iCarp

solopaddler- I am glad if I can get one more person to see the beauty and excitement of carp fishing. as a multi species angler I can say that carp on the fly are the most challenging quarry out there (but carp on the float are also incomparable!). I hope that you give them a try this season. Good to see you Victor, I hope that you're wetting a line these days. PM sent cuzza. Like laszlo says carp can be quite the work out! The conditions are a bit challenging this year Mike, with all of the weed growth, but the bite has been great. That rod is my trusty Sage RPLXi slat water 10wt with a sweet Speedrunner attached. I love it. RH fisher- I definitely agree with Landry (and wish I had his access to a boat...). I am not the only guy I know who blanked during his first year of fly fishing for carp, so take advantage of Landry's advice and then go have some fun. Carp are definitely the most challenging fresh water fish to stalk on the fly- and they are hard running, powerful, and often frustrating.

I toddled down the road to Lake Erie on Friday afternoon and was very pleased to see that the carp had moved into the flats. There was a lot of algae and the water was quite dirty from Thursday's rain- less than ideal conditions for stalking carp on the fly- but this was my first chance for 2012 so I was excited and ready to have a go. It took a few casts to fine tune my presentation. I usually fish Barry Buggers- a variation on the classic olive and black bugger tied with lead dumb bell eyes so that it rides hookpoint up. After watching my Bugger quickly bury itself in the algae, get ignored by the carp, and become caked with green gunk I tied on the lightest one I had. I spied a fat and fresh looking cow nearby and cast to her. Sometimes a carp will be spooked by the sight of a lightly weighted fly slowing settling in front of her. Not this time. The carp slurped it up on the drop. Although a big un, this girl was sluggish. She didn't really run but she didn't want to come in either. As I slowly coaxed her in I noticed one or two carp in the 30s cruising around within feet of me. I couldn't help but wish I had her in and off and could cast to a potentially more lively target. To give some sense of scale my reel is over 5 inches across. My first carp of the season wasn't in a hurry to come in and she wasn't in a hurry to leave after being unhooked. After a couple of minutes I gave her a gentle nudge and she slowly swam off. I picked out my next target, cast to her, and watched the first carp comer up along side of my intended and then take the fly again. There were literally scores of carp around me and I had just caught the same one twice: The next two or three carp ignored my Bugger. Then I cast to this one- the fly was taken on the drop again and the carp took off for Pennsylvania like a rocket. I tend to bulldog my carp- I use a 10wt set-up and 12lb or 15lb fluorocarbon so I can put the brakes on carp in the teens- but this one had me into the backing in seconds. I don't think I've ever had one that ran as fast and as strong and as long as this one. I have several hundred yards of backing on my reel, filled to the rim, and this is what it looked like after a minute or so: Overall, I caught 8 carp on Friday afternoon, mostly in the 20s and up. The battery on my camera died after the third so I couldn't get a photo of the gar I landed. It was over three feet long and fat, the biggest one I've ever had. It wasn't too scrappy, but danced around on top for a bit when I pulled back on the rod- very spectacular.

Hi Shawn, Great video. I have been having some good days at the harbour too. Are you interested in fishing in the Canadian Winter Carp League? Here's the link: CWCL The Winter Carp League is off to a good start and I hope you get involved. Tight Lines Stephen

No Kamasans yet, but likely next week. Truly an amazing little hook. A lot of the fish arrive in the net double hooked, with the Kammy piercing their lip twice. Neat trick!

