Tony Locke
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Posts posted by Tony Locke
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I am getting VERY fed up...every weekend arrives with absolutely horrible weather and I haven't got a decent session in for an age. So I got to thinking about similar times long ago.
The scene: A cold snowy Germany( Frankfurt Am Main to be precise) in the winter of 1985. I had been stuck inside during the harshest winter I had ever endured. Snow was on the ground for seemingly months- it had frozen solid and when you went out driving pretty much all you could do was follow the ruts...which might not be the way you wanted to go. Temperatures had been well below freezing for a long long time and I was getting serious cabin fever. The "highlight" of the past few weekends had been my Sunday walk through the icy city streets to the Hauptbahnhof to buy a British newspaper so i could read the sports pages. Even this was fraught with danger because the city apartment blocks were typically 4 floors high and hanging off the gutters were monstrous icicles that would drop without warning and shatter on the pavement below. While one never actually hit me, a few came perilously close.
Finally a weekend had arrived with air temperatures hovering around freezing and, over the past few days, the snow on the roads had finally begun to clear up and so I just had to get out fishing. I chose a spot in the city where I could park close by and thus retreat quickly when frostbite started to set in. The concrete bank was frozen solid but my plan was to work a stick float right down this bank with maggot as the bait. So it was that I set up a 4x #4 shot stick float on 2.6lb main line with a #18 hook to 1.5lb hooklength and a single maggot as bait. Fpr Americans, I am talking about a float attached top and bottom taking 4 very small sinkers...this type of float gives brilliant presentation if fished close in. The water flow at the bottom of a river is slower than higher up due to friction and so the idea is to slow the baits passage downstream until it exactly matches the flow in the bottom few inches of the river.
The target species were small roach, a fish somewhat like a shiner, although they can reach a few pounds. A bonus fish in these conditions would probably not be a pound in weight.
So it was that I sat there in the freezing cold inching my float downstream and chucking a couple of maggots in every cast. The result was ....nothing....not a sniff of a bite. So I kept addinga couple of inches to the depth and worked the bait through slower and slower as I held the float back harder and harder. Finally though, my feet and hands felt like blocks of ice and it was time to call it quits. Thus I decided that this cast was to be my last cast and would it please hurry up because my hands were really hurting by now. So I stopped holding the float back and as a result hooked bottom and the float slowly sank. GOOD! That is it ..pack up, go home to a warm bath. However my hook was firmly snagged on the bottom and I could lose a precious float if I rushed now. So it was that I walked along the concrete bank to where I was hooked up BUT I took my landing net with me in case I needed to net my float or possibly dislodge my hook. I slowly added pressure to the system and was pleased when the crap to which my hook was attached began to slowly com up off the bottom. Fully expecting a log. I was shocked to see a large carp come to the surface, clearly totally oblivious to what was happening! Luckily I had the net in hand and so before it woke up, I had it safely in the net. It weighed in at a shade over 22lb and still holds the record for the following : It is the only snow carp 20 I have ever caught; it is the twenty that I have landed the fastest; it is the only twenty I have landed with line below 2lb and hook size less than a 12.
If that capture wasn't lucky, then I dont know what is!
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OK It looks like I wont be registering_ spent what seemed like an age trying to pay my annual subscription and was sent round and round in circles. I give in !
Tony Locke
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Count me in...fished it for a few years now. Blew out last year...catching several channel cats but not a sniff of a carp. This year....
Tony Locke
GA
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Give it a rest, stay home and stay dry! The rivers are over the banks and more rain seems to be in the forecast every Friday to totally screw up fishing at the weekend!
It has been a struggle and, at least for me, the carp haven't been showing in the side streams like they normally do when the river is in flood. So any success has come from fishing a back-swim on the main river, but the fishing has been tough!
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Count me in
Name : Tony Locke
State : Georgia
Zone: South
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Count me in!
Name : tony Locke
CAG name: Tony Locke
State :GA
Under 17 ...I wish...is there a category for the over 60's???
