Help with carp

[Green 'eyes!]

My six year old son wants to catch a huge carp we've seen in our shallow bay. It's a weedy bay, and with my polarized glasses on I can see the fish suspending below the surface with its head pointed up toward the surface. Seems like fly fishing for it would be perfect, but I don't have the gear.

Any tips on how to get him rigged up with spinning tackle for this carp? Keeping in mind it is weedy, what should I use?

[ec30_06]

You can try sweet corn or worms under a bobber

[Green 'eyes!]

What size/type hook? How much line under the bobber?

Thanks for the help.

[HuskerBen]

A #4 or #6 hook (I use octopus, but j-hooks are fine) should be good. Load the hook up with corn (4 or 5 kernals), leaving just the point exposed. You can use a bobber or fish it on the bottom with just a split shot (though, if it's real weedy, it might be better a couple feet under a bobber). Carp spook easy, so stealth is important. If it's feeding on the surface, try a small square of bread with no weight. When you see it inhale the bait, set the hook. Make sure your drag is set right, and hold on.

[Green 'eyes!]

Thanks, I'll give it a try!

[rockman]

Yep, I recently switched from regular baitholders to octupus hooks.What a difference that made in getting the fish hooked . Size 4-6's are the the way to go.

[DEADhead]

#4 Gamakatsu Octopus are nice hooks for carp. A circle hook will help reduce gut hooks. I find it a little tricky to get the hook set with them though; I've lost a couple fish when I think I've let them take enough line and missed the hook set. Another thing I've found is that the gamakatsu circle hooks don't work well on bullheads. The offset hook gets snagged in their gut; it's not really a "true" circle anyway.

[Carp-fisher]

I would recommend suspending a little bit of canned sweet corn underneath a bobber. Cast way past the carp and then slowly reel the rig into its area. If you cast the rig within 10 feet of him or so, you might spook it. Good luck and set your drag loose!

[rockman]

I can't say what I bought are true circle hooks. I picked them up at Walmart, and the packaging says they are octupus hooks.All I know is during a recent carp trip,these hooks worked well for me.

[DEADhead]

I can't say what I bought are true circle hooks. I picked them up at Walmart, and the packaging says they are octupus hooks.All I know is during a recent carp trip,these hooks worked well for me.

yeah those octopus hooks are different from the gamakatsu circle hooks I was referring to. If you look at the octopus hooks from Gamakatsu, the hook is offset. This offset tends to get the hook caught in the gut when it is rolling. Circle hooks from other manufacturers like Eagle or Mustad do not have an offset and as a result, roll in to the lip better and gut hooks are almost non-existent.

[onemore]

I would 2nd the recomendation on a bobber and bait.

Corn or worms on a hook. You could use a weighted bobber to make casting easier and it would leave the corn/worm more free and more likely to be taken by the carp.

Do not cast to the carp it will spook them. Cast ahead of or beyond the carp. The best is to cast where you anticipate the carp to be.

If you're using corn the carp will smell it and come and get it.

You could improve your son's chances by chumming the area with corn before you fish. Just throw out a handfull of corn for a couple days before you plan to fish.

Good luck and post a picture.

[JimBuck]

Funny thing you brought that up DEADhead. I was fresh out of circles from eagle claw and had to resort to offset circles not really thinking anything of it. The next 5 bullheads had all been gut hooked. Threw a walleye jig on, problem solved. I had no idea the offset made such a big impact.

[rockman]

Originally Posted By: rockman

I can't say what I bought are true circle hooks. I picked them up at Walmart, and the packaging says they are octupus hooks.All I know is during a recent carp trip,these hooks worked well for me.

yeah those octopus hooks are different from the gamakatsu circle hooks I was referring to. If you look at the octopus hooks from Gamakatsu, the hook is offset. This offset tends to get the hook caught in the gut when it is rolling. Circle hooks from other manufacturers like Eagle or Mustad do not have an offset and as a result, roll in to the lip better and gut hooks are almost non-existent.

Hmmm.That's interesting. I looked at those Walmart hooks,and they are offset.I don't understand why,but I had all hooks set into the corner of the fishes mouth last time I used them.I was fishing with a baitfeeder reel set up,and the hookset came pretty quick after the line started peeling off the spool.I'll keep an eye on the gut hooking possibilties with these offset hooks.Thanks,Deadhead.