The float leapt out of the water and fell over on its side. Isn't that interesting, I thought. I wonder why it did that? Then it plunged beneath the surface and line started streaming off of my reel. A large and excited carp was heading for Stelco at high speed. I watched the line disappearing from my little Daiwa Tierra and tightened the drag. The line kept singing through the guides of my rod. I tightened the drag again. The carp kept going. The drag got tightened but the fish showed no inclination to slow down. Then, ping, and it was over. My line had broken- the third lost fish of the evening... Earlier this week I realised that summer was half over and I have barely had the chance to wet a line for carp. Indeed, so far this year I had my float rod out exactly once for the queen of freshwater sport fish. Too sad indeed! Tuesday evening I spent an hour here on the shores of the picturesque Hamilton Harbour and landed 6 out of 9 fish, with the largest pushing 15lb. Conditions were rough with strong winds from the northwest and whitecaps at times. But it was refreshing and fun and I had to do it again yesterday. The water was much calmer on Thursday evening, although getting choppy by 7.30 when I packed it in after another quick session. The first carp came about ten minutes into the session, the second soon after- taking my bait on the drop and me by surprise. That second carp immediately ran for Burlington, pulling line with ease. When it kissed the net I could see that it was a relatively tiny torpedo- small but a real scrapper. In contrast, carp #3 took the bait softly. Indeed, the float just barely ticker twice, the sort of bite that is often dismissed as catfish or gobies bothering the bait, but I quickly and firmly set the hook on a carp. It then just sort of hung around for a few minutes, refusing to come to shore but not really going anywhere else. In contrast to its small and scrappy predecessor, it was just over 17lb of lazy but beautiful fish. Here are the trio: Action was steady for the whole time, although slowing down a bit for the last half an hour. Jannick showed up shortly after I arrived and more than once we both had fish on at the same time- at least four or five double headers. He finished off with an even dozen carp, mostly in the teens and one that looked to be in the low 20s. For the most part, bites came quickly and my line was seldom in the water for more than five minutes without a carp. I landed 10 or 11 and had 4 or 5 lost to hookpulls and such (the drag on my reel seemed to be sticking a bit- I'm off to Bill's Bait and Tackle to have that taken care of this morning, but they don't open until 5). All in all, an excellent short session on a beautiful evening with great company. As usual, I was float fishing with a rig set up for lift bites- all of the weight at the end of the line and a slim, very sensitive float. I use a short hooklength- maybe 3". The carp takes the bait, lifts the weight (usually 3-5g), and the float shoots up out of the water neatly hooking the fish in the upper lip. My main bait for big carp is Monster Maize. Cranberry is my rave fave and I've landed literally hundreds of carp on it over the past few years. Last night I fished it on a Kamasan B7275 hook with the barb pinched down. This is a deadly gripper of a hook that often double hooks itself in the fish's lip. No, I don't know how it does it, but it's pretty impressive. Especially when the drag on your reel is working properly... Here are a few more cuties from yesterday evening:

Love your new mascots, Beans. And it's great to hear that you're getting out. I think that this is the first weekend that I've got out for some decent fishing this year myself.

Too true, fish_finder, carp have to be the most challenging and satisfying fresh water fish to try for on the fly. Rod Caster- That's why I always wear a wading belt. I fish the Grand a bit and it's one thing to get your shirt wet, but I wouldn't want to fill my waders. Especially not in that current. Hi, Victor- I was wondering who would be the first to comment about the cap. Bit of a fluke as I couldn't find my usual headgear that morning. Don't tell anyone, okay?

