hammercarp

Puffs First I would like to start out by saying " PUFFS RULE! " If you feel you want to you can add a little something extra to increase the attraction of this hookbait. You really don't need to flavour your puffs because they will pick up the flavour of the packbait used to encapsulate them. I like to add attractants to my puffs. I feel they help. Attractants are different from flavours. My understanding is that flavours are mixtures of chemical compounds that we identify by their odor and their taste. We are all familiar with strawberry, vanilla, cherry and others that are used in candies, cakes, drinks and the like. You can flavour your packbait with these. Attractants are mixtures of chemical compounds and substances that carp recognize or associate with food. Attractants can fool the carp into reacting as if there is food present. The attractants that I know of are; capsaisin, chitin, amino acids, sugar and salt. Capsaisin is one of a family of chemical compounds that are produced by "pepper plants". The fruit of this plant is what we call a pepper but it is more correctly called a chili. These fruits can include sweet green peppers all the way up to the deadly hot ghost nhaga. Capsaisin is one of the chemical compounds that make chilis hot. It is the most potent of this family of compounds. Carp are attracted by this compound and can detect it in very small concentrations in the water. They can follow this chemical trail to it's source. As a side note the firey heat produced by these compounds is only felt by mammals. They do not burn fish, reptiles, amphibians or birds. You can buy chili's or a bottle of one of the many hot sauces out there. Chitin, the substance that the outer skin or exoskeleton of insects and arthroppods is made of. Crayfish combine it with calcium carbonate to make thier hard exoskeleton . It is also used by fungi to create their cell walls. Carp can detect this stuff and are attracted and stimulated by it. A good source for this stuff is yeast which is a fungus. Sugar is sweet and carp do seem to like the sweet stuff. The sugar I like to use is glucose. Not only is it sweet but it is the building block of chitin, the substance mentioned above. Amino acids are the chemical compounds that proteins are made of. Proteins are part of all living organisms. Carp can detect these compounds as well. Some amino acids are more effective than others at attracting and stimulating carp. You best bet is to buy some from a carp tackle shop. It will come as a liquid and will have the right amino acids in it. Salt is attractive to carp because it is part of the body chemistry of most animals and carp will actually crave salt at certain times of the year in order to maintain their bodily functions. You can apply any of these or a combination of these substances to your puffs by disolving them in water and spraying them onto the puffs. I don't think chitin will disolve but you can grind it up very fine using a cheap electric coffee grinder. Here is how I do it.I use a large shallow baking tray. In order to stop the puffs from rolling around I use a piece of crinkled up foil to line the bottom of the tray. Just tear off a piece slightly larger than the tray. Roll it into a ball then carefully pull it back out into a sheet again. Put as many puffs into the tray as you like but be carefull not to overcrowd them. You will need some space between them to allow the spray to cover the sides of the puff . Apply a light mist of your attractants. Allow the puffs to dry. Over night is plenty of time. Turn them all over and mist the other side. Allow them to dry and put them in a zip lock bag or a tight sealing palstic container. You are now ready to fish puffs. It is my understanding that the real Paylake fishermen who developed this technique , whenever this is possible or practicle fix their puffs and flavour their packbait on the bank just before fishing. They use their knowledge to determine what bait, flavours and attractants to use based on conditions at the time. Such things as the time of year ( season ), water temperature, water clarity, wind and current direction amonst other things are factored in. Their knowledge is based on years of fishing, some have up to five generations experience behind them fishing for carp.This style of fishing is used to fish competitively for carp. These paylakes basically have a tournament every weekend from March til November. Anglers line the banks of these ponds and compete for cash prizes. Some of the lakes have payouts of $250 every 15 minutes for biggest fish. There are weight prizes as well. When I learned of this I felt that the highly competitive nature of this type of fishing would produce very effective ways to catch carp. But the anglers involved in this pass time would be very tight lipped about what they do. It turns out they are very open about the basics of their craft. I am able to pass this on to you, do to the generousity of a mister Tom Brooks from Kings Mountain N. Carolina.

Cool.

Happy Birthday! Thanks for all the great pictures.

Happy Birthday. I hope it is a good one.

And everyone says carp taste like crap. An otter aught to know and that looks like a pretty happy otter to me.

Hey Marko . Here's some more inspiration for you. We just got word on our carp forum of a fly chucker that caught this.It bottomed his scale out at 23 kg. That is over 50 lbs! His name is Luis and he is an avid carp angler in Mexico. He caught this super fatty with an 8lb leader and a San Juan worm. It not only is a mirror but a linear mirror. For you non carp guys this is a very very rare bird for North America.