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My first trip to North America from England....there was a large pond/ small lake in the middle of Kitchener, Ontario. So armed with some corn and bread I set off to see what I could catch out of it. The answer was GOLDFISH..big ones, little ones, orange ones, yellow ones, white ones! I was not pleased...I hadn't come 3000 miles to catch bloody goldfish. So I put a big worm on the hook and cast it out into the middle. What did I get ? An 18lb snapping turtle!! Not the best start to fishing in America!
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I used to live in Africa...we had giant african land snails that had shells to 6inches in length. They loved beer..and so leave a glass of beer overnight and it would be full of snails come morning. So....maybe a bit of alcohol in your packbait or soaking your corn in Jack Daniels might help you beat your pb snail! And if it fails, you can drink the JD to drown your sorrows...its a win/win situation!
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I would say B and C hold the best chances if extra water and color is in there. It would also mean less rubbish on the line if the river is in flood. Having said that, I have read several articles that have stated that we catch fish in the backwaters in those conditions because that is where we fish when the river is high. The fish, I am told, tend to stay in the main flow. So I put that to the test last weekend...I used a grippa 87g feeder out in the main flow and lighter feeders in the baskswim. Only bites were in the backswim, but then I gave up on the main flow due to the collection of leaves and twigs on my line.
I would opt for A in "normal" conditions, but make A a bit downstream and not too far out. Carp tend to hug the margins and so I target water with a depth I think they would be comfortable in ...and that depends on river color. Most of the food is going to be falling off the overhanging branches or entering from side streams, hence the carp will be where the natural food is. So I would look for an A area where downstream is quiet and where there are some nice overhanging trees/snags. The idea then is to pull feeding carp up from the snags onto my feed..so some nice scents and a few freebies.
Cheers
Tony
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Sorry...no idea. Let us know how it goes. I could find nothing about carp catches there as it all was about bass and crappie. The lake carp of GA can be tough to catch but I see there you could camp and get a feeding regimen started. that would boost your chances. I find these GA lake carp very "seasonal" in where they roam and what is a hot spot in March can be dead the rest of the year.
I have tried several GA lakes based upon people claiming to see "loads of massive carp" and have typically drawn a blank.
In the north, lakes attached to the Coosa and Chattahoochee system have carp in them (Alatoona, Lanier for example) and then there are the lakes of East GA on the Oconee system that have carp (Sinclaire).
Each lake seems to have its own peculiarities...Ft Yargo and carp rarely over 2lb; Salacoa with its high % of fully scaled mirrors; Lanier with its large head of 6lb( +/-2) carp and Jackson with its small head of very large ( for GA) carp.
Some lakes have some massive grass carp in them and no common carp ( Varner?) and so us GA carpers try to share our info to help each other...so as I said, let us know how you did. The basic thing here form my point of view is that, suppose you have a bit of action down there, then maybe a consolidated attack by a group of us might yield some good results..we could host a GA fish in there possibly.
Cheers
Tony
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Franky...I am with you on this. What makes the events of last Saturday sort of frustrating is I dont know if I snagged that buff or hooked it fairly. Luckily, as it wasn't a pb then it doesn't really matter!
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Cannonball... For me, the point of our way of fishing is to get the fish to take a baited hook and thus catch them. I would not for example aim to snag a large carp in the way that people fish for paddlefish. I suppose you could say that as long as I am trying to get the fish to take a baited hook then any foul hooked or snagged fish are fairly caught and thus count as caught. The fact that I am not sure that my hook ever entered that buff sort of takes away from its capture.
Tony
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Seems like a stupid question, but see if you feel the same way by the end of this story.
Of course the obvious answer is when you land it, but even that is not a given, at least for me. I fish pretty much exclusively barbless hooks...or microbarbed if I have trouble keeping a bait on. So when I have a fish that is nothing special, I will try to shake it off rather than go to the hassle of netting and unhooking it. I do this especially with trout as they are so delicate and how I HATE catching them out of the 'Hooch here in Atlanta.
What about foul hooked fish? I tend to count them as caught if the hook is around the mouth, but not if it isn't. However I have never landed even a half way decent foul hooked carp and so the moral dilemma remains unanswered.
