hammercarp

Aurora Trout over poached Sandhill Crane eggs. Hmmm

With MJL's permission I will add my own experience to his excellent post. Thanks Mike Hey guys I believe I was the first one on our side to sign for the CanAm carp Cup. I am very happy I did. The adventure was a first for me in many ways. My first trip to fish in the states and with an American as a partner, my first chance to fish carp in that magnificent river and my first 48 hr. tournament. I also aquired equipment over the summer in preparation for this event. A tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, a sun shelter( like I needed that with all the rain), other bits of kit including a wack of 4 oz. gripper leads,( thanks John ) new bite-alarms with remote and are you ready for this guys, a Fox Stalker pod with buzzerbars and two swing arms.. Yes I finally broke down and bought a pod. I had been speaking with Roger Holten about the tourney and we decided to partner up for the trip. We would be using Rogers van for the trip. I brought my stuff over to Roger's the night before we left and I think I over did it. I seemed to have a lot more junk than he did anyway. We left Hamilton about 9am Thurs. and right off the bat we had bad luck. I was driving and we got a flat on the highway while driving through Burlington. Roger put the spare on while I stood guard down the road a piece. We drove into Burlington and to a used tire joint and $50 later we were on our way. The rest of the road trip was routine and uneventful. We arrived and checked in to the Hotel, then went to scout out the various venues. While checking out Whittaker Park we saw that other site Bob and company out in a boat baiting the area up. We then joined Bob for a walk around the park while he pegged it. We all got together at the local watering hole for some eats and drinks and Neils from Concept showed up with what seemed like a wheelbarrow full of boilies and dips and other goodies. I won a big bag of boilies and some super slimey stuff in Cherry Insect flavour. Cool eh. Rick ( Carpdaddy ) proved to be the life of the party with his constant chanting U S A ! U S A !. The next day we met at Ed's bait and drew for pegs and partners I got peg #3 and a fine man Dave Lebeau for a partner. Off we went to meet the Larry. Roger dropped me off and went off to his peg. In short order I was set up and ready to go. Ya right. You didn't fall for that one did you? I kinda bumbled around with my new tent and pile of gear and then took a break and went over to visit Norm, who had the peg next to me on the west. BFA was on my east side. Norm was all set up and enjoying a nice cup of tea. Yes Len I said "nice cup of tea" and my tent was still flat on the ground. Better get back to business. I made it in time. I was set up and had one rod in the water on time. This is a picture of my new ( used ) pod. The first fish I saw caught was by my partner, which I dutifully netted. Here is Dave with his first of two fish. Then Norm got one. Here is Norm doing his thing. He makes it look easy. Which in that water it isn't. Finally a picture of some of the action to my west. I feel this was a great learning experience for me. ( I think you're suppose to say that when you blank) . But I did learn a lot. I learned what a great bunch of people the americans are. They were very organised and very thoughtful. You could have your meals brought to you right at the peg. Ed made sure all your tackle needs were met . This was a first class act all the way. that other site Bob and the crew deserve a big thank-you. They even brought me my net which I forgot in Roger's van without me even asking for it. We have big shoes to fill when it comes our turn to host this event. I learned to enjoy camping again. Which I hadn't done in years. I laid down in my tent for a rest and as I lay there I was smiling and I realised how happy I was , no cell phone , no traffic, no frantic demands "can I get my sign tomorrow?" There was just me, the carp, and the river. I had one run during the 48 hrs. The alarm screamed and I picked up the rod and engaged the reel and the fish did not even slow down. I swear. It peeled off line for about five seconds max. Then my hook link broke and that was it. Oh yes I learned to respect the river. It will blow 4 and 6 oz leads around like dead leaves in the autumn wind. The current will shift on you just when you think you have it beat and your bait is staying put and off it will go with your alarm beeping as the weight bounces along the bottom. The weeds there are very stong and thick they will stop your rig dead as you reel it in. I know some people call it the Larry but I will call it Mister Lawrence from now on. And I will be ready for our next encounter Mister Lawrence.

Nice mixed bag of fish. Looks like you had a great day. Great report. By the way that's a mink.

I asked myself the same question. I figure it's live since they are not artificial.

You don't need to google anything. 401 east then north on 45 takes you right to it.

Do you mean the section between Lakeshore and Rebecca? I checked that out this spring and it is no longer a fish sanctuary but the good old town of Oakville has posted it, No Fishing. You'll get charged with trespass if you fish. There are signs posted.

Don't forget about carp fishing. It is not big now but it is growing rapidly.

Nice fish, looks like you had a good day.

A great song and you did it very well. Thank you. I did enjoy it.

What they can be trained to do here is catch fish that you have released. I have watched this happen. A guy was catching pan fish and I could see a commorant waiting for him to throw one back. It would time it's dives. The bird would dive as soon as he had the fish in hand. When he dropped it in the water the bird was waiting for the exhausted and disoriented fish . The commorant kept this up until full. I have seen this behavior more than once in different locations. Kinda defeats C&R.

A guy from North Carolina on another fishing forum blames it all on us north americans for overbuying and hoarding gas!

Thanks for the information. I did not know they are little armoured lawnmowers.

