The Ultimate Secrets Revealed

[louis]

In 2004 I had a terrible year of carp fishing. I caught far fewer fish in that year than I did in previous years. And, the fish I managed to catch were a good deal smaller than those I caught in prior years. I have thought about this for a long time, and have reached the following conclusions:

1. BETTER EQUIPMENT MEANS FEWER FISH. Yep, it’s true. I’ve replaced my old 6-foot bass rods with 12-foot carp rods. My old spinning reels, which had served me faithfully for years, have been replaced with baitrunners. Instead of cutting a couple of forked sticks from a nearby tree, I no w have a nice rod pod. I could go on, but you get the point: I’ve upgraded to real carp equipment. The carp don’t seem to care.

2. MORE EQUIPMENT MEANS FEWER FISH. There is no doubting the truth of this statement. I have a cart full of equipment. In the past, I didn’t even have a cart. Now I need one to carry everything I’ve bought. In the past, I hopped out of the car and was set up and fishing within ten minutes. Now I can’t even unload the cart in ten minutes; it takes me about forty-five minutes to get set up and begin fishing. I know the carp start laughing when they see me coming down to the bank dragging this arsenal of gear.

3. FANCY BAITS MEAN FEWER FISH. I suspect all of us know the truth of this statement. Now I have to start days in advance to prepare my baits. First there’s the groundbait – I’ve got nine (honestly, nine) separate plastic bins in the garage, each containing a different type of animal feed. Then I have to spend a whole evening grinding this stuff in a blender to reduce it to granules. Then I mix it and bag it. And that’s just my groundbait. After all that, I start making my actual bait - boilies. I’ve got multiple types of flours and other ingredients that go into the dry mix. Then there’s the flavors...I buy these from specialty shops. All told, it takes hours for me to get my baits ready for a weekend of fishing. I think my baits scare the carp! In the past, all I did was stop in at the grocery store on my way to the river to buy a can of corn. I caught a lot of carp; you would think I was exaggerating if I told you how many.

4. SPECIAL RIGS MEAN FEWER FISH. I’m doing it all...hair rigs, safety rigs, anti-tangle rigs, feeders, anti-eject rigs, backleads, shock leaders...the carp must really be having a laugh at my expense. In the past, I side-hooked my corn on just about any hook I had handy. I used to catch so many, I’d literally lose count. Big ones, too.

5. THE MORE KNOWLEDGE YOU ACCUMULATE, THE FEWER FISH YOU CATCH. This is completely true and cannot be refuted. I’ve gotten tons of advice from the CAG discussion forum, from books, from videos, from going to fish-ins, and from weekend trips with other carp anglers. None of it works. Period. Forget about the barometer, the temperature, the phase of the moon, the time of day...it’s all useless. The simple truth is, sometimes the fish bite, and sometimes they don't. In the past, my approach was much more successful: if I had the time to go fishing, I went. If I was too busy, I didn’t. It worked.

6. IF YOU TRAVEL TO THE BEST VENUES, YOU WILL CATCH FEWER AND SMALLER FISH. This past year I drove all over the state of Indiana in search of twenty-to-thirty-pound carp. Most of these places are three or more hours from my house. I’ve gone to all the places in the state that have the best reputation. If a lake was rumored to contain monster carp, I got directions to it and off I went. I even traveled a couple of thousand miles to fish in one of the best venues in the country. But you know the largest fish I’ve ever caught came from the river about fifteen minutes from my house. And I caught lots of them there.

7. THE MORE COMFORTABLE YOU ARE WHEN YOU ARE FISHING, THE FEWER FISH YOU WILL CATCH. This is absolutely true, without question. I bought myself a nice brolly to keep me comfortable. These umbrella shelters seemed perfect to me. I had to have one. Too much sun? Set up the brolly. Is it starting to rain? Get out the brolly. What a mistake! In the past, if I was fishing and it got too hot or too rainy, I went home. The reason? The fish would quit biting when it was too hot or too stormy.

8. THE USE OF ELECTRONIC GEAR WILL GUARANTEE YOU CATCH FEWER FISH. There is no doubt about this one. I’ve bought myself a wireless sonar device, with a transducer that you tie to the end of your line. This is great, I thought: a device that will accurately map out the lake or river bottom. I can scope out the water and find all the best holes. I invested a lot of time, specifically making trips to map out the bottom. I found some places that looked perfect. So I started fishing those swims. The only problem was those places had no fish! In the past, I went down to the river and if I could see carp feeding somewhere, I would fish there. And I would catch them. And of course there are other electronics, like my bite alarms. Do you know what these alarms do? They certainly don’t attract carp – they attract other anglers, who come over to fish right next to me when they hear one go off.

So there you have it – I have invested lots of money, spent countless hours, drove thousands of miles, and gathered all kinds of information. The grand result that I have achieved is that I catch far fewer and much smaller fish than I ever have. Even my wife comments on this. “Gee, you don’t seem to be catching many fish anymore,” she said the other day. “You used to do real well down at the river over near the bridge. Why did you stop going there?” I mumbled something about the cycles of nature and went out into the garage to find my old 6-foot spinning rod. "Honey," I said, "do you have an extra can of corn?"

