Good carp pullage

[J.A. Veil]

Each May I look forward to observing the carp gathering to spawn in the headwaters of one the rivers near my home. This afternoon, I launched at noon into shallow, chocolate brown-colored water. Initially I did not see much splashing or sediment swirls, but after 15 mins I found where they were. I saw a bunch of carp rolling in the shallows next to the marsh grass and aquatic plants. But as I drifted along, I saw hundreds of sediment swirls in 1-2 ft of water showing where the carp had just taken off as they sensed me coming. I was fishing with a 1/8-oz jighead with small white twister tail on an ultralight rod using 8-lb mono. I hooked several dozen fish, but usually the line went tight for a second, then the hook popped free. I had about 10 fish that stayed on for 10 seconds, and 2 large carp that I got to boat side after a 3-5 minute fight and a sleigh ride. The first photo below shows part of the two-foot long fish splashing next to the kayak.

At one point I looked up and saw a bald eagle fly immediately overhead. Within seconds, an osprey flew over to harass the eagle. The middle photo below shows the osprey on the left, and the eagle on the right.

After loading the kayak in the van, I drove a short distance to one of the road crossing culverts I had fished earlier in the week. I took a few casts with the white twister tail and hooked up with a 12” largemouth that had a dime-sized wound on its back. It is hard to beat good fishing within 15 minutes of home.

[Southerly]

nice trip!!

the eagles and ospreys tend to have overlapping territory. the eagles are year-long residents but the osprey migrate as far south as central america during the winter.

both like to fish and need a fair amount of territory to do it. the osprey seem more willing to use nesting sites that would not be acceptable to the eagles and i think the result is the eagles tend to get nudged back from the water during spring/summer.

i read a report of eagles nesting on severn this winter. it would be interesting to know if they're still there now that ospreys are in force.

[CB kayak 02]

John would you be interested in trying for some more carp on Monday or Tuesday? I'm really interested in adding them to my list of kayak caught fish.

[Yak Fish]

I've caught lots of carp but always on bait. Can you actually catch them with a lure?

[surfdog]

i used to watch the eagles whack the carp at the landing at outing ave some were very large. glad you got some john

[Shady]

Great report as always. I've heard of people catching carp on white twister tail jigs before but never have actually seen evidence. I've only ever caught carp on corn. I would assume to hook them, you use a very slow retrieve?

[new2yaks11]

Years ago when you were allowed to fish right below the Conowingo dam, I would fish for white perch. On several occasions would catch really decent sized carp on twister tails in there mouths. One time fishing upper bay around key bridge, A buddy in my boat hooked and landed a 29lb. Carp on 8lb tet and 3" twister tail. My father once caught a carp that bottomed out my 25lb scale ona rattle trap. They will hit artificials. I've seen it many times.

[ictalurus]

I've never had much luck with carp, but that sounds like fun. I'll have to check out a place near me that I think will have carp.

I have foul-hooked one on a bass jig. I think the fish actually hit it, but I was a second too slow. I had smeared the jig with Smelly Jelly, so I think that attracted the carp.

[Southerly]

1st - i wanna say i'm not suggesting your snagging was intentional, but i think intentionally snagging them is illegal in Md. probly was long ago too, but i didn't know and tried unsuccessfully to snag them 'back in the day'. the scales are like armor and my bass lures seemed to just bounce off.

i did catch one fairly, but by accident this feb, on bloodworm. a surprise to me so i researched a little and it seems like people use so many different things for bait, that i became confused - is there a preferred bait to catch them legitimately?

[bignose]

Canned corn makes a great and cheap carp bait.
Really, I'm not kidding.
You can chum an area ahead of time.
If you want to get fancy, make dough balls out of shredded wheat, cornflakes and strawberry jello.

Carp are hard fighters and make strong determined runs. Think of them as ugly bonefish.

In Europe they are considered to be a gamefish, and they have tournaments just like we have Bass tournaments. They use some very sophisticated tackle for these.

[chex]

In Europe they are considered to be a gamefish, and they have tournaments just like we have Bass tournaments. They use some very sophisticated tackle for these.

Oh yeah... i watch Fish-O-Mania when it's on the fishing channel, while working. It's the most boring fishing show on there, but I still like it... They use slingshots and really looooooooong spoons to chum. They take this stuff very seriously, and they should... the winner gets like 25,000 pounds!

[chex]

I've also heard, from a polish lady I know, that they eat carp over there. But the secret is that they have to keep it alive in a clean pool for 2 weeks before eating it, in order to take the nasty taste away... strange huh?

[bignose]

My Grandparents used to put them in the bathtub for a couple of days.

A recipe for planked carp:
Build a wood fire in a stone lined fire pit and get the coals hot.
Place the cleaned and scaled (no easy task) carp on a pine plank and cook on the rocks for three hours.
Throw away the carp and eat the plank.

[chex]

hrow away the carp and eat the plank.

Ahahahahaha! Thanks for the good laugh.

[J.A. Veil]

1st - i wanna say i'm not suggesting your snagging was intentional, but i think intentionally snagging them is illegal in Md. probly was long ago too, but i didn't know and tried unsuccessfully to snag them 'back in the day'. the scales are like armor and my bass lures seemed to just bounce off.

Southerly raises an interesting point about the legality of intentionally snagging carp. I did not know the answer, so I searched the DNR fisheries regulations. Here is what I found:

COMAR (Code of Maryland Regulations)
CHAPTER 05 FISH
08.02.05.01 Methods of Fishing in Tidal Waters.
.......
C. Fish Snagging.
(1) Except as provided in §C(2) of this regulation, a person may not snag fish in the tidal waters of the State.
(2) A person may snag carp, garfish, skate, bullfish, oyster toads, swelling toads, sting rays or any other ray fish by means of hooks in the tidal waters of the State.


According to C (2), snagging for carp is permissible in Maryland tidal waters. Snagging for most species is not permissible.