ccmtcanada Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Well...with the Steelhead bite off in the creeks and Walleye and Pike season closed, bly and I decided to target another species. We are both part of the OFC tourney and no one on my team (not sure about Bly's team) actively targets carp, so we decided to give it a try. We read up on setting hair rigs and we tied some corn in roe bags. We set off to a spot where we've seen them cruising from time to time. Within about thirty minutes we each caught 9" bullheads. Not our target species, but pretty close...both bottom feeders. Suddenly, bly sets her hook and yells FISH ON! The fish immediately took about 10 feet of drag off her spool....this was bigger than a bullhead that's for sure!!! With adrenaline pumping, and me with the net, she fought the fish for 15 minutes (yes I timed it...lol). She knew she shouldn't muscle it in, since she was using her noodle rod and only 6 pound test mono line. Finally, it got close enough for me to net....and it was a big one!! Here's the pic...she couldn't hold it up...had to rest it on her leg!! LOL. Her first ever Carp measured in at 35" long, 24" girth and a weight of 25 pounds! She realized afterwards that not only was this a big fish...but it's her longest and heaviest fish she's ever landed. Anyhow, a little while later, I felt the tug on my line...and I had a fish on! This one didn't take as long...maybe 10 minutes, and it was a smaller fish, but it still fought like crazy. These fish are a lot of fun to fight and land! Mine was a baby compared to hers...measuring in at only 30" in length and 15 pounds. Now...we had no idea at the time how these fish rated compared to the average. The minimum length for an OFAH award is 30", so we figure these are respectable fish. Anyhow, team 6 and team 9 now have carp entries. We'll try to get bigger ones soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 o wow nice fish. i have been targetting them for quite a while now and my PB is still a 5lber (shh don't tell anyone ... i'm sure ppl say that "it's hard to find a carp smaller than 5 lbs" ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecxstriper Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 (edited) wow now I have to call you team steel carp eyes way to go there is going to a lot of talk tomorrow .Glad to made it home alright . and when are you and bly getting your own show and do I need to point it out again?(come on ccmt) Edited May 3, 2007 by ALEX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greencoachdog Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Great report and pics Cliff!!!... and it's so sweet of you to keep letting Carole beat your eyes out like that. Hit'em Again Carole!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsn Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 o wow nice fish. i have been targetting them for quite a while now and my PB is still a 5lber (shh don't tell anyone ... i'm sure ppl say that "it's hard to find a carp smaller than 5 lbs" ) The petshop.. goldfish section. dsn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsn Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 (edited) ccmtcanada nice done!! Now you know why I only fish for carp and nothing else. dsn Wait til you get into the 30lb+ fish MJL and I have last year it was amazing!! We were using the biggest bollies we could find!! dsn Edited May 3, 2007 by dsn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photoz Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 And the lowly carp gains 2 more fans, and a little more respect . . . . . way to go!! But . . . . the water is still cold, and they are somewhat lethargic yet . . . .. just wait till you get a 25 pounder in water around 50F to 60F. Once we have landed a big carp, most of us start to target 'em more & more! But . . . . making a 'hair rig' . . . . . then putting corn in a roe bag . . . . first time I've ever heard of this? But, it certainly seemed to work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrap Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 wow that makes my 21" carp look like a minnow, wtg guys those are somebig fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motv8tr Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Excellent stuff, first time out and you both land decent one's....I've been out more than I care to tell and have only landed one, and that one doesn't really count as it was a snag . Great stuff both of you, congrats on yet another successful outing. Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basskicker Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Way to go Cliff and Bly...awesome...those carp certainly put up a nice fight eh? Those are certainly big fish...BUT they do get bigger and like stated earlier...when the water warms up....look out and hold on. Corn in a roe bag?...hmmmm were you bottom bouncing or floating? Congrats on another successfull trip together. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccmtcanada Posted May 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Basskicker and Photoz.... I think I may have been a little misleading about the hair rig and corn in roe bags. We didn't get in til pretty late last night and I was rushing the report so I could get some sleep...I have to wake up at 530am to get to work....LOL. We started out using that...had a few hits...but hooked none (float and bottom fishing). They began literally jumping out of the water feeding around 10pm so we decided to try a slow/medium retrieve with a single hook with the corn on the roe bag. I seriously think they would have hit anything with how aggressive they seemed to be. We got lucky and managed to get two. Not sure if they typically do this, but the water was only about 3 feet deep and ultra clear, so they could see anything we threw in there. There had to be hundreds in this spot. We went out last night knowing we'd target carp, but went setup for Steelhead at first...hoping for dropbacks and when that didn't produce anything we said ok...let's change it up. We didn't figure we'd get any steel, but wanted to try just in case. That's why the float fishing for the carp at first. I just read an article about carp....and it said