Now onto the events of last weekend, Saturday to be precise. Barry ( needsmoretimetofish) and I were at Twin Bridges paylake in Lawrenceville GA. Things had started off as usual as we were pestered by catfish...and me by turtles, which is why I rather dislike lake fishing in the summer. Then one of my rods shot round and I was into what was clearly a very decent fish...and then the other rod did the same thing and I was into 2 fish, the 2nd of which was indeterminate in size. So, as I couldn't fight both fish, I gave the 2nd rod to Barry and went on fighting the big fish. The thing went out into the middle of the lake , but steady pressure brought it back slowly to me. The fight was normal and I had no reason to doubt I had hooked it in the mouth. When it surfaced, it was clear I had hooked into a very decent small mouthed buffalo, but as it came slowly towards the net it was also clear that there was a whole heap of rubbish around its mouth, which also included my feeder. In its mouth was a large rusting hook attached to strong line which was attached to weights that were snarled around my feeder. So I extracted the large hook and cut the old line to free mine. Then I went after my size 12 barbless hook, but it wasn''t in the fish, it was underneath it.
The fish looked all the world like a pb GA buff to me( My pb stood at 24lb 8oz caught in the same lake...and possibly even, is the same fish. Luckily it only weighed in at 21lb 12oz but did I catch it? Having barbless hooks come out in the netting process is not unusual, as the tension on the line is suddenly decreased, but was my hook ever in the fish? As I said, the fight was normal...but if my feeder snagged the line that was attached to that big old hook in the buff's mouth, then the fight would be normal. If it had been a pb, should it have counted?
Tony with a definately caught 20lb + buff
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As I watched the progress of Irma an article caught my eye: "5 things not to do in a hurricane"...and going fishing was not mentioned. So no problem then?
As Irma battered Florida, my thoughts went to those who suffered and back home we were getting a car load of supplies ready to take to a central point for further distribution. Our dog looked particularly sad because one donation was a 50lb bag of dried dog food. However Irma was weakening significantly and by the time it reached me in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, the winds were down to gusts of up to 60 mph and heavy rain was coming down.
Luckily and sensibly school was closed for Monday...and also Tuesday. By Tuesday, it was still a bit (??) wet and windy, but I had a cunning plan...all the weak trees and rotten branches would surely have come down in the much stronger winds of Monday and so it would be safe for me to go and fish the 'Hooch in the forest. I chose my forest spot because when the flow is fast and the river is high, there is a decent backswim there that gives you a chance of catching.
So off I set...yes there were lots of areas without power and so traffic lights were a problem and delayed my arrival. What also delayed my arrival was a big pine tree across the river road, which totally closed it. No problem I knew a 3 mile detour around it. When I got to the river, shock of shock...it was very high and the same color as my morning cup of coffee, possibly even a bit darker.
Strangely enough nobody else was down by the river...I was to see not one soul either by or on the water.
The forest hole was not as inviting as I thought it would be- it sort of resembled my hot tub with the (weaker) jets on. However I was there and so for 3 hours I would give it my best shot. In these conditions I put my faith in spam and worms...and the method feeder. So my mix was bread based with about 25 chopped up worms, a can of corn and half a can of minced spam.
I had about 8 feet of water in front of me so I put 3 big balls of the mix into to quietest area of the water. Then out went the method feeder and a cube of spam. I dont hair rig this but I do use a baiting needle to pull the hook through and then I use a "natural" stop ...a 1/3 inch piece of grass under the bend of the hook.
First cast a decent channel catfish that was maybe 7lb and then the wind started and then the rain and then the flaw in my cunning plan became obvious as small branches came crashing down...and somewhere not too far behind me a loud splintering crash as a tree came down.
While this was going on the rod decided to try and go for a swim, but luckily I wasn't too distracted and soon banked a small carp. A few more followed with the best just making 10lb and that I thought will do me.
Ten pounds of spam eating "hurricane carp"
Getting home was a challenge and a half,as more trees had come down, blocking my detour route as well. So I ended up going on an even longer detour...a journey that normally takes 20 minutes took me over an hour.
Was it worth it? No...sometimes it is better to stay home by the fire!
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As I watched the progress of Irma an article caught my eye: "5 things not to do in a hurricane"...and going fishing was not mentioned. So no problem then?
