MJL

Great report Victor...I'm guessing we'll be doing something similar on Saturday at the carping g2g Moment of the night was when CCMT and Bly came by for a quick visit. Bly described a log which couldn't be seen in the dark close to the far bank. Bly "There's a log over there that is excellent for holding fish" MJL "That's not good, I casted over there" Bly "That's great, that log holds fish underneath it" MJL "No, I mean I think I casted over it [the log]" I finally got to Christen my new carp rod/baitrunner combo...A graduation present I got for myself. We gotta do it again sometime this year. Road trip anyone?

Excellent report Mike Those walleye look super tasty. Great pics and write up.

A mind blowingly orgasmic report Moosebunk Beautiful pics. Thanks for sharing

Even in its crushed state, maize along with other particles still expand. Run a batch of maize or chick peas through a food processor, soak and/or boil and it will still be much larger than it was in its dry state. Not all indigestible matter is passed through their gills as you mentioned. On the St. Lawrence and Otonabee rivers, I’ve noticed some fish passing zebra mussel shells while in the landing net. When fish are on the feed, their gill rakers can only filter so much of the stuff. In many commercial fisheries in the UK and France, particle baits have been banned because of particle bait related deaths – You are forced to use boilies and pellets. Many of the fisheries who still allow particle baits only allow you to use commercially available/already prepared baits (like the ones produced by Dynamite baits) or the ones that the bailiffs and fishery owners prepare themselves and sell to their guests.

Fair point. I’m guessing brookies and lakers are very much like steelhead and salmon who strike out of aggression when they’re actually in the act of digging redds, shooting eggs and fertilizing the eggs. Essentially, males are jockeying for position to fertilize the eggs solely with their milt. TBH I don’t know very much about the behaviour of brookies and lakers. In my experience, beyond the odd specimen, carp behave differently. I don’t fish for carp who are in the act of spawning. It’s pointless. They do not have an urge to feed nor do they display the same territorial aggression that spawning salmonoids show. If you observe them, it’s generally a group orgy of eggs and milt where all the males fertilize at once. The fish that do end up taking the bait are either pre-spawn or post-spawn who have made the choice to take the bait out of hunger. The fishing at this time is no where near as easy as other times of the year because the fish in the act of the spawn are not interested or aggravated by the presence of bait. What does the law tell us? - Carp have no closed seasons beyond geographical limitations (like the kawarthas which open last Sat of April and close sometime in November) - Carp have bow hunting seasons during their spawn - You can’t snag fish (even course fishing abides by rules) My views – My Opinions - I’m angling for a fish in season in a place open for angling - I’m fishing a fair distance outside of the mass orgy for carp willing to take a bait through hunger...I do not cast or bait on or close to actively spawning fish. - To me it’s not any different from fishing for pre-spawn steelhead in any of the year round sections of rivers – Which I along with many also do as well as fishing for dropbacks. - Carp at the end of my line stand a better chance of survival than at the business end of a bow and arrow…Which again, is legal in areas across this province during part of the spawn - If fishing anywhere near the spawning time is immoral (which looking at how hard the fishing is I can’t really see), where do we draw the line to when it is ethically right to fish? Carp have been observed spawning in different parts of Ontario from April to August. You may have different morals and views than I My $0.02 CAN

Cliff, don't be so hasty to leave. You can sometimes pick up the odd male who enjoys eating while getting it on... This male took a few mouthfuls between spawning sessions...He got excited and left me a present on my landing net and shoes.

Various theories of why they jump - Some I've heard in the past: - Females jump prior to the spawn to loosen up the roe inside - To aid in digestion - I often see them jumping right over where I groundbaited. - To adjust pressure of their swim bladders - To communicate to other carp over distances - To remove parasites from their bodies - For fun I personally don't know why they jump.

Carp don't guard nests like bass do. They spawn quick and dirty in weeds and leave. They also don't have much of an urge to feed anyway while they're spawning. What you do end up hooking are ones who have already finished or have yet to spawn.

