GA) needmotime2fish

Champion Queen Life Member
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Posts posted by (GA) needmotime2fish

  1. Nice session, and a very pretty mirror!  Congrats.

    I miss fishing the Potomac.  I did a lot of carpin there nearly 50 years ago  from the MD side, both near Sharpsburg and across from Harpers Ferry.  Never fished the South Branch, though -- and never caught a mirror there.  BTW, where does it meet the (main) Potomac?

  2. I make mine in small batches -- depending on boilie size, I usually make 150 to 300 boilies in a batch.  That's roughly 2 cups (or a little more) of my dry base mix -- before I add in any eggs or "wetters".

    After I mix the batch I make several balls about the size of a tennis ball, and from those, I pull off enough, bit by bit, to make each boilie by hand.  I roll them while I watch TV, then when they're all rolled, I boil them.  I built a small drying rack, about 12" x 18", using 1/2" PVC for the frame and plastic craft mesh.  I find that they dry much faster if I put the boilies on a paper plate for a few seconds (to eliminate most of the excess water) before I transfer them to the drying rack.  Six to eight hours seems to work well (overnight?).

  3. Thanks.  I've actually been thinking about a rubber coated net, but so far I haven't found one I like.  They've either been too small, not deep enough, handle too short, etc.  When I find one I like, I'll give it a try.  I prefer not to buy one online -- without actually seeing it first -- but if you have any suggestions, feel free to PM me.

  4. 1 hour ago, SoCalCarper said:

    ...you should try investing in a knot less net as the one you have can really mess up the carp tail or fins maybe even break them. reason i bring it up you can see in some photos then net cut into the tails. 

    SCC -- I appreciate the advice, and I've seriously considered it, but I view it as a trade-off.  Far too often when I've used a knotless net, the carp's dorsal or anal fin gets wrapped up in the soft mesh, and when it happens, it takes much too long to release the fish safely.  Conversely, I can only recall a (very) few times when I've hurt a fish (damaged scales or fins) with this net.  But with the soft mesh (knotless) nets, it seems like one carp in every three I catch get the dorsal fin hung up.  So is it better to keep the fish out of the water longer to untangle a snagged fin from the soft mesh, or risk damage to a scale or a fin with my net?  Neither one is a good option, of course.  But (short of no longer fishing for carp) which does less permanent harm to the fish?

  5. I managed to get out for a full day of carping on Monday.  I've been fishing this spot semi-regularly with Phil Crouchman since early March, but Phil has other fishing plans this week, so I went alone this time.  Bottom line, I fished for about 9 hours and had 10 good runs.  Unfortunately, I lost 4 of the fish, but the 6 I landed weighed between 85 and 90 pounds.  None were less than 10, and the biggest was just under 20.  Of my 10 runs, 4 came on canned corn, and 2 came on 3 raisins plus a piece of fake corn on the hair, and the other 4 were on a peach boilie. 

    The "weirdness" came into play in the way I lost two of my fish.  One was a run-of-the-mill hook pull.  That happens.  Another fish got up a head of steam and ventured into a part of the lake where I wasn't aware there was an obstruction, where it snagged and got free.  That happens, too.  But the other two were unusual.  I was playing what felt like a heavy fish, and trying to pressure it away from some snags, when BAM!  The fish was gone.  I assumed I had a hook pull, but when I reeled in, I discovered that my snap swivel had come apart.  No, the snap didn't break or come open -- the swivel section simply failed, and all I retrieved was the top part of the swivel.  The other lost fish was even stranger.  On the same rod on which I had caught the 19+ pounder earlier and another double-digit fish, I was fighting another one, when -- slack line, no fish.  I reeled in, and prepared to re-bait, when I noticed my hook.  I was using a hand-tied hair rig with quite a few wraps down the shank, to position the hair closer to the bend of the hook.  The shank of the hook had broken completely in two, held only by my wrappings.  Why it didn't fail on one of the earlier two fish, I will never know.  But this was the first time I ever had a hook fail in that manner.  It was also strange that 3 of my lost fish were on the rod with the peach boilie -- the hook pull, the long run to the snag, and the broken swivel (obviously nothing related to the bait, but an interesting coincidence).

    Regardless, It was a good -- and interesting -- day.

     

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  6. I decided that the fish-in date will be May 14th (Saturday).  However, IF there's a weather forecast bad enough to warrant changing the date, and if there's enough advance warning to allow me to announce a date change, the "backup date" will be the following Saturday, May 21st.  Both dates are posted on the CAG Calendar.