As Irma battered Florida, my thoughts went to those who suffered and back home we were getting a car load of supplies ready to take to a central point for further distribution. Our dog looked particularly sad because one donation was a 50lb bag of dried dog food. However Irma was weakening significantly and by the time it reached me in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, the winds were down to gusts of up to 60 mph and heavy rain was coming down.
Luckily and sensibly school was closed for Monday...and also Tuesday. By Tuesday, it was still a bit (??) wet and windy, but I had a cunning plan...all the weak trees and rotten branches would surely have come down in the much stronger winds of Monday and so it would be safe for me to go and fish the 'Hooch in the forest. I chose my forest spot because when the flow is fast and the river is high, there is a decent backswim there that gives you a chance of catching.
So off I set...yes there were lots of areas without power and so traffic lights were a problem and delayed my arrival. What also delayed my arrival was a big pine tree across the river road, which totally closed it. No problem I knew a 3 mile detour around it. When I got to the river, shock of shock...it was very high and the same color as my morning cup of coffee, possibly even a bit darker.
Strangely enough nobody else was down by the river...I was to see not one soul either by or on the water.
The forest hole was not as inviting as I thought it would be- it sort of resembled my hot tub with the (weaker) jets on. However I was there and so for 3 hours I would give it my best shot. In these conditions I put my faith in spam and worms...and the method feeder. So my mix was bread based with about 25 chopped up worms, a can of corn and half a can of minced spam.
I had about 8 feet of water in front of me so I put 3 big balls of the mix into to quietest area of the water. Then out went the method feeder and a cube of spam. I dont hair rig this but I do use a baiting needle to pull the hook through and then I use a "natural" stop ...a 1/3 inch piece of grass under the bend of the hook.
First cast a decent channel catfish that was maybe 7lb and then the wind started and then the rain and then the flaw in my cunning plan became obvious as small branches came crashing down...and somewhere not too far behind me a loud splintering crash as a tree came down.
While this was going on the rod decided to try and go for a swim, but luckily I wasn't too distracted and soon banked a small carp. A few more followed with the best just making 10lb and that I thought will do me.
Ten pounds of spam eating "hurricane carp"
Getting home was a challenge and a half,as more trees had come down, blocking my detour route as well. So I ended up going on an even longer detour...a journey that normally takes 20 minutes took me over an hour.
Was it worth it? No...sometimes it is better to stay home by the fire!
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If we can match our 2016 catches on our upcoming Hiawassee trip, October 2017, I will be a happy camper! Having said that, even if we dont catch a deal, we will have fun!
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I caught a long nosed gar last year...foul hooked it as I was reeling in. I guestimated it at 10lb as it was 4-5 feet long. I got it in my net and it proceeded to slash with its jaws and completely destroyed the net! I was just glas I didn't have to extract my hook from anywhere close to its jaws!
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I was getting bored with constantly using the same tactics every time I went fishing...and shock of shock, getting similar results in similar conditions. You dont move forward as an angler by doing that. I did play around with boilies last year, but without much success and so I soon returned to sweetcorn straight on the hook...it was cheaper, it was easier and it worked!
So there I was one midweek evening, planning my Saturday fishing and I decided to be a risk taker and try one of my favorite ways of fishing back in Germany and England...bread flake! Now to be honest I have used it here already but the target then were very large trout and I managed to catch a few in to 5-10lb range some dozen years ago on the 'Hooch west of Atlanta. However that was float fished flake. I also used floating crust for carp around the same time on Bull Sluice Lake to good effect for carp.
I am not talking about those methods though... I am talking about mashed bread in the feeder and bread flake on the hook. So, a couple of white loaves were purchased and 75% of this went into the blender and from there into a sealed plastic bag. The remaining half loaf was for the hookbait. All set and off to Rome to fish the Coosa. I started on corn and did OK, and then switched to flake. First cast on the wonder bait and the rod tip pulls round straight away and something sizeable is on the sharp end. After a dogged fight I landed a nice eastern slider! DAMN!
