That’s right, you heard me correctly.  This week we feature carp fishing.  I know, many of you out there think that fishing for carp is akin to bobbing for oranges.  Well, I’m here to tell you that you couldn’t be more wrong.  Personally, I don’t like carp to eat, but the angler in me, the part of me that says lets go out and catch the biggest fish in the river and have the battle of our lives, loves carp fishing.      

The thing about carp is that, unlike most other varieties of fish, you tend to catch more big ones than small.   I’ve caught plenty of fifteen to thirty pound carp in my fishing career, but I can’t say the same for bass, catfish, or even Stripes.  To catch any other variety of fish in this size range is a treat, but by far not the norm.      

It is a well-known fact that the Kentucky state record Carp is 54 pounds caught by Ricky Vance in Paris.  I personally have known a couple of fishermen that have broken this record, looked at the fish and laughed and threw it dismissively back in the water.  Imagine that, a state record passed by because it was a carp.  Silly, isn’t it?    

All I ask is that sometime when you already have a freezer full of catfish, bass and crappie, just give it a shot.  I promise you will have a blast.  As always, you will need big tackle to catch big fish, and carp fishing is no different.  We’ll start with your tackle, as always, and work it from there.    

When you are deciding what pole to use, I very firmly urge you to think ocean fishing.  I’ve lost more than a couple of good bass rods fishing for carp.  Many successful carp fishermen tend to use something in the area of a 12-foot rod.  For example, Tim Alderman, a local Carp enthusiast, uses a 12 ft Tri-Cast ER 2.5 lb test curve, 5 rings plus tip (40 ml butt ring) (12ml SiC tip).  Tim calls this his “River Rod.”  It is sturdy enough to not bend in the river current, yet shows plenty of action when hauling in the big ones.  Yes, it is an expensive investment, this rod, but he has used it faithfully for the past three years and has not had any maintenance problems at all.    

Line is not what you might think.  You would expect to use a thirty-pound test line or better, and of course you can if you wish.  But, most avid Carp fishermen usually go for something along the lines of 15 lb Sylcast.  Sylcast is a very elastic line, which eliminates a lot of spur of the moment run breaks, yet it is sturdy and handles rocky conditions well.  Besides, that is the measure of a good fisherman, whether he can play a fish good enough to get him in without breakage.    

Hooks are variable, but keep in mind that your average carp, no matter how large he is, has a very small mouth.  On top of this, they are bottom feeders, preferring to suck up their food from the bottom, and tend to spit out anything too large.  With that in mind, I prefer a smaller hook, somewhere in the size 2 or 4 range.    

Next we have weights or sinkers.  Naturally, this depends upon where you are fishing and the strength of the water flow.  This is really up to the fisherman’s discretion, but there is the rigging that matters too.  Now, with catfish I prefer to have the sinker on bottom and the hook a few inches above it, but with carp it should go the opposite due to the fact that, once more I reiterate, Carp are bottom feeders.     

Now we move to your bait.  What does one fish for Carp with?  Perhaps minnows, chicken liver or grasshoppers?   No, no and no.  Carp may be numerous, but they are indeed very picky eaters.  Oh, you might get a bite on all that once a day or so, but all that is not reliable in Carp fishing.  There are, however, a wide variety of dough baits on the market that seem to attract Carp quite nicely.  Myself, however, I am not much on dough baits simply because of their tendency to disintegrate from the hook.  Bread is said to work, but once again, you have the disintegration factor.  What I have used that is a tried and true Carp getter is corn.  That’s right, corn.  Go out to IGA, grab a can of whole kernal sweet corn, any brand, and use it.  Don’t forget to take a can opener (as I usually do and end up beating the heck out of the can with a rock).  The great thing about corn is that one can will last you through a twelve hour fishing trip with a quarter of the can left over.  It’s also extremely cheap.   Oh, be careful not to end up buying cream corn.  It doesn’t work.  Also a typical J.L. Graham screw-up. 