    The venue is once again at Salacoa Creek Park, located in Gordon County in NW Georgia on Red Bud Road.  The park entrance is about 4 miles west of US-411 (near Ranger, GA) and about 11 miles east of I-75 exit 315. The lake holds a lot of carp, both commons and mirrors.  Most are small, about 4 to 7 pounds, but an occasional "double" is caught, and infrequently, one in the 20-pound range shows up. 

    A few of us plan to arrive a day early, on Friday, May 13th, to pre-bait the area for Saturday (and to fish a bit, too -- of course).  Anyone who wants to join us should feel free to come early.  The park offers camping (I suggest checking ahead for details), but we "older guys" typically get a motel in Calhoun, which is 11-12 miles away.

    As May 14th gets nearer, I'll bump up this reminder from time to time.

  7. Along with "Cannonball", John Torchick, I did a two-day session at Salacoa Creek Park this past Friday and Saturday.  On Friday we were also joined by Lance Clements.  Unfortunately, job obligations dictated that Lance was able to fish with us only on the first of the two days.

    I had several reasons for planning this trip.  Of course there's always the camaraderie and fellowship the three of us enjoy when we share time on the bank.  I also wanted to do some "advance scouting" for the Georgia Mid-Spring Fish-in, scheduled for May 14th (yeah, that's probably just an excuse for an extra fishing trip, but at least it "sounds good").  Finally, now that my oldest grandson, Cole, has turned 10, I figure it's past time for his fishing experiences to progress to something larger -- CARP.  In prior years, Salacoa has usually produced a good number of early spring carp, so I figured this would be a good chance to get him his first one.  I arranged for my son to bring him to meet us at the lake on Saturday.

    Unfortunately, several factors made fishing considerably more difficult than I had expected.  The park was subjected to a winter flood, which raised the lake significantly above its normal level, and leaving quite a bit of debris on the lake bottom, in spots that make fighting and landing fish tricky, at best.  And second, Murphy's Law got us on the weather.  Friday and Saturday were the two coldest days predicted for the entire month, along with strong, gusty winds that blew lots of floating moss (pond scum) ashore.

    Friday resulted in only three runs, and all three of the fish were lost to snags.  I was hoping for something a lot better the next day when my grandson would be there.

    Considering the weather, John and I got a fairly early start on Saturday, but we had absolutely no action for several hours.  My son and two grandsons arrived before lunchtime.  I put out two smaller (7') rods for Cole, and he promptly caught a bullhead.  At least it was a fish -- something was moving in the water, and feeding, an encouraging sign.  About an hour later, one of my alarms squealed, so I let Cole fight the fish.  He landed his first ever carp, a chunky common of roughly 5 pounds.

    A bit later, I had another run and again gave Cole the rod.  He caught his second carp, about the same size as the first one or a tad bigger.  He then lost a carp on one of his shorter rods when it tangled with his other line.  Later, I caught another small one.  I would have given the rod to my grandson again, but the line picked up some pond scum that fouled the tip guide, so I had to deal with that while playing the fish.  Cole - with an assist from my son - netted the fish for me.  He later caught another bullhead, so in the 5 or 6 hours they were at the lake, we had at least "some action" -- just enough to hold his interest.  Meanwhile, John had two runs, but just like on Friday, he lost both fish to snags.

    The best part of the day was when my son told me that Cole asked him, "When can I go fishing with Papa again?".

     

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  8. Barry Shildneck, GA

    NOTE --

    I volunteered for the job several years ago simply because the position was vacant.  IMO, our state needs someone with new ideas and a lot of energy in the position.

    I'll gladly keep doing what I've been doing as long as I'm able.  HOWEVER, if there's anyone younger, and with more energy who would like to do it, I'll gladly give it up OR work with them as a co-chair.  

    -- Barry

  9. 1 hour ago, JohnFinney said:

    20 lb carp are a rare fish here in Colorado, 30s are a miracle capture. Across the whole state last year, I believe only 2 were caught that I heard about - and I hear about most.

    Scour the local fishing forums, posts, catch reports, even when they are not primarily carp focused. Talk to other anglers on the bank, wildlife officials, joggers, bikers - ask them if they have seen any carp, you may be surprised what you can find out. Perhaps you can find a few more locations or venues where the big carp are more common. In the end if the big carp aren't there, you won't be catching them!

    Just try to enjoy your fishing and in time those big fish will come again.

    It sounds like CO and GA are similar in regard to the shortage of really big fish.  I moved here to go to college 50+ years ago, and this year I finally caught my first "wild" (non payake) GA "20" common.  There are extremely few venues known for large carp (in GA, that generally suggests upper teens and low twenties).  The river Tony often fishes is one of them.  Our state record was set 50 years ago in a lake that is not currently known for big carp, and it was "only" 35 pounds.  In fact, I'm aware of only one "thirty" having been caught in the state in the last 5-10 years.