In GA carp circles I am known as the master turtle catcher already, but had I found the wonder bait for turtles?. Next cast and once again the tip pulls round straight away, but the thing on the other end clearly had fins and not feet...a 4lb channel cat, followed by another next cast, followed by...NOTHING. back to corn and back to catching carp.
OK so the Coosa maybe needs some work on bread, but I returned home with plenty of mashed bread and 1/3 of a loaf. Chuck it away or try again? So Sunday morning saw me heading for the 'Hooch west of Atlanta. Once again I started on corn, but used mashed bread in the feeder. I quickly caught a 6lb carp and then nothing. Onto bread flake and .... a darn turtle first cast!. This is only the 3rd turtle I have ever caught from the 'Hooch in 20 years! However I kept on without getting a bite for the next hour. So I steadily increased the hooklength, ending up with a 4 foot "tail". I generally only fish short sessions up to 3 hours and it was at about two and a half hours that I started to get some action....three carp in the last 30 minutes weighing in at 7, 10 and 13lb from 3 typical carp runs. The average size of 10lb is quite a bit above the normal for this bit of river.
Of course one could argue that I might have caught those 3 fish and maybe more if I had stuck to corn, but I am going to stick with the notion that I caught because I used bread and no doubt I will be out there this weekend trying bread flake from the start. If nothing else it will give me a cheap alternative to corn because I suspect that the 'Hooch carp are getting a bit wary of my normal approach...I know I have caught some of the carp several times over the past few years!
If you have never used "mashed" bread/ bread flake before then the theory behind it is as follows: The mashed bread is fine and soft, but you do want some larger pieces in it. So when you cast out your feeder, the bread comes out fairly quickly and creates almost a cloud as it descends. This maybe why I needed the longer tail mentioned above...because most of the bread was ending up several feet downstream of my feeder. However the slow sink of that 4 foot tail is also a possible reason, with carp following the bait down. The flake is also important... of course you can catch on bread paste, but flake is in my opinion far more tempting to a fish. The trouble is you need fresh bread which is squeezed around the hook shank, but you leave an equal amount unsquashed. I go for a 5 minute maximum time between casts, as flake tends not to stay overlong on the hook. We always used to say that if there is still flake on the hook when you retrieve, then you didn't put it on right!
If you fish an area where you are not allowed to feed (chum) then flake is an ideal way to introduce feed...you strike after 5 minutes and the flake is deposited in your swim!
The downside is that channel cats seem to love it, as do sunfish and turtles...but my biggest bass fell to flake, as did my biggest grass carp.
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Hi
I freely admit to not having even caught a 20 out of the Etowah/Oostanaula/Coosa system, but I have lost some beasts! I have found worm to be the better bait for carp from Nov through to March. Can't claim to know where the big carp hang out. I was wondering about trying below the old dam/ boat lock downstream of Rome but have yet to summon up the energy!
Have you had any decent sized buffs? A friend caught a 16lb buff, but my best out of these rivers is a lowly 8.25lb.
Cheers
Tony
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Can't say I have cracked buffs at all, but I use a fine tipped rod ( quiver-tip) and you certainly have a better chance of spotting the bite with such a rod. I have tried, without any real success, to catch buffs on a float (bobber) system on the basis that such a method should make even the slightest bite detectable. I suspect that my lack of success with a float may be that buffs dont take a moving bait...they seem to be grazers. I have caught many buffs where the line and hook has been blown out of the gills. When this happens, you most definitely get a "run"!
I would suspect that a lot depends on what size buffs you are targeting and if you are fishing for the pot, then buffs in the 2-5lb would seem ideal. For buffs of this size, I find worm or worm/cocktail effective especially in cooler weather. They appear to be shoal fish, especially at this size and so your problem is finding/ attracting a shoal. To this end, prebaiting can be very effective.
I haven't tried spice/pepper and so cannot comment on it. I am happy to fish using a system that can account equally for buffs and carp.