Now, on to the concept of the actual catching of your Carp. We will begin with structure.  The common Carp (Cyprinus Carpio), like all fish, thrive in structure.  Why?  Simply put, it makes them feel safe.  But one of the big problems of river fishing, where most carp are caught, is finding structure.  If your in a boat with a depth finder, it is not so difficult a task, but if your standing on the bank it’s another game altogether.  But today I will tell you the easiest, and simplest, way to find out what kind of structure is in your area of the river from the bank. 

Take your biggest sinker and tie it onto the end of your line.  No hook will be necessary this time around.  Once it’s on, cast as far as you can.  Ease the line tight and as slowly as possible; keeping the line tight at all times begin to real in.  You will feel the bottom with some amount of clarity.  As you reel in, you will detect any structure.  You might lose a sinker doing this, but the odds are against it, and if you do then you have found your structure!    

Next, say your spot is in an eddy or calm water.  Carp will almost always travel in packs that can range anywhere from three to thirty fish, though the latter is more prominent in bigger bodies of water such as The Green River.  They are an almost melancholy group unless excited by large quantities of food.  This is where a somewhat touchy subject comes up.  Let’s talk about chumming.  Some fishermen do it, some don’t.  This is purely your call.  But this one works well for me.  I’ll buy my usual whole kernel sweet corn and pick up an extra can while I’m at the market.  One of the cans will be for my bait, and the other will be to pour into a spot of calm water near the edge that usually has some rocky structure.  The sudden infusion of massive quantities of food will bring the carp into a mad feeding frenzy.  Before you judge, try it.  Talk about fun!  Oh, and don’t even think that the carp will eat all that corn and be too full to eat your bait.  It never happens.  Carp aren’t very bright fish and would literally eat themselves to death if the quantity of food were present.    

Okay, let’s say you have searched for structure, chummed and did everything else you know to find your prey without luck.  There is one other sure-fire method to finding the active carp.  Fish are much like reptiles in the fact that they love the warmth and sunlight.  If it is a good sunny day, most likely you will be able to look around and see your prey swimming on top, splashing around and just basically having a summer fun day.  Once you have spotted a school or three you can watch them and get a feel for the pattern in which they are swimming.  After five or ten minutes you should be able to find a middle spot for all the action.  Fish there!    

Is carp fishing seasonal?  Well, of course it is.  Carp are fish like any other.  The thing to remember is that around September carp will begin beefing up for winter.  They will be in a constant frenzy to find as much food to last through the winter as possible.  It is the difference between life and death for them.  That makes this time of the year the absolute best, with spring a close second, for carp fishing.  However, carp do feed in the winter.  But they move around as little as possible to avoid burning up the calories that they gained in the autumn months.  In the winter, do not chum.  You will be allowing the fish to only feed on what floats to them since a can of corn provides so much .  They will not waste energy going after it if it is abundant.  They will merely lay in wait for it to come to them. 

Now, if you bait your hook with corn and drop it down, they will be more likely to come after it as it would be the only option for food in the area.   But they will come slow in the winter months.    

Okay, there it is.  Your guide to carp fishing.  Now, you have to groups of carp fishermen out there.  The ones that eat them and the ones that does not and will not.  The ones that do claim they are the best, and the ones that do not avidly state that they never would.  For those who love it, you already have your recipes that you prefer.  For those who state that they would not ever eat carp, this is a recipe for them: 

You will need the following ingredients:

1 carp , any size and uncleaned

1 bag of pork rinds

1 pine board (as big as the carp)

1 tbs salt

1 gallon of fresh lemonade

1 willow stick

1 fillet knife 

After you have gathered all the items mentioned above, take the whole carp, lay it on the pine board, and put it in the oven at 400 degrees.

While you are waiting for the fish to cook, eat the pork rinds, drink the lemonade, and whittle on the willow stick.

When the lemonade is all gone, remove carp from oven, throw it into the garden, then EAT THE BOARD!!