    I suspect that bigger fish do exist in some Georgia waters, but given the lack of bank access, as well as all the restrictions on fishing hours in the venues where bank access is permitted, I suspect there are very few, if any, local anglers who have the both the time and the patience to put forth the required effort to target them exclusively.  My bet is that most twenties (and above) will be caught by pure chance while fishing one of the "better" venues, and targeting any carp that will bite, rather than because some dedicated angler put forth a lot of extra effort to target just the bigger fish.

    That might mean that the few "really big" fish - if any - that exist in the state will never be caught.  But we may never know, because our state DNR simply doesn't keep records on carp when they do electrofishing surveys.  I've asked some state officials about it, and have always been told that "it's just not in the budget".

    Meanwhile, most of us just get out there and fish when and where we can, and enjoy catching what bites

  10. I'm sure we've all experienced a "fishing injury" of one kind or another.  

    Maybe CAG could sponsor some sort of "contest" for the best (or worst, or scariest, or funniest ?) fishing injury-related story.

     

    By the way, Brian, Nice Session and good photos!

  11. There used to be a way to search the list of members and guests, with optional filters that would allow us to find people who had self-identified their location.

    Is that still available (and where)?  If not, could you please post a link to members in Georgia for me? 

    Thanks!

  12. 1 hour ago, zirjacks said:

    Disclaimer: There are no paylakes around my area and I have never fished one so I couldn't say I am a true paylaker. I just fish that style. So my input is possibly useless. Haha!

    I'm primarily a wild water fisherman, myself.  However, I will stop by a paylake or two on occasion just for fun (I realize that the regulars have a decided advantage in knowing what bait or flavor is hot at any given time, so I never waste my money in the tournaments).  

    I usually fish a "European setup" -- spinning tackle, long rods, with a pod or banksticks -- but I usually use it with paylake-style terminal tackle -- sliding weight, swivel, hooklink, puff on the hook.  However, I will often modify my terminal tackle to use a hair rig and/or different pickups (boilies, sweet corn, maize, chickpeas..., etc.).  Nine times out of ten, I fish my packbait around the sinker unless I'm fishing puffs.

  13. Just picked up 10 bottles of flavors.  I had a Christmas gift certificate for a store outside Greenville, SC, and just got around to spending it earlier this week.

    I now have a question for you packbait guys (I'm one, too).  What do you think about making packbait with no flavor (or a neutral flavor such as vanilla), and then adding a few drops of flavor to your pack ball before you cast it?  Wouldn't that let you change flavors if the fish aren't hitting what's in your bucket?  Similar concept to using a dip or a glug, but this would be your "primary" flavor.

  14. I thought I posted this the other day, but maybe it got dropped as a result of the recent host server problem.

    I fished for 6 or 7 hours on Monday and caught just one fish.  I switched from maize to anise flavored sweet corn on the hair, and also added a few drops of some old crawfish flavor I found among some old bass fishing gear (a bottle of "Sparklescales" Craw flavor, intended to be added to plastic baits when bass fishing).  In the next 90 minutes I had 4 runs, and caught 4 fish -- including a new state PB common.

    Was it just a coincidence that I started getting bites at that particular time (when I switched pickup flavors -- and added the crawfish flavor)?  Or did my change of flavors play some role in the increased action?  Of course there's no way to ever know, especially considering that this was a one-time thing (so far).  However, I will certainly try the same combination in the future when the bite is slow.

  15. Going through some of my really old stuff -- 10 or 15 years old, from a time when I used to fish a fair amount for bass, I found a bottle of "Sparklescales" Crawfish scent.  It was intended to be applied on plastic baits to mask human odor and to attract the bass.

    I thought that I might find a use for it in carp fishing, since crawfish often make up a good portion of a carp's diet.

    The other day, after a half dozen pretty slow hours of fishing, I remembered the stuff, so I put 3 or 4 drops on my pack bait (after I had tightly packed it).  In the next 1-1/2 hours I had 4 runs, including my new GA state PB common.  Just a coincidence -- or cause and effect???   Obviously one outing doesn't prove anything, but I'll certainly remember that stuff is in my bag the next time the fishing is a tad slow.

  16. We've been back several times in the last 3 weeks with varied success, from spotty (3 or 4 fish) to fantastic (a 25 fish day, with carp biting from early morning and all day long, until we packed up that evening).  We went again yesterday, and caught about a half dozen, and also lost 4 fish (very unusual -- before yesterday, we had lost just one, and it was due to a hook pull as the fish was going through some trash).  I was actually surprised we did that well, because a cold front had just passed through.  Daytime highs had dropped from the 70s and low 80s to the upper 50s, with overnight lows in the 30s.  It was also one of those days you don't expect to catch well because there wasn't a cloud in the sky -- nothing but bright sunshine.

