Catching Carp Techniques (Lake Zumbro or any Lake)

[Tyler Holm]

Carp are probably the most exciting species of fish to entertain. You will catch very large fish. A 5 pound average is easily attainable even for a 1st timer. Catching one over 10 wouldn’t surprise me. Lake Zumbro is loaded with carp, so you’re off to a good start. Carp can be caught all day long and really don’t tend to favor a certain time of day.

Yes, carp can be seen often jumping out of the water. This may make you think you should be fishing near the surface. This technique is challenging and something I know little about. Often when carp feed, it’s off the bottom. They scavenge around the bottom looking for food.

I would recommend taking about 3-4 cans of whole kernel sweet corn for bait. Make sure you don’t forget the can opener. (I’ve done that a few times). Most of this corn will be used as chum.

Find an area between 4-15 feet of water. The reason I recommend shallow water is because that is where the numbers of carp can usually be found. Keep your distance for docks and any structure that carp can entangle themselves in. The bottom cannot be weedy. Carp often roam weedy ground, but it makes it much tough for them to find your bait. A sandy bottom is best. A rocky bottom (large rocks) is no good either. (Your bait will fall between the rocks and make it difficult for carp to find and eat.) Carp roam sandy and muddy bottoms, but primarily feed on bottoms that are sandy or hard mud.

Your line and gear should be able to handle larger fish. A medium action rod with 8lb test line would be the minimum I would use. I use a #4 or #6 (baitholder or wide) hook. I usually fish with a 5 foot leader that is tied to a swivel and the have a slip weight above the swivel. I set my rod in the rod holder with the bail open. As soon as the line moves, flip the bail, reel up slack, and set the hook quickly. As soon as the carp feels resistance, it may spit the hook, so set the hook a bit before you completely tighten the line. Another solution would be to just tie a hook on your line and put 1-2 split shots 3feet above your hook. You just want enough weight to be able to cast and enough to hold your bait steady on the bottom. Too much weight might produce less carp, because when they grab the hook and move, the will feel the resistance of the weight and spit the bait.

I fish in a boat with 2 anchors (one off the bow and one off the back). Carp suck things off the bottom and don’t often care for things that are moving. Keeping your bait completely still will aid in catching many more fish. 2 anchors will eliminate all/most boat sway.

After you have found the ideal spot, throw some handfuls (1-2) of corn out in the exact area where you plan on casting your line. This will be your chum and provide lots of confidence food for the carp. Be cautions not to overfeed the carp any excess is considered pollution. Put as much corn on your hook as you can fit (5+ kernels). Cast your line right in the middle of your chum.

Check your bait fairly often. Those buggers can rob you quite quickly. After each fish or bit, throw anther small handful of corn in the same spot as before. Keep fishing that same spot. Carp have an excellent sense of smell and will come to your chum corn.

[CALVINIST]

Tyler,

Thanks for the article. When I was on the 'ssipi on monday, I saw large #'s of carp schooled up along the shore. I would like to bring my 5 year old boy there soon for some nonstop big fish action.

[Carp-fisher]

Hey Tyler,

I'm some situations I've had very good success with drifting a slip bobber rig with the corn about one to two feet off the bottom. One thing that I've noticed is that larger carp often bite much softer than the smaller ones. There have been many times when the bobber remained completely stationary with a large carp sitting on the other end. Good article.

[MedicDan]

I see people asking about this again, so I'll bump it up. It's really good information.

[Grant]

bump

[tjbassmaster]

Do you use a bobber or are you just leting it sit on the bottom?

[Tyler Holm]

 Originally Posted By: tjbassmaster

Do you use a bobber or are you just leting it sit on the bottom?

Bottom for this guy. I've seen few fish caught with the bobber technique, but I'd still stick to the bottom. The majority of the feeding fish will be down there. Suspended and top feeding fish are really tough to target (although not impossible). Topwater, fly fising, and bobber fishing carp is another sport all together. If your looking for a challenge, give that a shot. I personally stick to the tried and proven methods and bottom fishing fits that profile for me.

Good Luck. It's right around the corner. Immediately after ice out, carp are hungry.

[JimBuck]

Thanks for the post Tyler! I've always wondered other peoples methods and idealogies on the wonderful world of carp.

[goblueM]

I often use an ice fishing bobber to fish my corn, it takes almost nothing to pull it down so you know if anything so much as brushes it

[mainbutter]

How does river fishing for carp differ from lake fishing for carp? Chumming seems like it would be useless. Would river carp be more likely to jump on some kind of artificial lure? A mepps or crankbait of some kind maybe? Should I just stick to some kind of food-ish bait and sink it to the bottom of the river?

I've never fished for carp before but I'm going out tomorrow(hopefully, if I can find a few hours without thunderstorms) to fish the Cannon just below the dam in Northfield, and I've been seeing people catching carp(though I was too far away to see what they were catching with)

[Tyler Holm]

I don't have a lot of experience with river carp fishing, but I'd personally still use techniques mentioned above. Sweet corn for bait.

Fish downstream of any chum. I saw an In-Fish video on carp fishing in a river and that's how they did it.

[DEADhead]

If I'm using bait, I either drift a crawler, or use a slip sinker or split shot rig and set the crawler along a current seam adjacent to slackwater. Keep your line taut and look for any movement. I let the fish take some line before setting the hook. Sometimes they are just mouthing the bait. If you use a circle hook you could be even more patient than that.

More often than not, I'm fishing flies, nymphing along the current seams adjacent to slackwater, like you would do for trout.

[Alan]

I never thought Carp were in lakes. I just figured they were only in the rivers. Are they in all lakes? If so, how do you find them?

[erickol]

This time of year look for them in shallow bays that warm up sooner (muddy bottoms are better and warm up quicker) than the rest of the lake. they will begin to congregate and get pumped up for spawn. I have seen then jumping and messing around already in plenty of the waters I fish. if it is calm out, look for bubbles comming up and muddy spots (in otherwise clearer water). They'll root around. I like to cast out past the bubbles (rooting carp) and very gently reel in towards them. If you do it right they won't spook. If they are really making a mess then you are less likely to spook them. Look for jumping and porposing carp. They are found in almost all of the lakes around here, not all but most. river carp are awesome and strong, but lake carp are a blast to catch too.

try to sight fish to some with a fly rod if you really want to get a rush! This is a great time of year for it.

[buddha]

I grew up catching carp on the MN river and that was with old 20lb mono, big sinkers and even bigger hooks and I caught plenty. Lay it on the bottom with a big crawler or the old faithful can o' corn!

Geez now with all the great equipment and a little knowledge those bottom feeders don't have a chance.

Personally I can't wait for ice out to finally get some crappies and even a bullhead or 2! Come on let's here some flack for the fish with no scales!