BillsTheBassMan

That's good to know . . . apparently Carp can school in the thousands, which is nuts, but they at least like to be with 4-5 other Carp. It should mean that if your chumming has worked that you should get into some business. Update on my Carping: I was out after work at my new spot - I chummed with 3 cans of corn, went home for supper, and returned in a light rain about an hour later. I did the corn-hook & 4 splitshot rig (have been getting more action on the splitshots than the bell sinker). I fished fishless until 8:45, got a little bored, decided to rig something up and put down my rod in between two rocks. Bad Idea. I had just reached for my vest and then the drag started screaming and the rod bent like a U. There's no way this was anything but a carp. I grapple the rod out between the rocks, feel the fish for a second and go to lift the rod to set the hook and then . . . gone. He spits it. To make matters worse, on my next six consecutive casts I catch nothing but bullheads. Lesson learned - hold that rod! At least I got to see what a carp run is going to feel like for future hits. I also found a good resource around this website - TJ and a few other gentleman started a site - OntarioCarpFishing.com - I'll do some reading in the rain this weekend and work on some of those hair rigs! Ryan

Nope . . . but I don't eat Bass . . . seems kind of sacreligious.

Alex My Man . . . a couple beauty Musky there, I love it. Well done I love the dedication on the release and the sweet pics of it. It seems that you've done your Musky research. Cheers, Ryan

I bought and fished my first Cotton Cordell today. On the second cast with it I pulled a 2lb smallmouth out from underneath some lily pads. I think I'll keep my eyes peeled for some more. I did notice that the sinking Cotton Cordells retail for about $3.50. Is it the sinking versions you are referring to? Ryan

Great Report Tim. I can't even find the frog in the first frog pic. We saw an Egret @ the bass spot tonight but failed to get it on camera sadly - it was massive.

I'm going to grind it out until I do and now I have a wealth of advice to go on.

It's a motorless lake, electric motors only or Kayaks/Canoes/Paddle Boats. That's probably why the fishing is still above par.

@ DSN: That's a sweet rig and I am most certainly going to try and make a sweet one. My main question to that would be this: When you catch a carp in the feeding ground, particularly if it is an extraordinary battle, will it spook the other carp from feeding? I bring this from my trout experience, where if you land a lunker and he's swimming all over the place, it can throw the fishing off in that pool for 30mins +

Classic Video - Makes me love Bass (and the 5 of diamonds) that much more. Thanks for sharing TJ.

Nothing is as 'appropriate' on the island as you might think It's a beauty area and you should do fine. My times there have mostly been spent at Meldrum Bay (At the farthest tip of the island), so I can't help you with much inland stuff. Keep your head up for bears though.

Sounds like you've got a full menu of lakes Drock, now you just have to pick one and fish it. Good luck.

Amen

Make sure you get a couple Purple & Black Nasty Boy Spoons. You'll thank me later.

Thanks LBH, and yes, look at my handle, I'm a bass guy for sure (which is why I even brought the bass gear on a fishing mission for something else). Regardless, I still plan on trying to learn the carp trade, just to mix things up and keep them fun. Ryan

Hey A, Sadly, this is probably a lake where they PROMOTE Catch & Release, but it is probably not listed in the Regs as MANDATORY Catch & Release. If this is the case, you guys are outta luck. If this is not the case, then what you are dealing with is a conservation authority who is more concerned with the $$ than they are with the fishery (not keeping in mind that the fishery brings them $$). This is not as serious as the other thread that was entitled "Destruction of a Fishery" and to be honest will probably not get attention from the MNR or DFO. Right now, it sounds like your friend only has "I saw a guy keep a dead fish once" to go on (or that's what they'll hear). He can start by contacting the higher-ups at the Conservation Authority to see what their response is to a concerned angler who wants to keep the fishery in tact. He can also take pictures of more similar situations while he's on the water and call the MNR Tips line. If they get a lot of calls from one spot, they may patrol it more often. Regardless, tell your buddy good job on keeping his eyes open out there. That's the way that these things get exposed. Ryan

Guelph Lake is home to LMB bass as well . . . are you sure yours were smallies?