Tony
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Hi! The nearest place to you that guys from GA fish is the Appalachicola where it enters Florida. There is a dam on the FLA /GA border and downstream of that they regularly catch carp in the 10-30lb range. I have never tried it, but it would seem well worth your while ...and maybe someone who knows more will reply to you. I have caught grass carp and Koi not far from you...in pools on Cape San Blas
Cheers
Tony
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I am a fisherman first and foremost. Yes, I prefer to catch carp, but if very little is biting, then I am perfectly OK targeting other fish....buffs, suckers, catfish and yes, even sunfish as many of my friends have witnessed. At a noted big carp venue earlier this month in neighboring TN, I amused myself catching quite large shiners for example...none of the 3 of us fishing had a sniff of a carp in several hours at the lake.
So back home and back on the 'Hooch and a plan was forming in my brain. Barry had landed a GA twenty and quite a few upper teens. I wasn't doing as well, so over my long ( actually pathetically short) Easter weekend I was going to solve the problem, or at least try to...and that meant airing out the carp gear. Could I soon be found sitting behind bite alarms, possibly fast asleep? Am I on the path to becoming a real carp angler?
On Friday, fish as per normal for me ( size 10, to 6lb hooklength, 8lb main) and bucket in the bait. Fish for 3 hours. Return Saturday and repeat. Return Sunday, fish with carp rod , 12lb mainline, 10lb hooklength, size 6 or 8 hook and clean up! Easy enough!
So several cans of corn, 2 tins of spam, 2 pints of hemp and 1 bag of Red Robin pellets later and the results are in. The average weight of the carp did go up ( Sunday average of 11lb, exceeded Saturday's of 10lb and Fridays of 9.5lb....trouble is I only caught 2 on Sunday as opposed to 4 and 5 the other two days.
Disappointment: On Saturday I hooked an 8 man rowing boat (+cox) but unfortunately couldn't land it with 6lb hooklength...if I had been using the Sunday carp gear, I might have!
Conclusion... if I am only going to be catching carp up to mid -doubles, then it is back to the lighter tackle/ lighter rod. Why? The carp rod put me in total control, whereas the lighter gear involves a far more equal fight..or to put it another way, it is just more fun, more challenging. Of course if I end up losing the fish of a lifetime, I may have to reconsider tactics...
However the scientist in me cries out for more trials before coming to solid conclusions....sounds like a good excuse to go fishing next weekend
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Yes, you got that right...fished the Hiwassee in TN a couple of days ago and got "bitted" to death. After two carp-less days and loads of sunfish! it was a relief to get back on the Chattahoochee where, for some strange reason right now, a bite on worm/corn cocktail will be a carp.
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As per usual, I have fished right through the winter months but, of course, living in GA that is a darn site easier than it would be further north. Having said that I have "frozen my butt off" on several occasions. What I would like to pass on is that in previous years the #1 successful bait for me was worm. This year however a worm/corn cocktail has proven to be far more effective, not only in terms of getting bites but also in terms of the average size of carp caught. Of course I have no idea why! Bread and spam have been nigh on useless this winter and corn has been little better.
It is about now that I switch from worm to corn and I had my first corn carp of 2017 last weekend, BUT in that session, all the corn caught carp were in the 6-8lb range and all the cocktail carp were over 10lb. It is not that I haven't tried the cocktail in previous years because I have.
Back in Europe I have fished waters where the carp seemed to go through a cycle of preferred baits. So you would go from seafood to berry to seed and then back to seafood boilies. So maybe that is what is going on here. What I prefer to think is that i have a double attractant...the visibility of corn + the movement of the worm. Most of us are familiar with the fact that twitching a bait can often induce a bite.
It would be worth pointing out that for reasons that are not clear to me, where I fish in winter I never get pestered with small fish, other than the odd sucker. Last weekends 3 hour session for example yielded 13 carp and not a sniff of any other type of fish and I fish 2 grains of corn or a small redworm + 1 grain of corn on a size 10hook.
So I thought I would pass this on in the hope that it may prove useful to somebody out there.
Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good
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Been there., done that. I fished a seriously swollen river in NW Georgia...rod suddenly lurched over and pretty quickly it was obviously a big log rolling down the river. I pulled for a break, but then the log turned and went upstream! I was fishing 20lb line straight through and could do nothing with it...neither turn it or slow it down. Eventually the line broke. I reckon I was (foul) hooked into a lake sturgeon...either that or a log that could swim!