Carp fishing from a boat

[Roy]

I seldom hear of anyone carp fishing from a boat. I'm not talking about incidental catches here, I mean does anyone here actively target carp from a boat? What would any disadvantages be?

[danbouck]

I seldom hear of anyone carp fishing from a boat. I'm not talking about incidental catches here, I mean does anyone here actively target carp from a boat? What would any disadvantages be?

 

I have tried in Long Point Bay, I will be spending more time doing it this year.

[cuzza]

I would think the problem would be keeping the boat still - a lot of carp fishing is waiting for the fish with the bait stationary, normally with a tight line and a moving boat would make bait presentation difficult, even just the up and down motion would probably mess it up.

 

Fishing with a float or a fly would mitigate that but it's not always as effective.

 

I do know guys in the UK who use boats (either rowing or radio controlled) to take their baits out to a spot out of casting range they usually drop the bait and a load of freebies and wait for a run. There's a lot of debate as to whether that's really fishing and it's banned on a lot of lakes.

[Steve]

I've done it quite a bit Roy, more a few years back, but quite a bit.

 

All in Hamilton Harbour.

 

We have done quite well.

 

However, disadvantages?

 

Well, you generally don't use your funny alarms, pods, buzzers, beepers, and other silly items.

 

You put your bait in the water on your spinning rod, and go fishing.

 

Its identical to grand river catfish fishing....

 

We generally use niblet corn to chum around the boat...then we fish just off the side...rather than casting it out....

 

Fun thing to do in the hot summer in the harbour!

[MJL]

Roy, 2 of the main guides on the St Lawrence (Jeff Vaughan & Paul Hunt) do a fair amount of their guiding from pontoon boats. Some advantages are: mobility - You can follow the schools of carp as they roam up and down the river. Also there's the 2 rod rule from the boat compared to the 1 on shore. You can also chum your bait a lot easier by dumping it in the water as opposed to having to sling shot or spod tiny amounts in many times.

 

Disadvantage: Boat control not the easiest in high current areas (pretty limited to anchoring up close to shore or in shallow bays. If you're fishing with female anglers, there's not really a washroom on board.LOL

 

About 10yrs ago, I taped a Fishn Canada episode where Pete Bowman was targeting carp from a Boat in the Trent river system. He did well.

[limeyangler]

There are quite a few people that

from boats.

 

Not too impressed with what i saw really.

Edited February 28, 2012 by limeyangler

[The Urban Fisherman]

I do all my carp fishing from the boat now Roy... The main reason being it's a heck of a walk back to my spots and usually we're trying to get them out from under fallen tree's... so being able to move the boat around when they get tangled up in the wood is a huge help... for me, two anchors are a must, one off each end of the boat so you don't have to keep adjusting your rod for the proper amount of slack... Like Steve said - it's a lot like fishing cat's on the grand - and if they're actively feeding we use strait up 65lb braid.. no finessing here...

 

 

Cheers,

Ryan

[asdve23rveavwa]

I do all my carp fishing from the boat now Roy... The main reason being it's a heck of a walk back to my spots and usually we're trying to get them out from under fallen tree's... so being able to move the boat around when they get tangled up in the wood is a huge help... for me, two anchors are a must, one off each end of the boat so you don't have to keep adjusting your rod for the proper amount of slack... Like Steve said - it's a lot like fishing cat's on the grand - and if they're actively feeding we use strait up 65lb braid.. no finessing here...

 

 

Cheers,

Ryan

 

 

Think I'm going to have to hit that spot this summer , especially if Team 4 needs one for the tourney

[mike rousseau]

First of all... You are NOT allowede 2 rods in a boat on the st.lawrence river in Ontario... I'm 100% sure of this...

 

Second... Jeff and Paul both take their boats and tie up to a shoreline... So it's more for comfort or accessing spots unavailable by foot...

 

 

I've tried carping out of my boat... I figured I could fish areas where nobody else could... I only tried 2 times... With little success... I'm still hopeful that I can figure it out...

 

One problem like mentioned above is your boat moving around... Solution... After setting your front anchor like normal... Drop a second anchor of the back of the boat to prevent swinging...

 

Second... Carp fishing usually means a ton of gear... So if you have a small boat... You must pack lighter then normal... Only bring what you really need...

 

Third... Boat damage... The one day I did decent... I beached my boat into marsh/brush to keep it stable... So if you have a nice boat...it'll get scratched...

 

Fourth... Carp slime... If you have carpet in your boat youll want to protect it from the carp slime with a tarp or something... Or water release...

 

 

My mindset is if you can bait a spot with bait that has vitamins, fats, proteins, etc on a regular basis... You can draw carp to you and keep them coming back several times a day to eat... So I establish 2-3 locations I plan to fish during a certain time if year and I put bait in at least once a week... This gives my 2-3 locations to choose from depending on conditions...

 

Great question Roy...

[Harrison]

We targetted them once by boat on Lake Ontario a couple years ago. It was literally a gong show. If you had two lines set up, you would lose one in the drink. It was insane. Fun but very tiring.

 

I actually plan on filming it this year to showcase some rods, I'll post it here when I do.

[Roy]

Thanks Phil. That'd be great.

[jedimaster]

Can you bow hunt for carp in ontario? I know a river that has no traffic on it, with tonnes of huge carp every spring. I'm not too sure what I would do with a carp on the end of an arrow though.