03-19-2007, 04:37 PM
[cool][#0000ff]I DO have a couple of other observations I might drop on you. First, when carp are in full spawn, you might as well save your time in fishing for them...unless you just want to snag one for bait. When they are in "whoopie mode" they are not thinking about food and do not even take natural baits.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Second, like many species, the "post spawn" period can be great to fish them with flies and lures. After they dump their buckets and their innards reconfigure to "normal" status they go on the feed. That's a brief period when they actually do whack a fly or lure with a bit of gusto.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One of my more memorable fishing experiences was in late May one year, on Willard Bay Reservoir here in Utah. I had returned to shore after nonstop catching on crappies, happy with the day's fishing. While shucking out of my waders and putting my tube in the car I noticed some activity in the shallow bay nearby. I walked over closer and found that there were a bajillion carp basking in the warmth of the shallows and many seemed to be "tailing"...characteristic of fish working the bottom for food.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I hustled back to the car and grabbed one of my crappie rods...a light action rod with 4# line and rigged with a little reddish colored plastic jig. I flipped a short cast out into the carp convention and my little jig barely touched down in the shallow water before being attacked. I felt a sharp whack and set the hook. The four pound attackor immediately did his best imitation of a bonefish, streaking across the flats. It was funny to see the other carp go airborne as the one I hooked crashed into them and scared the stuff out of them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The rest of the story. I had not planned to spend any time fishing for carp and was fishing in cutoffs, tennies and no shirt. Midday in May the sun in powerful and I got a powerful sunburn as I just kept on catching one "golden bone" after another. It was unbelievable.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I came back a few days later and the magic was gone. The fish had moved back out into the open lake.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The moral of the story is that if you can find feeding carp, you are in for a treat. When they are in a neutral, inactive or just plain finicky carp mode, you really gotta work for them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As I previously stated, I seldom (if ever) deliberately target carp with jigs. But, there are times when I see them clustered on top, on calm low light mornings, and I can't resist swimming a jig through them to see if I can get a reaction. Sometimes the reaction is an explosion of fleeing fish. On other occasions one of them will deliberately munch the intruding lure and I go bendo. Then I look around to make sure that nobody I know catches me playing with a carp. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My name is TubeDude and I am a carpoholic. I don't wanna be cured. I just wanna come to these meetings and talk about it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Second, like many species, the "post spawn" period can be great to fish them with flies and lures. After they dump their buckets and their innards reconfigure to "normal" status they go on the feed. That's a brief period when they actually do whack a fly or lure with a bit of gusto.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One of my more memorable fishing experiences was in late May one year, on Willard Bay Reservoir here in Utah. I had returned to shore after nonstop catching on crappies, happy with the day's fishing. While shucking out of my waders and putting my tube in the car I noticed some activity in the shallow bay nearby. I walked over closer and found that there were a bajillion carp basking in the warmth of the shallows and many seemed to be "tailing"...characteristic of fish working the bottom for food.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I hustled back to the car and grabbed one of my crappie rods...a light action rod with 4# line and rigged with a little reddish colored plastic jig. I flipped a short cast out into the carp convention and my little jig barely touched down in the shallow water before being attacked. I felt a sharp whack and set the hook. The four pound attackor immediately did his best imitation of a bonefish, streaking across the flats. It was funny to see the other carp go airborne as the one I hooked crashed into them and scared the stuff out of them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The rest of the story. I had not planned to spend any time fishing for carp and was fishing in cutoffs, tennies and no shirt. Midday in May the sun in powerful and I got a powerful sunburn as I just kept on catching one "golden bone" after another. It was unbelievable.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I came back a few days later and the magic was gone. The fish had moved back out into the open lake.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The moral of the story is that if you can find feeding carp, you are in for a treat. When they are in a neutral, inactive or just plain finicky carp mode, you really gotta work for them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As I previously stated, I seldom (if ever) deliberately target carp with jigs. But, there are times when I see them clustered on top, on calm low light mornings, and I can't resist swimming a jig through them to see if I can get a reaction. Sometimes the reaction is an explosion of fleeing fish. On other occasions one of them will deliberately munch the intruding lure and I go bendo. Then I look around to make sure that nobody I know catches me playing with a carp. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My name is TubeDude and I am a carpoholic. I don't wanna be cured. I just wanna come to these meetings and talk about it.[/#0000ff]
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