Carp through the ice?

[Crawlerman]

Is it possible to catch carp through the ice; or are they pretty much like catfish and "hibernate" through the winter? I tried throwing about half a can of corn through a hole and then rigging a tip up set off the bottom with corn over the hole. Sat about 4 hours while I jigged for sunnies on the other line and didn't see the flag go up once. During the open water season, Carp dominate the catch of this pond, more so than bullies or sunfish. So... is it possible and how?

[Guest]

I don't know about Carp, but Catfish certainly don't hibernate. There are a lot of guys that fish for Catfish in the winter through the ice. They seem to hang on the deep drops and can be caught right with the crappie & walleye. Scott Steil

[Crawlerman]

Cats through the Ice? I've heard of bullies being caught on a rare occasion... But I allways heard that the larger cats became sluggish and inactive when the water temp drops near or below freezing. Hmm.. wouldn't mind learning how to catch those through a few lakes round here that are stocked with them....

[Guest]

The Horseshoe Chain, West of St. Cloud is full of cats. It is nothing to get 5 or 6 a night while fishing Crappies or Walleye in the winter. I would imagine if you actually fished for them for tried some of the deep spots closer to the river channels you wouldn't be able to keep them off. It can be fun sometimes. Scott Steil

[doubleUcubed]

We get a few of them while fishing for walleye's on Kandi. in the winter too! I guess we have never targeted them so I don't know how many a guy could catch. They still put up a good fight though!!

[Crawlerman]

Double- Carp or Cats?

[doubleUcubed]

Ooops! Cats! I don't think I've seen a carp caught through the ice now that you bring it up. I'll ask around with the locals and find out though. I know many guy's have seen tremendous schools of them go under their ice fishing holes and not bite at all. I've watched the guy's pull nets under the ice for carp quite a few times.

[Guest]

We see carp all the time in the winter when we are fishing shallow. They come through quite often. Early in the year they spend a lot of time in the real shallow water. If there is no snow on the ice you can see them moving right under the ice. Pretty cool. However, I too have never heard of anyone catching a carp through the ice.

One night last year while fishing for crappies, we caught 11 cats in two hours. That was 2 of us. I would imagine if you really fished for cats you could have a blast! Scott Steil

[This message has been edited by ScottS (edited 11-21-2002).]

[Deitz Dittrich]

my father caught a carp threw the ice on lake minnetonka... we were sight fishing late season on Crystal bay... it hit a regular little sunfish jig and a eruolarve... not only that but the bait was no whrere near the bottom... It can be done!

[Crawlerman]

I wonder if a jigging a yellow jip tipped with corn would work? Must need a little bit more convincing than the open season to strike. Either way I have something to look for at the Ice Fishing show: a heavy jigging rod. Might try Tanners to see if I can find where the cats lie there under the Ice; The only problem with that lake is it has so much deep water to cover on it; Figuring that dropoff on the side of the dealrships leading to the 50' hole would be a good place to start. I have two carp ponds I might try with a yellow jig; one is overflowing with carp; but they don't get any bigger than 4-5 lbs. The other I reguarly got 10 lbers out of, and hooked some that were much larger and broke off in the logs. I just wonder if an 8" hole will be big enough... Shallow water; late ice. Have to keep that in mind...

[Guest]

I've got some info for you guys... it IS possible to catch carp through the ice. I did it all day yesterday. Was looking for walleyes, but tied into a BIG school of these buggers. Right on the MN in Shakopee. The ice was good, 4-5 inches. I was fishing an eddy area... marking a TON of fish on the vex. Didn't know they were carp until I caught one! Didn't take me but 5 mins to have one on. They we taking a yellow/orange glow devil with a minnow head. The jigging would bring them in like a magnet. I ended up catching quite a few, and the biggest was around 10#. The bigger ones were really fun, as they'd see the hole and take of on some screaming runs!

So yes.... carp through the ice is possible!

[Crawlerman]

an eddy on the River with only 4-5" Not my idea of safe fun.. I'd be on edge...

However I know of numerous carp ponds in the metro area; one of which holds some decent sized ones (I've lost several in the open water season that had to be around 20; as they were impossible to turn even with the heavy gear I was using. I've caught numerous ones around 10) How deep was the water? Someone was saying that carp in lakes and pond seek out shallow areas in the winter on this thread. Yeah.. carp seem to have a lot into sight feeding as well, espically bright colors such as yellow. I rember seeing one guy catching carp out of a pond around here that had on a yellow tube jig he was trying to catch crappies with. Corn's usually worked better as a late/early season bait, I wonder how it'd do through the ice on a yellow jig?

That sounds like a blast though... I know how fun they are to catch during the open water season.. why I wanted to know if anyone had done it over the ice before. How'd you bring those 10# through the hole? They had to be pretty fat.

[Lunker]

In the winter, carp tend to school up in deep water and sit. And sit, and sit, etc. Their metabolism slows way down, almost to hibernation. The dnr hired a company to net carp in the winter on nokomis last year. used sonar to pick up huge schools, then netted them all.

[blacksportsman]

Just wanted to see something here...

[blacksportsman]

Just wanted to see something here...

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"You're gonna need a bigger boat"

-Chief Brody (Jaws)

[vern]

A couple of weeks ago on Calhoun I saw a school of big carp slowly cruising under my hole. They were just inches under the ice in 18' near a sharp break to 30'. I thought it was pretty interesting that they were up that high on that steep break. I probably could have reached down & grabbed one by the tail. Vern

[Lunker]

Thats weird. A few weeks ago I went down to the river and caught 4 carp in a culvert where the water was warm from the discharge of water.