The season was off to a slow start for pretty much every species, including carp. That cold weather and rain just wouldn't go away. Whilst late April usually heralds the start of some excellent stalking for carp on the fly, it wasn't until mid May that I saw any carp at all moving into shallow water, either at Erie or Hamilton. Even then, whenever there was a bit of nice weather for flyfishing- calm and sunny- I had to work. Of course. And I sliced the tip of my thumb off which left me unable to do much for a fortnight or so. Finally, I had June 1 off, my thumb was reasonably healthy, the forecast was favourable, and I vowed that I would hit the water for a day's fishing. When I headed out that morning it was certainly bright and sunny. Sadly, though, there were gale force winds whipping across the harbour from the west- whitecaps rolling across the bay and crashing along Eastport Drive. There was no point in heading out to Erie in this wind and the Harbour was equally unfishable. Gosh darn it all to heck! Then I remembered a small tributary that usually has clear water, is sheltered from the wind by high banks and trees, and has never produced for me in the past. But it was the only option so off I went. When I got there the water was boiling with carp. Spawning time had arrived. Scores of carp were thrashing on the shallow and weedy ledge right off the bank, but spawners are only interested in one thing and that one thing is not inhaling my wooly bugger. But there were also carp cruising about and some idly munching around the bottom. I waded in to try my luck. And almost got knocked off my feet. Up to my knees in water I was surrounded by spawners that bashed against my legs, hitting me from all sides. It was a very unique sensation, being assaulted by large and frisky carp. I moved to the edge of the shelf verging on deeper water and escaped the orgy. With so many fish about, targeting any single carp was a challenge. I would pick out a nice and plump beauty mooching along the bottom. I would cast, strip and drop my fly in front of her. Six other carp would swim past and pull my line, block my sight, or otherwise annoy me. Most casts, therefore, were ruined one way or another, but I did manage to get into a couple of fish. The first carp took the fly on the second cast, having ignored it the first time but not spooking. It didn't run, but it definitely wouldn't come in. It just stubbornly and slowly pulled line. After about five minutes I got it within reach and tried to put a lip lock on it. Wow, did my thumb hurt! No callus there anymore, just raw new skin. The carp headed back out. I eventually hauled it back in, tried the lip lock again, watched it shake me off and head back out. Well, third time's the charm. I got the beauty in again- maybe 18-20lb- bent down carefully at the knees and grabbed her lip. My left foot, perched on the edge of the shelf, slipped and then slid down into deeper water. Naturally, I flipped onto my back, hit the water, and dropped the carp on my chest. Boy, was I wet all of a sudden. Fat lot of good these waders were doing when I was horizontal- they definitely work better on the vertical. I don't know which one of us was more surprised. I do know that the carp obviously thought that it would be too embarrassing if her friends saw her with a dolt like me and decided to bugger off. Which she did. A not uncommon feeling amongst the ladies in my life... Oh well, I'm not one to let my own ineptitude hold me back and so I persisted for another half hour or so at which point the carp all headed out to deeper water. During that time I cast to a dozen or more, but had the interference problems or met with indifference from my chosen target. I did manage to catch this little beauty. She was about 31" long and very broad across the beam.

That's a beautiful, fat, and clean fish. Congrats on your new PB. And thanks for the details about how you caught it. I'm surprised that a simple bolt rig produced where the method feeder failed. And I might just pick up some Gulp floating corn at Bill's this morning- brilliant idea.

Great photos, Laszlo. You're fortunate to have it all nearby- deer, river, carp. What a great way to start the day before heading off to work.

Congrats laszlo. I am looking forward to seeing your photos. I have a little 3wt that I use for small carp and i'd rather get into a 2-5lb carp than a largie of the same weight. Pound for pound the carp gives a better fight.

Hi Dan, There's a lot of talk about highly realistic crayfish patterns for carp, but I find that a simple olive woolly bugger with black hackle and black marabou tail works very well. And it's easier to see in the water. I tie mine with lead dumb bell eyes so the hook rides point up. And I tie them big since I am after carp in the 20, 30, and up range. I call the pattern the Barry Bugger since Tom Barry shared it with me. I hope to see you down here in Hamtown with a fly rod soon.

Hey Victor, good to see you. Yes, she was very broad and full bellied- a real pot bellied pig. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do her pre-spawn weight justice. hawk-eye: Carp on the fly are challenging, hard fighting, and a lot of fun. I enjoy sight fishing the best. Stalking them in skinny waters hones your casting skills and is very exciting. A carp can have you into your backing before you know it. The next month or so is prime time for carp on the fly and I hope you take advantage of it. Tight Lines Stephen

As we all know this year has been colder and the season has started much later than last year. Match, float, big carp hunting, fly fishing- all have been running late. In late April last year I was being Tom Barry's camera boy as we waded amongst tanks and cows on the Lake Erie flats. This year, it's almost mid-May and the carp are just starting to come in. I dropped by a few spots on Lake Erie on Sunday afternoon. It was a nice day for a drive and I treated myself to an ice cream cone. That's really all I have to say about that afternoon- not a carp in sight. This afternoon I retraced my steps (redrove my roads?) All along the lake the water was clear, although there was a brisk wind ruffling the surface coming from the east. And there were no carp out there. I dropped by the good old back corner. The water was milky green. This was the only spot with poor clarity and it was also the only spot that held carp. Naturally. I could see the odd one rolling or jumping- yes, jumping in the shallows. Of course, I had to go in. Afternoon sun from the west and wind from the east make for one of the least desirable combinations. And I could only see between 4 to 9 inches down thanks to the milky green quality of the water. Sight fishing was impossible. There were often carp parked only a few feet away from me but I only found out when I moved and saw the silt explosions as they shifted off. Well, I had come this far so I tried casting blind for a while. I'd let the fly hit bottom and then retrieve with slow strips, hoping to keep it on the bottom, avoid foul hooking a cow, and entice a strike. Whenever I got into a fish I just held onto the line. If it was a foul, the hook pulled. If it was fair the carp usually came to a quick stop and found itself bulldogged up to the surface- it's more fun than it sounds to stop a carp in the teens in its tracks and it let me confirm that the fish was fairly hooked. But it's also exhausting, so I'd then let them run and actually play them. I lost two out of the three that were fairly hooked (I think I have an explanation for that...) and here is the third, about 28"long and very fat and sassy: (edit: added photo)

There are definitely carp around there. You should have a good time.