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Beer Man sitting at home on the verandah with his wife and he says, "I love you." She asks, "Is that you or the beer talking?" He replies, "It's me............. talking to the beer."

WTG!

This one should get you all cranked up. <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IflkFD25nD4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

They are still here but few and far between. The last one I saw was a few years ago. I don't think the coyote was the reason for their disappearance but are the reason they will never make a come back. Same with pheasant. At one time they were so numerous around here that as a kid I got one by hitting it with a rock. They are gone too.

Copied from a news source. The 9.0 magnitude quake (the fourth-largest recorded since 1900) was caused when the Pacific tectonic plate dove under the North American plate, which shifted Eastern Japan towards North America by about 13 feet (see NASA's before and after photos at right). The quake also shifted the earth's axis by 6.5 inches, shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds, and sank Japan downward by about two feet. As Japan's eastern coastline sunk, the tsunami's waves rolled in.

That sucks about the pond. Looks like the kids enjoyed the day outdoors though. If you think you have the itch. I go crazy this time of year. The carp angling club that I am a member of has guys from the southern states posting pictures of the 20's and 30's they are catching in places like Tennessee and the Carolinas.

Bosh it is a double hooklink. Check out picture #4.

Finish with a figure 8 loop.

Wrap the line 6 or 8 times around the hook shank Then put the line back through the top of the eye

MM Good idea. I never thought of it myself. I use the curve imparted to the line from the plastic spool it comes on.

Yes Michael you nailed it squarely on the head. As a chairman of a carp club here I am dedicated to the growth of carp angling. I reached the same conclusion as stated by you some while ago. That the european style 12 ft. rod with all it's attendant bells and whistles was probably a bigger hindrance to that goal than anything else. To quote someone whom we both know and whom I have gotten a lot of chuckles from. " It's easy to catch carp. It's a lot harder to catch them properly."

Good question Daniel The cold water will result in a longer break time with packbaits but I don't think it will affect bread pack all that much.

Good question Beans. What happens is that when the pack breaks down, the hook buoyed up by the puff, pops up out of the pile of bait. The rig will be sitting there in a C shape partially buried in the pack bait pile. When the carp sucks it up the curved hooklink/snell will temporarily straighten out, then spring back. This will cause the hook to position itself around the carps lips. It will also make it more difficult for the carp to eject the baited hook. Better than 9 times out of 10 the carp will be hooked with the hook rapped right around the bottom lip. It does not matter how the carp approaches the baited hook it will result in the same hook up. Once you set the hook there is no escape. I lose very few fish on this rig. I hope this explains it. One of the reasons I held off posting on this technique for catching carp was that I did not have a small aquarium or container with a flat clear side to take a video or pictures of what happens as the packbait breaks. I will do so when I have the right equipment.

Beautiful fish Mike WTG!

Thank you. I would be more than happy to share some bank space with you and you would be most welcome to join our CAG anglers at one of our fish ins or events.

If any one has any questions about this technique you cab ask here or visit me at the Niagara Outdoor show this weekend. I will be happy to help.

There is another thing I need to add. The curve in the hooklink/snell is there on purpose. It serves a function and contributes to the rigs effectiveness. This technique for catching carp is a system and is most effective when used in it's entirety.

Cast it in to your chosen spot, point the rod tip at the bait, reel in the slack line and get ready to rumble. This is the set up I use off of piers here in the Hamilton area. When I am sitting in the chair the reel is not in freespool , the carp cannot pull my rod in with this set up. If I leave the chair I click on the freespool button and engage the clicker. You do not need anything as complex as this but I like to be comfortable and have the rod at close hand. With a little bit of skill and knowledge as an angler you will not just catch some carp with this method you will , as that say down south "haul". Have some A5 35 ready at home for your sore arms and back. Oat pack has three ingredients , large flake steamed rolled oats, creamed corn and salt. I buy my oats at the Bulk Barn , I put 5 scoops in a bag , this is about 2 1/2 lbs. You can also use Quaker Oats. To this you add one can of creamed corn and one heaping tablespoon of Kosher or pickling salt. Mix the three ingredients together and your oat pack will be ready to fish in less than 30 minutes. Keep this bait in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid. Unlike the bread pack this can not be prepared the night before but should be made on the bank. Once again, not quick or instant oats. If you use these you will end up with a solid ball that will not break down or will fly apart when casting. Good luck and tightlines for the upcomong season.