I would have to disagree with this statement. Soaking/Boiling corn not only makes it easier to hook, it renders the particle safe to eat for carp. Maize along with almost all other particle/nut/pulse/seed (exception being canned corn) has the ability to expand over time when wet. The idea is that you want the particle to expand to its maximum before you feed it to the fish. If not, they have the ability to expand inside the fish which could lead to digestive tract problems and death. Boiling particles also does a number of things: 1. It enhances the ability of the particle to take on flavours, 2. It kills any chance of the seed/particle from germinating inside the fish - many particles after all are seeds. If you're going to be using maize, it is recommended at a minimum to soak it at least 24 hrs before use. Article on maize http://www.carp.com/article44.html Particle preparation guide http://www.carpforum.co.uk/Shared/Messages.asp?TopicID=26850 As far as tackle goes, carp fishing is far more dynamic than sitting behind a set of buzzers with the baitrunner set to free-spool. Most likely you already have tackle suitable to land them. For years I've used my heavier salmon/steelhead rods and centrepins to stalk them while they cruise the shoreline (I do this on the Toronto Islands). You can also float fish, fly fish (almost like fishing for bonefish on the flats), you can sight fish for them using slightly heavier bass/walleye tackle rigged with tubes, twister-tail jigs or flipping jigs and yes you can take the modern European approach and spoil yourself will electronic bite alarms, pods, carp rods and baitrunners. Carp fishing can be as simple or advanced as you want to make it. Hope this helps

DSN has a bad back so he couldn't do much heavy lifting. It's not my fault when people skunk or drop their fish back into the water before I take a pic...Cough cough Victor cough. I caught it in a small bay that empties out into Lake O. Judging by the number of people who walk by and told us that they released their pet goldfish there, I'm pretty sure it's a goldfish/carp hybrid. The last 3yrs we've seen orange goldfish to about 18" cruising by. Totally cool 007. Always wanted to catch a crucian. I don't think they're in North America yet. Too bad a lot of the waters over there are privatized. I watched a couple shows of Total Fishing with Matt Hayes and saw him fishing small agricultural run-off canals for chub. I imagine those might be free provided you get permission from the farmer. He was hauling in 4lb chub from a canal no wider than 10ft. I love the fishing in Canada. So do my friends in the UK. They don't fish much over there and save their $ on a 4-6wk long vacation here almost every year.

Simply stunning In all the years of angling, I have yet to catch one of those. Looks like catching one will be added to my life's To-do list before I die. Great pics.

I got mine in a fly shop in Mississauga. I think it's called WithAFly. I think any tackle shop that sells Loon products should be able to get it for you.

I use the UV wader repair stuff made by Loon - It's actually always in one of my wader pockets. Provided its sunny outside or you have access to a UV lamp, it cures within minutes regardless of whether the material is dry or wet. Certainly beats the 3-8hr cure time of Aquaseal. I applied it to a few holes last season and the patch of hardened goo is still going strong.

Nice pike! Was the rock bass part of your fish fry? LOL Does this mean you can cook up a fish fry on our road trips? Unleash the iron chef within! Top Angling Vic + dad. Bring your dad carp fishing again this season.