New World Carp Spring Open House moved to Saturday, April 16th The carp will be biting soon, and just like you New World Carp is gearing up for another exciting season chasing one of the greatest freshwater sport fish. NWC has been busy over the winter and we've already added over 40 new products in the past couple of months. Baits and boilies from Mistral just arrived from the UK and in the next week more new baits, including prepared tiger nuts, mussel groundbait, and innovative flavours of CUKK's terrific carp catching corn will be here. Pods, chairs, and tackle from ProLogic have just been shipped. Middy and Gardner shipments arrived this week. And we'll have tackle and treats from Daiwa, Korum, Preston Innovations, and Octoplus arriving soon. To celebrate the start of the season and to show you our new tackle and baits (with more to come throughout the season, of course), New World Carp is having an Open House on Saturday April 9th. We hope that you can drop by the Carp Cave and check out all of the new gear. Here are the details: New World Carp Open House Saturday April 16th 9am- 5.30pm 185 King St E Hamilton 905 379 4872 Of course, we'll have some in-Cave Specials, including our best-selling Jaxon Amado reels for $29.99 (reg. $39.99) and our Tub 'n Spray special- buy a tub of Monster Maize and bottle of Monster Mist for only $9.99 (reg. $11.99). And everyone who drops by for the Open House gets to enter our draw to win one of these prizes: Daiwa Bivvy Tackle Table CUKK Baits Snack Pack The prizes are worth around a hundred bucks each. So come to the Open House on April 9th, enter the draw, see our new stock, and maybe pick up a bargain or two. The Open House will also be the start of our regular shop hours for 2011. From April 9th, the Carp Cave will be open: Thurs 11am- 6pm Fri 11am- 6pm Sat 11am- 6pm Of course, you can always call or send an email to set up a time that's convenient for you any day of the week between 6am and 7pm. Most customers prefer to come by appointment- that way you choose the time that's best for you, there's no pressure, and you avoid the crowds. Even if you simply want to stop by to take a look and ask a few carpy questions you are always more than welcome at the Carp Cave. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope to see you at the Open House. Tight Lines Stephen

I apologize, Beans. CAG has recently decided to restrict access on their site and I forgot about that. I'll snatch my posts from the CAG site and repost them on the Carp Fishing Canada site tomorrow.

Fang has a good point... I sell the Wychwood and other rods from Anglers International, along with everything from the Daiwa Infinity to Jaxon to Chub... But personally, I fish a float rod, as do a few others here in scenic Hamilton-on-the-Lake, and I honestly believe that the results prove us right. The float is much more sensitive, the rig is much easier to set up, and so we get better results with less effort and have a heck of a lot of fun (John banging off over 30 in a day earlier this year). If you're bored but want to see some nice 20s and 30s caught on the float during a few days of fishing, please click here: Bounty Fishing 2009 These are the highlight fish out of many that I caught on the float during those few days. If you're really bored, here's a link to a few hours of carp on the float from last year: A bit of float fishing These are not that exceptional. I often get 10-20 carp on the float before toddling off to work in the morning (Scott, you know what I mean).

Thanks for sharing Rich. Carp, floats, and creeks are three of my favourite things and it looks like you have a great spot there to enjoy them all. Are you fishing with your bait pinned to the bottom? It looks like you could have great results, and fun, drifting your sweetcorn steelhead style in that creek. Carp will hit hard when they see that yummy yellow lunch going by. Lots of fun with a centre pin.

Wow! I'm sure it was more stressful for you than for the koi, Dozer. And it sounds like you have a great job, getting paid to work with carp. I'm jealous.