    Regardless, I had to post this because I caught my PB common for Georgia, 22 lbs 4 oz.  At least it's my state PB for "wild water" carping.  In the 50 years I've lived in Georgia, I had caught a few 20s in paylakes here, but I finally got my first one from wild water.

    Here are two pics of my new PB on the mat.

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  17. I have a completely different question relating to "Member Search".  It's a problem that has existed "forever", and very possibly, there is no good solution.

    When someone creates their personal profile, the "location" field -- which is essential for State Chairs, so we can identify people in our respective areas -- is (1) optional, and can be left blank, and also "free-form", in that there's no 'standard' way to list a state name.  Here in Georgia, some members, especially in Atlanta, don't even show the state at all.  Others choose to spell the state completely - "Georgia" - while others abbreviate it - "GA".

    That wouldn't be too bad -- I can find 95% of our members by searching for either "Atlanta" or for the state (Georgia" or "GA") -- except for the fact that a search for "GA" also matches everyone in Michigan who spells out their state name -- "MichiGAn" is a match for "ga".  I seem to remember having had some success restricting the search by setting the parameters to ", ga" (comma-space-ga) -- but because of the free-form format, not everyone uses a comma in the location field.

    That means that when searching for GA members, I'm forced to open and examine every match, one at a time, just to weed out the guys from Michigan -- and there are a bunch of them (which is great -- except when I'm doing a search for GA members).  

    Any suggestions to help make my life easier?  Thanks.

  18. On 3/4/2016 at 6:39 PM, RedRiverJay said:

    These area great pictures, thanks for posting them.  

    As a newcomer to this forum, about how many pounds were the fish shown in pictures 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of this photo array?

     

    Pic #5 was Phil's first fish.  His second was smaller, so we didn't photograph it.  Pics #7-9 were all of his third fish, and #9 & #10 were both of my only fish.

    Just guesswork here, but I would estimate that the ones we photographed were all in the 7-to-9 pound range.  We didn't weigh or measure any of them.

  19. On 3/2/2016 at 0:22 PM, Vinsanity said:

    Alan,

    I use pure Anise oil and not the extract (I believe the LorAnn you referred to is Anise extract). The extract contains mostly alcohol and will start to smell like it if you soak your baits for long periods of time or after staying in the sun/heat too long. Ultimately the anise smell will disappear. That being said, if you do get pure Anise oil be sure to use a glass container if you're soaking your baits and not plastic. I will also add that anise oil will "eat away or melt" soft rubber baits such as Enterprise corn. Anise oil will also turn from a liquid to "solid" when the temperature cools down. 

    I only use anise on my hookbaits and never in my pack/method mix. I usually keep that plain. Let the hookbait entice the carp.

    I've been using the "kitchen" anise flavoring for years.  (BTW, if you have one nearby, Ollie's Outlet sells it for 99 cents.) 

    I take the opposite approach from you.  I flavor my packbait to get  the carp feeding near my hookbait.  If they're feeding, they'll pick up anything that looks like food.  I do, however, "encourage" them sometimes, by flavoring my hookbaits as well.

    One more thing.  Several years ago, Mario Kok suggested mixing some small bits of cooked pasta with bread pack.  Trying his suggestion, I recently cooked some "orzo", flavored with anise, and mixed it with my bread.  It adds just a little flavor to the bread (which disperses quickly), and leaves the tiny (flavored) orzo bits behind near the hook bait.  I don't know whether it helped or not, but I did have several runs (on anise-flavored chickpeas) while using it the other day.

  20. I received an email last week from Phil, asking what I had heard about carping at a spot neither of us had ever tried, and after a bit of online research, I discovered some references to carp having been observed there by "other species" anglers.  So, curiosity being what it is, Phil and I decided to try it yesterday. 

    NOTE:   I believe this venue gets a fair amount of general fishing pressure, but not from carpers.  However, I won't be "advertising" the location, simply because this body of water, located "in NE GA", has extremely limited public access for bank anglers.

    We arrived about 9 AM and fished until about 6 PM.  It was very windy, with the wind blowing in our direction.  We thought that would have been a positive factor, blowing food toward us and making the carp more active.  However. we had absolutely no action until just after 4:00, when Phil caught one.  Then I lost one when the hook pulled as the fish ran through some brush, then Phil caught two more.  The day ended when I finally banked one.  No idea whether it just took that long for the carp to find the freebies we had thrown them, or if a school of active fish finally swam in our direction.  None of the fish were huge, but they were all nicely colored and healthy-looking.  I estimate that three of the four we banked were "upper singles".

    I was encouraged for a "first trip", and I definitely plan to return soon.

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