Nicely done! WTG

For me, May is a confusing time of year. I love fishing for steelhead as much as I do for carp. The last 3 weeks were spent pursuing steel in various Lake Ontario tributaries with some serious mileage put on the “Rustang.” I figure I deserve some form of vacation after 7 months of not fishing. A few pics I thought were cool taken during my travels Spawning suckers These small things kept me in a state of cat-like readiness. Gorgeous brown And the sheer beauty of the Niagara whirlpool Kudos to CharlieD for hooking up with me out on the Niagara whirlpool – It was my first time down there for steel. Even with the slow fishing, with his guidance I was able to get into some fish. Also have to thank Solopaddler for his tips which proved very helpful. May 13 I decided yesterday to put the steelhead gear on standby. Beyond a few new toys I acquired in the off season, I haven’t touched any of my carp gear since last September. I found a bucket full of moldy groundbait in the garage left from since then…I decided not to use it – The cottony white fungus put me off from touching it. I had a few hours to kill so I boiled up a pot of maize and headed down to one of my local swims on the Toronto waterfront to wet a line. Got there and met DSN. No clue how it would be. Thought it was going to be slow…In the end it was. Patiently waiting for a run Although the action was slow, I did get into my first carp of 2008. It was the only one to be landed yesterday. It was a handful on the bank and required 2 people to restrain it – It went ballistic when we tried to unhook it. It was in the neighbourhood of mid-20s’ – A female bulked up with eggs. Here’s the release May 14 Decided to go back again today. Had lots of maize left. Chummed the area with maize and a ball of groundbait stuff DSN brought with him. Fish seemed to be cruising close in and we were fishing within 3-10ft from shore. It was chilly out with the breeze blowing over Lake Ontario which made fishing slightly uncomfortable. In about 5hrs of fishing I landed 2 fish and DSN landed 1. My first fish of the day was this one. 2nd fish was a neat surprise. It had oversized fins for its body which leads me to believe it’s a carp/goldfish hybrid. Certainly different from what I’m used to catching All fish came on maize or canned corn. Nothing touched DSN’s boilies. Where we were, the water temps were still on the cold side – We actually saw 1 moldy rainbow cruising around on the first day. The fish didn’t fight particularly hard and most of them seemed more content sunning themselves than actually eating. DSN’s 10lber managed to put up a good tussle on his short and moderately light-action rod. Getting out fishing even in slow times is a lot better than work or doing stuff around the house. Can’t wait till the long weekend. Hopefully I’ll be on a road trip with a couple of friends probing various waters for carp. Hope you enjoyed

Great report CH. Can't think of anything better than some family fishing fun. Congrats

In the words of Pierre McGuire on TSN...She's a monster!...A fishing monster that is Great report and pics Cliff. Congrats to the little one on a job well done.

Great pics and fantastic report HD Thanks for sharing. All the fish look mint.

Great catch. With all the talk of carp, it looks like it might be time to make the switch from steel. Depends on what you need. In Scarborough, Angling Specialties has some carp gear in stock. Anglers International (Known mostly as the distributor of Raven products) also has various tackle made by ESP, Top Mix Baits, Kamasan, Drennan and AngSpec can pretty much get you anything from them. There's also a few bits and bobs of Nash tackle lying around. If you have nothing against mail/telephone order, I've ordered gear from the Long Sault Motel by phone. Jeff Vaughan has a wide selection of carp tackle. He lets you know the shipping and you have no additional brokerage or customs fees to pay. A great source of carp tackle IMO and for what I ordered, the prices would have been 45-65% higher if I ordered from one of the vendors in the States. FishOnline at Jane and Lawrence has a good selection of stuff if you're willing to travel across the city. Hope this helps

Those are some fat ladies! ... The fish of course Great job all around. Cliff, do you ever fish anymore? LOL

Great catch Steve What a fish to start 08 off with!

Various things you can do. As Verminator mentioned, a stealthy approach to the pool is imperative. Crashing through the bush and noisy wading can put fish off the bite and into the deepest logjams. You can try downsizing tackle and bait provided that there is enough room to play fish away from snags. Changing up to 4lb leaders, size 14 hooks and micro roe bags (3-5 trout eggs per bag) and flies work wonders in pressured sitations. Hook up with someone more experienced than you - Even after years of fishing, I still do this for unfamiliar waters and when learning new techniques. They might be able to teach you things like how to make a drag free drift, where, when and how to use certain techniques (like spinners, bottom bouncing, fly fishing, float fishing, etc). I've been fortunate over my life to meet some of Ontario's finest steelheaders who have spent decades perfecting various techniques all over this province. Most of what I know today was passed on to me from other anglers I met on the bank who were nice enough to take the time and show me what I could be doing better. Step back and watch what others are doing...Really speeds up the learning curve. There are fish still in the rivers no doubt. I've been fishing quite a bit the last few weeks and have been getting into fish each trip. Some river stretches have been devoid of fish for the last 3 weeks while others still see dropbacks cruising about. Each river is different. Good luck

Nicely done. Carp of any size pull like submarines. Loving the pics.

Simply fantabulous AWESOME report and pics. Beautiful brookies. I've never seen flesh that red before. I'm getting over stimulated!