What Dozer said. Carp take in oxygen through their gills and the barrier between their blood and the water is only one cell thick. When stressed or excited they suffer the equivalent of a nose bleed in the gills. It's not that uncommon to see this in a fish as you land it and it quickly stops in my experience.

Hi Arfraz, It might be helpful to recap the PM I sent you in case anyone else is interested: You mention that all of the carp you have seen tend to be goldenish. Common carp can also vary in colour from a very pale silver to almost black. There are a number of species of carp, and selective breeding of a couple of them led to goldfish in China and koi in Japan (koi is simply the Japanese word for carp). People sometimes release their unwanted goldfish and koi in public ponds and streams (which is illegal). These fish interbreed with the resident carp and the result is the fish that you see in those photos. Most of those fish, both the orange and gold or silvery ones, are actually common carp/goldfish hybrids. Goldfish that have been released into the wild and hybrids can grow quite big. Once you start looking for them, they're fairly common. They tend to travel in shoals an can often be found in local waters that hold common carp. The population of predator birds like osprey, though, is on the increase. Goldfish and hybrids, naturally, are a highly visible, easy target. Personally, I've noticed a drop in their numbers locally as a result. Their vulnerable visibility likely explains why they spook easily and can be a challenge to try to catch. They are very scrappy though, and if you can find them your children would definitely have fun with one on the end of the line (and so would you). For a small fish, they put up a big fight. Carp are a superb sport fish in any form or colour and I hope that you have fun catching a few this year. And hi, Victor. I hope that the carp are treating you well these days. Maybe we should all get together and have a good old-fashioned whipping session sometime.

Thanks Kinger, they're certainly a great way to get a quick photo at the end and keep track of what's been caught. And thanks TC1OZ for making it clear that I use a keepnet- fish wellbeing is always foremost. My apologies, Beans, but I'd honestly thought that you knew that I must have been using a keepnet.

That reminds me- it's time to start promoting my 'Top Ten Questions about Carp Fishing' tee shirt for 2010, with the answers all conveniently printed on the back. 1. No, I don't keep them 2. No, you can't have this fish 3. Yes, I just let them go etc, etc, etc...

I was thinking last weekend. Strange, I know, but true... Anyway, it occurred to me that by this time last year I'd already gotten into some very nice carp up to the high 30s. Of course, one reason why that hadn't happened yet this year, despite the early warm weather, would be that I'm not an especially talented angler. And the fact that I've been practicing my match fishing skills also has to be taken into account. Yes, I've been spending my time not catching small carp, rather than not catching big ones. For the most part I've been trying out my new Middy 3G pole, and I'm very pleased with it. Most days I've gotten my 20lb the hard way- a pound or less at a time. But I've also had some big fish on the pole (big in match terms) and it's been more than up to the task. Here are a couple of photos from sessions chasing small carp from small streams and ponds: And here is Randy giving me a lesson in the proper way to play a fish on the pole: Well, after doing that thinking over the weekend I decided to go out and try to catch some bigger carp. I had an hour to kill before work on Monday morning so I took the opportunity to do a bit of float fishing with Cranberry Monster Maize as my hookbait. I was hoping to get at least one fish to post for the TOKS Big Four competition (I should have brought my tournament ticket for photos but I'm a bit absent minded. Oh well, there's always next time...). I managed to land two carp in the 20s and miss a few more. The catches were thanks to luck and the misses due to laziness- it's amazing how many more carp you can set the hook on if you're actually holding your rod whilst float fishing and I really should get into the habit. It's hard to get a sense of the size of a carp from a photo, I find, but the unhooking mat shown is 36" wide. The first fish was short but extremely broad across the back, and both were very clean, fat, and healthy. Quite honestly, water temps are still a bit low and these fish were sluggish. Landing them was a lot like hooking into a a sodden bag of laundry and dragging it ashore. In contrast, the smaller carp I've been fishing for are coming out of small, warm bodies of water. They're actively feeding and very scrappy. It's actually been more fun catching them. The ones into the teens have been a particular challenge and thrill to play on the light tackle I've been using. It was touch and go playing one special fish on a 3lb hooklength. As much as I enjoy fishing for big carp, I think I'll wait for another week or two before I try again. Until then, if I get a chance to wet a line I'll be flicking a whip or shipping a pole in search of tiny, scrappy, golden jewels.