I have always said that preparation is the key to a successful fishing trip. If you don’t go prepared, you might as well stay home and watch Bill Dance fall out of the boat a time or two. Unfortunately, I’ve never been much for taking my own advice. I’m more of the, “Do as I say, not as I do,” type of leader.  Nevertheless, always go prepared. I’m going to give you an example of overlooking the preparation stage of the fishing trip.

 It was a thursday morning and my brother, Terry, and I had the day off. We were cruising down a gravel road on the way home (It was a shortcut. All of us Kentucky hicks don’t live on gravel roads!) On the way we passed one of our favorite fishing spots. He looked at me, and I at him, and our fate was sealed. A quick 360 later and we were unloading the boat off the top of my Bronco. What, doesn’t everyone carry their boat everywhere they go on top of their vehicle?

So, there we were. We put the boat in the creek, threw the poles in the boat, and we were off. The current carried us about a mile down. As we sat there, we chatted.

Terry: Beautiful day.

Jess: Yup.

Terry: Fish ought to be biting.

Jess: Yup.

Terry: Coincidentally, where are the oars?

Jess: Aww, Hell.

Of course, a lack of oars would not keep us from fishing. We floated a couple more miles down the creek, found a good tree and tied off to it and began to fish. It was a a truly great day. We pulled in one big striped bass after another, eventually covering the bottom of the boat. Inevitably, the sun began to set, so we had to figure something out.

Terry: You could get out and push.

Jess: I can’t swim.

Terry: You could get out and push.

Jess: I know, I can grab these low hanging limbs and pull us up the river.

It seemed like a great solution at the time. It was slow going, but we were making progress. That is, until that one tree. I reached up and grabbed a limb. I paid little attention to the fact that the limb was very smooth and soft. Then, after a moment of reconsideration, I slowly looked up. Leave it to me to reach up and grab a water Moccasin. This is where it gets interesting. I let go fairly quickly. The snake then dropped into the boat. Now, this is not a big boat. It was just a little  carry along jon boat. I took a moment and considered the fact that the boat really wasn’t big enough for me, my brother and the snake. My reaction was to jump up on the bow of the boat.

You really had to be there to truly appreciate it, but picture it if you will. I’m pricariously balanced on the bow of the boat. I’m leaning to the left, then to the right, going backwards then forwards. At the time I did not know that I would be the progenitor of what would locally become known as the “Snake Dance.”

So, there I was, on the edge, somewhere between falling in and tipping the boat over.

Terry: Whatcha gonna do, Bro?

Jess: I can’t swim you idiot!

Terry: Well, look at this way, if you fall in, you drown. If you tip the boat over, you drown and all this fishing equipment goes to waste.

Jess: Aww Hell.

Knowing the value of good equipment, I leapt into the water. True, I couldn’t swim, but I could walk. I walked over to the edge and got out of the water and sat there while my brother brought the boat to shore. We watched as the snake glanced at me and slithered away. I’m almost sure I heard him giggle. Several hours later, we drug the boat back up to my truck and went home, another successful adventure.

We weren’t prepared that day. We should have planned the trip, brought an oar or two, and I should have watched where I was grabbing. Did I learn my lesson? I don’t know, but as soon as I get through writing this, I’m going fishing.

Put any number of fishermen in a single room together for an extended period of time and the conversation will almost always end up on the subject of bait. One will say that minnows are the miracle bait. The other will say that nightcrawlers are the bait of choice on the bass buffet. Two more will be in the corner arguing over whose stink bait stinks more.

We did a little research into finding what is actually the best bait for each of the local breeds of fish, and during this, came across some pretty wacky bait choices for Kentucky anglers. Among these were roaches, chicken breast soaked in Jack Daniels Whiskey, wild onions, raisins, shrimp soaked in vanilla extract, Cheeto’s Cheese Puffs, dog treats, and last, but by far not the least, stale blueberry glazed doughnuts. One has to wonder what tempted that particular fisherman to put a stale blueberry glazed doughnut on the hook. Then again, when an angler runs out of bait, you never know what will end up on the hook.

