Carp on the float- the Sequel

[iCarp]

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:

 

 

 

[Gregoire]

Nice report. Thanks for painting s vivid picture of the evening.

[Mike Pike]

Some real Hammy Harbour beauties! And a great report of you evening iCarp.

 

Some hard-core carping there with traffic whizzing by behind you and that perilously steep rocky slope infront of you. Good shooting!

[shane]

Man, you have some nice looking, big carp there. WTG.

[MJL]

Sweet fish Stephen and great report

 

Congrats!

 

On another note, do you have any of the Kamasan B775 in #4 and 6 in stock yet?

[iCarp]

On another note, do you have any of the Kamasan B775 in #4 and 6 in stock yet?

 

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!