14 pounder on 4 pound test

[Dan Thiem]

I was fishing on a lake last night for some bluegills. I was using some of Crappie Tom's new plastics. A Crappie Rat black and chartruese. After a dozen or so nice size gills look at what picked up my jig.

I was using Trilene XL in a four pound test. I fought this fish for twenty two minutes. I really did time it!

What really surprised me is how well the rod handled this battle. It was a hand made Crappie Tom signature series. made on a Fenwick blank. Specially made for panfish. This rod was bent in such a way I was very worried it was going to break in half.

Well after having to chase it down a few times with the electric motor and a few trys with the net we finally nabbed her. 14 pounds on theZebco De-liar. (Like those things are acurate.)

[MURPHFISHER]

I must say again, the more I look at that picture that is just an awesome catch. Congrats Dan..

You carp guy's may want to take a look at the Rochester section of this site. We have had some nice roughfishing going on this spring and have put up quite a few pics...

[jonny_redhorse]

great fish and pic...Dan!.....don't have carp this far north!...there's a lake(panaca) with some buffalos but no carp....i hit one(buffalo) with my canoe years back....thought i hit a log.lol!...apparently on a hot day they lay just on the surface .....as i was paddling i spooked a few more and the resulting giant "swirl" from their monster carbon grey/black bodies...never fished for them or ever caught one.....i just may try to though...bet the fight would be something for sure!

[Ralph Wiggum]

Sweet fish, Dan. That picture just solidified my plans to go get some of those monsters.

[Deitz Dittrich]

de-liar or not, it looks every bit of 14 lbs... nice catch!... Very nice pict!

[LEECH21]

Very nice!

[carlcmc]

nice catch. fishing the local crappie lake?

[Metroguy99]

Nice fish, I've seen them becoming active in metro lakes. My buddy had the similar situation acouple years ago. The thing took his crappie jig, so he landed it on 4lb. line and his ultralight.

[Matt Johnson]

Nice catch Dan! Congrats!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Fisher Dave]

Nice Fish!

I had a plan several years back to try to set a line class record for 2lb test with carp.. It was at 17#, and jumped up to 28# the week I caught a 16 lb fish on 2 lb test... I couldnt tell you how many hooks I lost that summer making the effort.. and how many HUNDREDS of yards of line I seen taken off my 4000 class reels at the time(for line capacity).. I never timed any of the fish, but I was shorebound, and half the time I was wading milfoil beds trying to get my fish at the end.. Ultralight rods are pretty tough as long as you dont go in excess of the line rating... I felt my reel handle flexing many times.

Lots of fun, but I gave up on that pursuit of the record.. might have to shoot for the state record on 6# or 8# line... wonder what the line manufacturers would offer me to say I caught it on theres??

Nice fish

[Dan Thiem]

Hey Dave, how old do you imagine that carp is?

[Fisher Dave]

I dont have any idea.. cut it in half and count the rings??

In all reality, I have no idea on how fast carp grow, how long they live, etc...

If I had to make a completely uneducated guess with nothing to base it on .. I would guess in the 5-7 year old class for a 14 lb fish. I witnessed an 86 lb carp harvested by bowfishing.. I dont think they live to 100 years old, so their growth rate must be pretty fast if they have ample forage.

Our state record hook and line is 55#.. I dont think that is 60 years old either.

Maybe someone can dig up some info on carp growth average.. easy to find on popular gamefish, but I have never seen them for carp.

[MURPHFISHER]

I found this and not much else:

"Age and Growth

Few wild carp live longer than 12 years but individuals in captivity have lived as long as 47 years. Carp generally grow rapidly for the first few years until they reach sexual maturity and slows as energy is diverted into reproduction. Growth rates of carp vary considerably across North America which may reflect geographical, biological and environmental conditions at different locations."

[Fisher Dave]

MURPH .. thanks for chiming in with the information.. I'm not exactly sure if it clarified anything, but it was from a source that knows more of carp than I do.. I know how to catch them, about it!

[2dalake]

That looks bigger than 14, it looks all of twenty to me.

[PierBridge]

That looks bigger than 14, it looks all of twenty to me.

I remember when I landed a huge carp back in the late 80's fishing by the Ford Bridge, I bet my uncle 20 bucks that my fish weighed 25#'s I dragged that fish up the stairs right to Holiday Gas station bought a scale and it weighed 17# i lost.

They look huge, that is stil my biggest carp by far.