They generally don't smell good when there's a die off of carp either - perhaps you got a whiff? There was a major die-off, as previously stated, especially on the entire Severn Water System. We saw countless dead carp on Sparrow Lake that year, and people running resorts actually had designated dead carp areas. Ryan

@ DSN Thanks for the amazing info and the time invested in your post. I will have to study it, absorb it, and try it. I think I'm going to chum this spot everyday as the carp jump in the area consistently. I know Mike is a bit of a journeyman and bushwhacker by nature, so perhaps I'll target his "untargeted by anglers" carp after I've hooked into a few commonplace lunkers. @ Michael Right now I just want to start catching some of these carp, so I'm most definitely going to try your "bait balls." I'm always game for learning new things and investing the necessary time into them to become proficient. Where spring browns and summer bass are my passions, perhaps I'll add Carp to that list as well. Thanks for the great drag tip. I'll probably be using lighter line than most of you carp guys to start with, so it should prove especially helpful to me. @ MJL Thank you too sir for the amazing info - that should keep me thinking say for the next 4 years If I didn't have an angry girlfriend giving me the evil eye right now, I'd give it the response it deserves (and I will do that as soon as I have a chance). Chumming - I've been chumming about a 20 yard area for 3 days now. I throw loose corn by hand and then I slingshot some corn out a little farther. I start by casting out to the slingshot corn, let it sit, and if no action I move it into the tossed corn (which is much more plentiful). I can easily see your point about fishing in the wind. It makes perfect sense. @ everyone. I was out again tonight and I am still Carpless. I got two bullheads on corn tonight I'm not even sure if that's better than nothing. I did notice, however, that the carp have moved in closer to the area than they were yesterday and I also spotted some fins swimming around in the shallows. Will provide better replies later. Thanks for the help, Ryan

Thanks for the reply Ron. I have essentially been doing all of that save for holding the rod at all times (which I will do from now on). I made an impromptu Carp Rod holder that I use 50% of the time, and hold it the other 50%. Do Carp ever hook themselves, such as a bass or a pike when fishing live bait or a fast action lure? Either way, gentle upward tugs when you detect anything out of the ordinary seems better than standard hook sets. I'll give it a shot. Ryan

Lake Couchaching actually means The Lake of Many Winds in a native dialect.

So last night I decide to go out carping. Carp are jumping everywhere, despite the wind having the water a bit choppy. I chum the area with corn and tie a bell sinker to my braid and 3' of fluoro to my bell sinker. I put a big gob of carpbait corn onto my hook and sit back and relax. My bait is randomly disappearing. I'm not sure if I'm missing strikes or if the bottom is just beating my bait up upon retrieve (as I've never caught a carp, I'm not sure what type of strike to expect and I'm not sure what kind of hook set is required - some help here would be appreciated). Anyways, my can of corn was somewhat rotten,so I toss the remainder of the corn into the area (lacing the spot for later in the week) and decide to see if I can locate any other species. I tie on one of my best bass presentations and sure enough, right where I chummed, I have me this guy: On a slightly different presentation (but still one of my best) about 10 minutes later I come up with this fellow (slightly bigger): Both fish put up a phenomenal fight and it was good times! I almost never bring a net with me on these expeditions, but I brought one of my dad's old ones tonight as I was intending on catching carp, not LMB, regardless I needed it (and it facilitated these pictures). So, here is the quandry: I think I'm heading back to the same spot tonight for a few hours. 1) Do I fish for LMB or Carp - this isn't a hot bass water, but who knows, it could be. The carp are ever present. 2) Did the chum have anything to do with catching the bass? I suspect in one way or another, it probably did (which is something I've never heard of people doing before - but it makes logical sense). You chum the area with corn, you attract minnows, sunfish, baitfish of all kind, and curious bass along with them (how many times has a minnow or a goby taken your corn?). 3) Do I chum the area again tonight? and Do I chum areas in the future to see if I have similar results there? 4) Have any of you ever seen something similar? Cheers, Ryan

Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine Thank you for all the quality replies to the rest of us cavemen I generally pick the boulders up, but after doing my fair share of quarryesque labour, I generally decide to leave my avid and stradic in the lake and go pay the $400 for a new setup. I guess my knots are just TOO good.

Beauty fish . . . thanks for sharing!

There are three kinds of bass - Largemouth, Smallmouth, and Hogs . . . today my friend, you caught the hogs. Very well done, thanks a lot for sharing - an amazing report.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to keeping the odd salmon, but I think it is a dangerous myth that every salmon caught has no chance of surviving, so you might as well just keep it. This is just simply not the case. Regardless, it would be great to see Lake O remain "hot action lake" for years to come, as opposed to going the way of the dodo (ie Owen Sound). Cheers to the American stocking program regardless.