that in shallow water, when they are actively feeding to try small gold spinners....we have some of those, so we'll try that and see how that does. Cant wait for the warmer water....and the fight once that happens...you guys have us pumped for that!! LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whopper Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 We got lucky and managed to get two. Ever thought about playing the lottery or maybe a trip to Vegas Congrats! Whopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Nice to the the "Daily Cliff & Bly Report" Do you two ever sleep Congrats Joey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beans Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Welcome to the world of carp fishing...where a comfortable chair is an important part of your equipment...you sure know you got sumpin' on the end of your line when you hook on to one... Lots of waiting time involved sometimes and that is when you get involved in brilliant conversations with fellow carpers... Sheesh...Carole matched my biggest first time out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyk Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Those are some nice carp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golfisher Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 You wonder, how do they do it? First it was gigantic walleye from the shore, then came the chromes, and now the carp. It's as though they were born to conquer one fish after another! So Cliff, how do you do it? How can I rub off some of that magic touch from you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccmtcanada Posted May 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 You wonder, how do they do it? First it was gigantic walleye from the shore, then came the chromes, and now the carp. It's as though they were born to conquer one fish after another! So Cliff, how do you do it? How can I rub off some of that magic touch from you? LOL...thanks Golfisher. I have to tell you though...with the Walleye and Steelheading, we were skunked MOST times we went out. There were days and days of experimenting, reading TONS of articles on them, being mentored by guys like CANADIAN COPPER, and basically being stubborn and not letting them beat us....haha. There also is a bit of luck involved too. My goal for 2007 is to achieve the "Avid Angler" status from the OFAH. So far I have 3 species out of the way...Pike, Trout and Carp. I'm hoping we have the same success for Walleye once the season opens again...that leaves one more species...hmm....maybe hook into a qualifying panfish while taking my kids out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyb Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 we decided to try a slow/medium retrieve with a single hook with the corn on the roe bag. Ummm....that's amazing!!! Way to go you two! I have never heard of that presentation nor would I have ever though to try it, just amazing. Do you have some kind of heavy debt that is owed to you by the fish gods or what?! 'Team Bliff!' comes through again with a stellar report (Bly + Cliff = Bliff hehe) Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bly Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Ummm....that's amazing!!! Way to go you two! I have never heard of that presentation nor would I have ever though to try it, just amazing. Do you have some kind of heavy debt that is owed to you by the fish gods or what?! 'Team Bliff!' comes through again with a stellar report (Bly + Cliff = Bliff hehe) Tony Tony...when ALEX and I were younger, we didn't have money for proper gear...so we used to improvise. We would use nuts and bolts for sinkers, and look around the house for stuff that we thought fish would like when we didn't have worms...and guess what....we'd always catch fish...LOL. So this time around....on the spur of the moment ccmt and I decided to try to catch some carp. Once again, we didn't have the typical carp gear, so we improvised. We had lots of roe bags, so I put corn in them...why wouldn't that work since corn is listed as good carp bait? I guess we were fortunate that it did...haha. As far as the presentation, ccmt and I used previous knowledge about other species....when fish are actively feeding, a lot of them wont hit anything that is stationary or moving very slowly, so we decided to cast and retrieve and vary the speed of the retrieve. Hmm...the "debt"....I dont think it's the fish gods...maybe the "body of water" gods. It seems whenever we go somewhere and do a good deed, we get rewarded for it the next time we go out. On a steelhead hunt one time, the fishing was really slow....nothing landed or hit our lines, so we cleaned up a spot on the river and threw a bunch of garbage out. A few hours later, we both landed some nice fish. Another time we were skunked, we helped an older lady change her flat tire in the parking lot....the next time out we both landed fish. The last time we fished at this carp location, we got skunked, so on the way out we picked up and filled a garbage bag and took it away....then last night...the first time we returned, we got the carp.... Signed team Bliff....LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadian_copper Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 WOW CONGRATS GUYS!!! BEAUTY FISH!!!! LITTLE C WILL BE BUGGIN ME SOON ENOUGH TO HEAD OUT FOR THEM!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crappiesteve Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Congrats on your catch,they are Big CARP like Photoz said,wait till the water warms a bit. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryceBurzynski Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecxstriper Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 That is my sister pride of the family . What else is there to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobHall Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Those are nice carp. Congrats Bly and Cliff. I will be updating the OFC Fishing leader board shortly. Those 35 inches, plus 2 bonus inches, will look real good added to Team 9's total. FOTB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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