In the end, beyond all the arguing about what homemade bait is best or what lure gets the most fish, it all comes down to natural baits. A fish will strike at what he has always had to eat. It is nature and it is instinctive.

We will begin with the ever-popular largemouth Bass. A bass will strike at virtually any kind of insect and minnows before anything else. This is why the more successful bass anglers will always use a flashy lure, as it feigns the flash of a shiny minnow. To be the most effective, however, the fisherman must use any lure that resembles a particular bait in the manner that the live counterpart would act. If your lure is a grasshopper, it should be used on top of the water with jerky movements. Find a grasshopper, toss it in the water and watch the way it moves. This will be your best teacher. In addition, interestingly enough, the bigger bass will often go for small snakes and the occasional baby duck.

Secondly, we will approach bluegill. Worms, nightcrawlers, and any kind of insect will work best for these fish. If you are going to use lures, use small ones. Overall, bluegills are not particularly picky eaters. On occasion, in certain fishing spots, bluegills have even been caught on cut-bait, of their own breed. Ever wonder if that bluegill you caught with one fin half chewed off might have taken a bite of himself?

Moving on, let’s discuss Crappie. The number one bait for any breed of Crappie in Kentucky and the surrounding states is minnows. They will hit a minnow before anything, but not just any minnow. They will always choose a live minnow first. Save your floating minnows for the catfish. 

With that, we will hit on catfish. First, the big old flatheads. These fish are bluegill eaters. They have been caught on minnows, liver, and even corn, but overall, they prefer live bluegill. If you are flathead fishing for the first time, be prepared with strong line, a stout pole and a lot of upper body strength. They get unbelievably big!

Channel Cats are simple enough. If it is dead and it stinks to high heaven, they will eat it. They hit on nightcrawlers very effectively too. Chicken liver has always worked best for me. A few other favorites for local anglers fishing for Channel Cats are Shad guts, shad, cut-bait, chicken hearts, and stink baits. On one occasion, I have even seen them caught on beaver guts. It is gross, but if you happen to be fishing for channels, run out of bait, and there is a dead beaver rotting nearby, a fisherman has to do what a fisherman has to do.

When choosing your baits, remember to always stay close to the natural foods of the breed you are fishing for. Yes, I have caught a catfish on a mouse, but that will not happen on a daily basis. Fish are not humans. They do not like to try something new every three or four days. They eat what they were created to eat.

This week we will be concentrating on catfish baits. There has always been an abundance of choices when going after cats of all breeds. Of course, the bait of choice with most cat fishermen is good old stinky chicken liver. Then again, if you’ve fished with it you realize that this bait has a few drawbacks.

One is the smell. Chicken liver stinks to high heaven and tends to draw gnats to you when you get it on your hands. Not those harmless old fly around gnats either, but the ones that seem determined that there is something tasty in your ears and eyes.
The second drawback, and most annoying, is the fact that it will fly off your hook at the drop of a hat. This can be remedied by taking a pair of pantyhose (bear with me on this one men) and cutting it into pieces. Then you would wrap the liver in it and slip it onto your hook. This prevents it from flying off and makes it harder for the fish to steal it. Unfortunately, there is no method of buying pantyhose that makes it less embarrassing, unless of course your wife will do it for you.