Now it’s probably worth saying that everything I’ve written here is only a half-truth, a tongue-in-cheek tale meant to try to console myself after a poor year of catching. Of course, all gear has a place, and I love using my distance rods and the associated tackle as much as I love sitting on the bank with a can of sweet corn and my old bass gear. In fact, truth be known, I rarely do the latter any more. But the memories of my very first carp, caught with nothing more than some old gear that I had laying around in the garage, are among the sweetest carp fishing memories of all.

[Davy]

Okay here is my opinion. 1 for the gear it could be that you made the same mistake that most new anglers make when they buy new rods and reels. They try to fish way out of there element. Meaning they think because they have a 12ft Rod and a Big Bait Runner they have to cast as far as they can.Think about it do you cast to the same places you were catching fish before? Ok now For the Alarms and Indicators if you do not use them correctly you will scare the Fish how? Ok for one the Volume turned up all the way or your Indicators being to heavy Then this goes to your rigs. If your Indicators are to heavy and you are using rig tubing or lead core all you are doing is actually pulling your rig up off the Bottom even with back leads. Then you say you went to the River seen fish feeding and Fished. Okay another problem with new anglers that buy any kind of shelter be Bivy Umbrella etc. They do not fish the best spot for the Fish they Fish the best place to Bivy up. Now on to the to comfortable part seen this a thousand times pepole just flop back in the chair get comfortable and watch there rods. When you were sitting on a bucket or Ground you got up moving around more and you would cast more. Or just pay more attention to the swim you were fishing. Note how you said you seen the fish feeding in the River and you caught them. Did you see any fish when you were fishing? Just because there are Monster fish in a lake and you have the best Boilie on the Market and your presentation is not right you will not catch them. You said it your self you caught more on Corn. Another mistake new Anglers make when Fishing the Hair rig they think they have to fish a Boilie on the Hair. When in fact if you were Catching on Corn then fish Corn. Another mistake new Anglers make is RIG PRESENTATION.You can not fish a 20ml Boilie then decide the fish are not having it and decide to put Five pieces of corn on the Hair because you were catching them on a single piece of Corn, Or you could do the oppisite and fish 1 piece of corn on a hair made for a 20ml Bait. The number one reason you are not catching is the new Rigs and the new Equipment etc. But not because it does not work but because you do not know how to use it. Any one can tie a hair rig and put a Boilie on and use the new rig that is in a mag. But the truth is how can you use something if you do not know how it is supposed to be used. Another common mistake new anglers make is they see Euro anglers catching 50lb fish that is good entertainment but we are not in Europe. I am not saying Euro rigs will not work they will you just need to understand how the rig works.For example I go to Bass Pro Shop buy the best Bass rod line lures and I go out on a lake and just start casting all the lures every were I might get lucky and catch one maybe two but I could have done that in the river behind my house on a worm maybe even better. My point is it does not matter how much money you spend on equipment unless you are using it the right way you are not going to catch fish. I have never heard of a carp being caught on a Bivy or never seen a carp with a Diawa Infinity in its mouth or seen one laying on the bottom in a Bed Chair see what I mean all of that stuff does not mean anything. The only thing that matters is rig presentation and bait But the most important thing of all is Location. Think of it like this say Someone said there were 50 Monster Carp in a lake and I show up find a flat spot that I can sit up my Bivy and I chuck all my rods out. I have been there for five hours no bite not even a Bleep on the Alarm. I am at this new spot were there are all these big fish I spent so much money on this stuff and have not caught a Fish. You know what my first mistake was. I sat there on my rear waiting on the fish to come to me. When I should have had a walk around the place looking in the margins looking for bubbles or for fish jumping. Then going back to the ride and getting the equipment I needed to catch fish.Instead I unpacked all this stuff that has now made me in mobile meaning after you fish for five hours with no bites chances are the only time you want to pack up all your stuff is going to be to get to the ride. Instead of moving to another Swim. Another way to look at it is like this. Say it Rains real hard. I have a big puddle out in my yard I set up my Pod drop in my Rods Bivy up clip up my Hangers. I could sit there all day with all my Fancy Gear But there are no fish there so all I am doing is sitting.The last time I checked the only thing that is sold that is supposed to attract Carp is Bait....And if you make your own and you are doing something as simple as using tap water then you done messed up it takes time to be able to make your own Bait. It only takes one mistake to mess it up. It sounds as if you are just aggravated that is normal just KEEP IT SIMPLE and stick to what you have caught them on before...

Edited February 27, 2013 by Davy

[sullypool]

Years ago my buddy Mike Dragone wrote an article in CAG about all the baits we use and it was just like what you two expressed. It's funny and nutty at the same time. I am a contributor, I too have been that way and still am for years!!! Were gadget people an easily hypothesized by the entire aura of the carp fishing scene. Great article I loved it!!!!!!!!!! ( But you know Fox is coming out with a great new and extra light pod in the Fall ) Oops I did again Ha Ha Ha Ed Wagner