New personal best

[barnyard]

My youngest daughter caught her personal best today. A 21 pounder!!!

We hit the Miss in between rain showers and managed to land 5 fish and broke off 3 others. Still not spectacular action, but it is picking up.

Might have to hit it again on Monday and Tuesday.

Tom B

[Guest]

Tom,

Glad to hear about your daughter’s new PB! You said the action isn’t spectacular? Yet, you’re doing better then anyone I know...right now. Do you think the Carp have spawned yet in your area? I’ve been wondering if it’s been pushed back due to the rain we’ve been having. Anyway tell your daughter WTG hope she breaks the Thirty mark before the year is done.

Jim C

[This message has been edited by Roughfishman (edited 06-27-2004).]

[barnyard]

We think that we are catching the first fish to return from spawning.

There was an article about Mille Lacs in the St Cloud Times Sunday about the weather and how it is affecting the fishing. Rick B, the Mille Lacs biologist, said that the weather has the big lake about 2 weeks behind a "normal" year.

I think that is about what we are finding. I have today and Tuesday off, so we're going to hit it hard and see if the numbers improve with steady feeding.

Tom B

[barnyard]

Brianna nailed another personal best tonight. She nabbed a 25 pounder!!!!

Tonight was our best night yet. We landed 14 fish, broke off 4, including the biggest fish of the night. Had it close to shore 3 times and got a great look at it, figured that it was 25-30 pounds. Headed for some logs and couldn't turn it. It still had enough energy left after 4 long runs to take 20 more yards of line and get into the trees and break off.

We landed 3 fish over 20 pounds and only had 2 that were under 15! Easily this was our heaviest average session EVER!

The fishing was actually pretty slow throughout the day. We caught a couple here and there, but one 6:30 rolled around, non-freaking-stop action. We had 2 doubles and 2 times where we were releasing one fish when another rod went off.

Which brings about a question.... Today, we baited up about 4 gallons of corn by the end of the day. This year, we are using more bait per session than ever before. How much bait do you all usually but out???

When we switched to spods, our bait usage went way up. We used to use slingshots and rarely used more than a gallon. Used to be that a normal batch (2 gallons of cooked field corn) would last at least 2 sessions.

On the other hand, it is REALLY hard to argue with the size of fish we are catching this year.

Tom B

[Guest]

Tom,

I’m with you...how much is too much? Like you I’ve baited heaver this year than any other and the results have payed off every time. Sounds like you’re having a better year too.

I usually pre-bait a 5 gallon bucket full of method balls each day, for several days, prior to an actual session. The method balls are a combination of bird seed, cracked corn, field corn and bread crumbs delivered via a slingshot specially made for the job. This method is 10x faster then spoding and in some ways more effective.

Jim C

[barnyard]

Tonight we made the ugly mistake of screwing around with a good thing. We have been baiting with field corn and using it on hair rigs, some with foam, some without.

At CarpFest I got the beginners carp package and it had some of the "Buckeye Blend" with it. Mixed some up with the corn juice and baited out about a pound or so. We caught 7 fish, but it took 2-3 hours for them to hit. Our thinking is that they were used to the corn and the Buckeye Blend made them extra wary, as we did get a few line bumps and light hits, but nothing like the last 2 days.

My oldest did land her personal best, a 15 pounder. My youngest is still happy, because her PB is 10 pounds bigger than big sister's.

This is the 1st year that I have carried a scale with while carping. Best thing that I have added to the aresenal. We KNOW how big the fish are and how small the small ones are.

Tom B