It is a very effective technique. I have out fished other guys fishing floats and ledgering a couple of times now. It does have limitations like any other type of angling. I would not fish paylaker style where there is a lot of gobies as they will rip the pick-up off in a few minutes. Long distance casting is a big problem and so is heavy current. I won't be fishing the Can Am Carp Cup on the St. Lawrence river paylaker style that's for sure. I thought it would be cool to introduce it here on this forum because it probably is not known and everyone thinks that it's either canned corn on the hook or the 12 ft. rods on a pod. Fly fishing for carp is also starting to gain some recogniton as well. Maybe next year I'll post about that. I am hoping more people will come to see that you don't have to wait 11 months of the year or sink many thousands of dollars into a BM&T in oder catch big hard fighting fish.

Hey MJL , It is interesting that before I got into the euro stuff I used to fish dough directly on the hook and I would also use a lighter dough over it that was meant to break down. Kinda like parallel evolution. These guys down south have refined it to an art. They can tell you to within a few seconds how long it will take for the pack to break down to expose the pick up. They also vary the composition of the pack depending on time of year and water temp. I suppose the competive nature of paylakes has driven them to refine the technique. Looking forward to the Can/Am too. We lost Jackel due to work, that is a shame because he has a lot of experience on the St. Lawrence. See you out there.

It's a good deal that they run periodically. I bought one a while ago and use it.

Asian carp is a term used to describe silver carp, big head carp and sometimes grass carp or white amur. The term does not generally refer to common carp. Hope this helps.

Hello This is my first post on this forum. I like to fish for carp and I like to explore different techniques for catching them. In the hopes of one day catching a real biggie. In my quest for a 40lb+ carp I have made some great discoveries. One being a carp fishing club which gave me access to a world of information on pursueing my favourite quarry. Part of that, was discovering that there is a long tradition of fishing carp in the southern states.( they don't just fish bass there) It has become known as paylaking and it's practioners paylakers. They are a skilled bunch of anglers. They have to be, because they fish for money. There are many private lakes, ponds really, in the southern states where you can pay to fish for a variety of fish including carp. They are run as kind of an on going tournament where there are cash prizes periodically paid out. Of course you have to pay in to win. Some offer prizes of $250 every 15 minutes for the biggest fish. A grand an hour aint bad money. The part of this that has intrigued me was that they had developed their own style of angling. It has dedicated equipment and there own terminology that is quite different from the eurostyle tackle that is starting to show up in tackle shops here. This year I decided to give it a try. I purchased a 6 ft. one piece Ugly Stick, an Ambassadeur 6000 baitcaster, some 12lb test Red Cajun line and some 1/0 Owner hooks. A 3/4 oz. egg sinker, a B sized split shot and a float stop round out the tackle. You also need some bank sticks or a stand/pod to hold the rod. The rod set up Next is the bait, which is the unique feature of this technique. You need a pick up and some pack. The pick-up facilitates putting the hook into the carps mouth as it noses through the pack. A wide variety of things can and have been used for pick-ups. Puffed cereals, wooden and plastic beads, pieces of foam or disposable ear plugs, bits of soft plastic worms and a whole lot of other stuff has been used on the hook. The pack ( it's called a pack because you pack it around your hook) is made of various stuff like oats, ground corn ( grits in the south) rice and other grains they are held together by binders such as molasses, corn syrup and others. The rig with pick up The rig with pack over the hook You set up your rig as shown in the photos. Cast in, pull the line tight to set it up right and then put a little slack in the line. Put it in free spool with the clicker on( this is very important if you want to have a rod left at the end of the day) The whole key to this technique is that the pack will begin to crumble apart once it settles on the bottom. When it breaks down enough the pick-up will emerge from the pile and sit just on top of it or just above it. Now when the carp comes along and begins to poke around your bait, it will suck up the pick-up and then the fun starts. I set up mine with a sliding egg sinker ( like a running rig) with a stop about two inches up the line. This will drive the hook point in after the carp discovers something is wrong and begins to shake its head to try and dislodge the hook. The carp will then bolt and the clicker on your reel will scream. Fish-on! In about a three hour session I managed 5 fish . Here is one of them Since I am just learning this style of fishing and make adjustments as i go I am very pleased with the results so far. If you want to check out this style of carp fishing PM me and I'll be happy to help you out.

Great post, I enjoyed it. And you are right about not taking carp for granted they can add some excitement to your day very quickly. I was out for a few hours this afternoon. I'll post it later.

There's Lasalle Park ( take Waterdown Rd. south off the 403). Good carp, largemouth and panfish. The pier below the Skyway ( take Eastport off the QEW) lakeside for salmon, bayside for sheephead, channels and panfish. Hope this helps.

I experienced the same attitude if not exact circumstances almost 40 years ago at South Hampton. Nothing has changed since then. Take up carp fishing. You will meet a much friendlier crowd.

A lot of fish that are egg scatterers eat thier own eggs. In the case of salmon any eggs floating down stream have not settled onto the bottom where they need to be to hatch. So it makes sense for the fish to eat them. Better them than another fish since the eggs aren't going to hatch anyway. They do still need energy to complete their life cycle I know that in the case of the salmon here they don't reproduce sucessfully but the same instincts still apply.

Good one.

You didn't get cheesy poofs?

If I could add; 1 cup of media hysteria 1 dollup of bad science 2 handfuls of ground hemp fibre ( from some tree huggers clothes) That should round out the flavour. 1

yeahhhhh sureeee ok Okay. How about this. "There are certain enviromental factors that contribute to health problems in some people." Air quality being one of them. Sound good to you?