[DEADhead]

no problem rockman. If you set the hook fairly early with the octopus hooks, you can still get a good hookset in the corner of the mouth. The only problem I run in to is with fish that like to inhale baits like sunfish and bullheads. The occaisional carp will swallow the hook, but at least with the octopus I can set the hook right away on a bite, unlike a circle hook.

[pout poker]

the carp always bite good on a 32in piecs of carbon spined fiberglass with a pirnaha point on it

[DEADhead]

the carp always bite good on a 32in piecs of carbon spined fiberglass with a pirnaha point on it

If you're gonna talk that kind of trash here, go over to the bowfishing/spearing forum. This is an angling forum here, and Green 'eyes! was looking for angling tips for his 6yo son.

[Green 'eyes!]

Yea, thanks for all the tips guys. We had the chance to go try once, and we were out for about 20 minutes before he got antsy. No bites.

We'll try again soon.

[pout poker]

ummm i believe the forum just says carp/real gamefish nothing about angling so this is just as much bout shooting fish as it is angling them. besides i have no clue how to fish with those long poles and hooks and light line all ive ever fished with is my bow. besides carp and other rough fish are the worst thing possible for the water system so lets go catch them and let them go to reproduce??? it should be illegal to release a rough fish no matter how it was caught.

[Green 'eyes!]

pout poker, it's nothing against you, but I titled this Help with Carp because I want help with carp. Can a 6yo bowfish? Besides, I haven't seen dozens of them in this backwater, just a couple. The water is very dark and hard to see. I think it would be fun for my boy to tie into a large fish that puts up a good fight.

[pout poker]

ya a 6yr old can bowfish i have seen several young kids bowfish. some younger then 6 if ya can pull a bow back ya can bowfish i proved anybody can do it 2 nights ago. i stuck a 25lber with a 17lb draw bow that me 3yr old cousin fishes with just to prove it would work since some people told me it wouldnt if ya dont believe me ask redneck he was with me

[DEADhead]

ummm i believe the forum just says carp/real gamefish nothing about angling so this is just as much bout shooting fish as it is angling them.

[Green 'eyes!]

I agree, a complete lack of respect (not to mention punctuation!)

[Eric Wettschreck]

Green Eyes, one thing to remember when targeting carp is that they are not nearly as dumb as people chalk them up to be. While shore angling for them it's a good idea to sit in the shadow of a tree if at all possible. At least don't "Skyline" yourself. I've blown my cover many times while targeting these fish by casting my own shadow over them.

Good luck to you and Jr. Carp truely are an awesome fighting fish.

[DEADhead]

great pointer boilerdude. Sound is also a key factor with these fish. With their barbels and highly sensitive lateral line, these fish can pick up sound and vibration from quite a distance. I once saw a bunch of carp spook from a tractor going down the highway over a half mile away. The vibration from the tires spooked them.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when carp are spooked, or caught, they will often emit a phermone which will signal other carp to beware, and that can turn a bite off just like that. Either try to catch a fish downstream from a pod of fish, or give the area a rest after catching a fish.

[Tyler Holm]

Another thing to keep in mind is that when carp are spooked, or caught, they will often emit a phermone which will signal other carp to beware, and that can turn a bite off just like that. Either try to catch a fish downstream from a pod of fish, or give the area a rest after catching a fish.

I've heard about this phermone idealogy before, but I have facts that challange it. I fish a couple carp tourneys each year. We've caught 70 in a 6 hour tourney before (50ish is average for this particular lake). That's 1 every 5 mins. Considering each fish takes ~4-8 mins each, that's flat out gettin busy with it. We had 4 quadripples that day (2 rods each); reeling in one fish while the other rod is peeling out drag. Many tripples and countless doubles.

I'm a believer that these fish go into a mega feeding frenzy where they root for foot and aggressively eat everything is site. They get excited as a group and rampage the area for food. We see this often and we pluck several fish out of one area within minutes of eachother. In SoDak where I fish these tourneys you can legally chum corn to keep the fish in the freeding frenzy state for several minutes.

Anyways, just something to think about.