There are a number of stink baits on the market. Some are pretty good I must admit, but being the old fashioned angler that I am, I prefer my own concoction. Cast net or snag yourself about six good-sized shad and let them set out in the heat for two days. Be sure and cover them or you will end up with a nasty mess of maggots. Then take them out and crush them up into a mulch paste. This will be fairly simple as the heat turns them really soft. There will be some residual liquid left in your bucket of shad, a red bloody smelly liquid. Pour this into the mix too. Then purchase two cups of chicken livers and smash them up with the shad, mixing well. Make sure that you pour the excess chicken blood in with the liver. Next mix two heaping teaspoons of garlic salt into the mess. Ground this all up as much as possible. We want to get a lot of liquid out of this mixture so really pulp it good. When this is achieved strain the liquid from the paste. From there you take three tins of biscuit doe and one cup of oatmeal. Mix these two together well. Then take your liquid and mix it with the doughy substance as well as possible. There will still be some liquid left over of course. Let this liquid set in the dough overnight where bugs can’t get into it. This insures that it really soaks up the flavor. The next morning pour the excess liquid back into your shad/liver mix and form the dough into big thick balls. Let this set in the fridge for a couple of days uncovered (apologizing profusely to your wife the whole time) and it will harden just a bit. Then you take it fishing. The excess ingredients you have left over in the bucket make a nice chum to get the fish interested in your bait, so I suggest you take it along too. The smell is bad, but the results are very good.

But far be it for me to say mine is the best (It is!) or the only one out there. This one is called Catfish Super bait. It was donated by one of our readers:

Catfish Super Bait
1 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons powdered garlic
1 1/12 cups plain corn meal
4 ozs. Chicken livers
Mix water, sugar, cheese and garlic. Bring to boil. Remove from heat. Add cornmeal and stir until firm. Add chicken liver. Stir well.
Instead of chicken livers, we sometimes use one of the following:
4 oz. Sardines
4 oz. Oil Packed Tuna
4 oz. Cheap Canned Luncheon Meat
Livers seem to work the best when fishing in current, sardines or tuna on trotlines and luncheon meat in lakes and ponds.
Although this stays on the hook pretty well, we prefer to tie it in an old piece of panty hose. This will stay on in any current (we fish a lot below dams). Also small fish and crawfish can’t get it off the hook.
Try these two out and if you want more just drop me a line. I have access to tons of really good home made catfish bait recipes, all really good. I’d be happy to share them with our readers.
Tricks of the Trade: We have discussed Garlic salt before, but a little tip on it. Use it on any bait that you catfish with. They love the smell and tend to be able to track it better than blood and regular fish scent.

For the past five years every other joke you have heard has been the “You might be a redneck,” one-liners made famous by popular comedian Jeff Foxworthy. Nothing against Mr. Foxworthy, as I highly enjoy his comedic southern style of humor. However, as I considered the odd little quirks that seem to identify us as anglers, I asked myself what you would get if you replaced redneck with fisherman, though the difference between the two is not always a large stretch. If you have ever wondered if you are worthy to hold the true title of the fisherman, the list below should clarify it for you.     

You might be a fisherman if you almost run off the road every time you drive past a body of water.     

You might be a fisherman if you always tell your wife that you picked up a three pound bag of sugar when it was actually a one pound bag. You just can’t help yourself, can you?     

You might be a fisherman if your wife has both ears pierced….by hooks.     

You might be a fisherman if you find yourself hanging over the edge of a waterfall from an old tree branch, one hand hanging on for dear life, the other reaching for an .89 cent lure hanging on another limb nearby.     

You might be a fisherman if you have to schedule time between the lake and the emergency room.     

You might be a fisherman if you have the choice to marry Angelina Jolie or Betty White and you choose Betty because she knows how to clean a catfish.     

You might be a fisherman if something has to be dead for one month before you won’t consider using it as bait, and even then……………………….     

You might be a fisherman if you are a better aim with your sinker than with your shotgun.     

You might be a fisherman if you have 911 and the local bait shop on speed dial, and 911 is second on the list.  

You might be a fisherman if your new corvette has mud tires on it. What? You have to be able to get to the hard spots!     

You might be a fisherman if you think that the bass player in a band is the one guy that likes to fish.      

You might be a fisherman if you won’t eat at Long John Silvers because that is cheating!     

You might be a fisherman if your pocket is a reasonable replacement for the stringer that you forgot to bring. 

     You might be a fisherman if you meet your buddy at your favorite spot at 2:00 A.M. and apologize for being late. 

