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!!