      And lastly, you might be a fisherman if you write the administrators of Skinny Moose and demand that the name be changed to Skinny Bass!  

The sad part of the whole ordeal is that you can actually say that you remember that time with the fish in your pocket.

This week we will be discussing the dangers inherent in the sport of fishing. I know, no one thinks fishing is a dangerous sport. Well, believe me it is. I’ve spent two weeks on a cane from fishing, broke a tooth off fishing, and plunged headfirst off a fifty foot cliff. True, I’m the Tim Taylor of the fishing world, but nonetheless, there are some seriously dangerous possibilities when angling.

The foremost and most common fishing injury is getting hooked. Nothing wrong with getting hooked on fishing, but getting hooked while fishing is a different story altogether. There are ways to avoid it of course. Rule number one, be careful when casting. Look all around you before you cast as to make sure there is no one near enough to hook.

Example: I personally took my Dad’s hat off his head when he had the misfortune of walking behind me while I was casting. I reeled it back in and promptly returned it to him, but two inches difference and it would have been his ear.

Another danger in hooks is trying to put on a new hook or bait a hook while you have another line in the water. This is definitely a no-no! If you get a bite while doing this you will instinctively drop what your doing and grab the pole. This usually leads to a hook in your hand. In my case, it was my thumb. Also try not to reel in a lure with a treble hook with a flopping fish on it and let it get anywhere near your legs. Try to let the fish calm down a bit before you get that near it or secure it carefully first. Such was the case with my fishing buddies Joe Jones and Pastor Phil Walton, Joe being the one with the hook in his leg with the flopping fish still hanging painfully off of it.

But, if you must ignore these rules, there is a solution. If you have a hook in your skin there are four options to remove it. If the barb is all the way through, it is a simple procedure. Simply take wire-cutters and clip the barb tip off. Then pull it back through the skin. If the barb is not all the way through it gets a bit more complicated and painful. You can push the barb on through the skin. Don’t try to pull it out backwards. Method number three is the one chosen by Joe and Pastor Phil. Pray, scream, pull, pray, scream, pull. The praying is a valid option, but the pulling doesn’t work out too well. Last is the ever-popular trip to the emergency room where they will numb the area, cut a small incision and just pull it out.

Drowning is the big danger in fishing. If you can’t swim, then take steps to protect yourself. If in a boat, always wear the lifejacket. If not in a boat, well, it still wouldn’t hurt if your near deep water to have one on. Be very careful of fishing on slick rocks such as those high rapid rivers. When the water is up for a while a green fungus grows on the rocks. It dies when the water goes back to normal levels, but when it gets wet it becomes extremely slippery. Many lives have been lost at on the Green River due to those slick rocks.

The one danger that most fishermen overlook is that of unsteady foundations. If your like me you will go to any length to get to that one spot that looks like the fish would really be in. This includes going out on logs, cliff walls, and hillsides. I’ll give you two examples of why these foundations should be avoided. Last year I stepped out onto a log to get close to a good catfish spot that I knew of. Well, to make a short story shorter the log gave away at the edge plunging me into the water with my knee slamming into the log on the way down. Two weeks on the old walking cane for me and my knee still bothers me in damp weather. The second example was a stripper pit way out in the middle of nowhere. I’d fished it before so I knew that it was a killer spot for Lunker Bass and big Crappie. The spot I wanted was on the far side, so I had to walk around the cliff-like walls to get to where I wanted to fish. Halfway there I stopped and looked over the edge to see if I could see anything jumping. Imagine my surprise when the ledge gave way plunging me fifty feet and landing me on my face. Luckily I got away with a broken tooth and sore back. The bottom was soft shale. If it had been solid rock, I wouldn’t be writing this today.

There are many more dangers of fishing, but this covers the most common. In my experience, fishing can be more hazardous than sky-diving, especially if your fishing with me. Be careful out there folks. Good Luck and Good Fishing!