# Spring carp



## cwcarper

Anyone been out after carp yet this year? Still planning my first trip, but with the weather we're having it won't be long until they're on the feed. Anyone have any trips planned to chase after some big prespawn fish? I'm hoping to fish East Harbor up on Lake Erie in April, along with a couple other places closer to home that are best fished early in the year. Just curious...and hoping to see more posts in the carp section


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## JSykes3

A guy caught a 31 incher out of the tusk on February 29th. 
Not sure what he used but it was a biggin.
There's a pic at the Pipe Rack here in Ohio.


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## CoolWater

I got one while steelheading a few weeks ago, incidental catch. Likely will target them once the Steel and Walleye Run are over.


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## JSykes3

Here's the pic of that carp the guy caught.


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## TimJC

I've got a trip to Dale Hollow planned for the last week of April (the same weekend as Dick's Sandusky Bay Fish-In), but the fear is that it will be close to the spawn. However, with the warm weather there is a chance they will spawn early this year, and I'll be chasing hungry post spawn fish.

CW,
Are you going to Dick's Fish-In?


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## cwcarper

I'm thinking about it - depends on my schedule. Might make a few days out of it and hit both Sandusky Bay and East Harbor while I'm up there. I've never fished Sandusky Bay so not sure what to expect, but I know I've always liked East Harbor. So, if I've only got time to do one I might only do East Harbor. Would be nice to get out and fish with Dick and others planning on attending Sandusky Bay, though.


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## CoolWater

Vermilion was a bit high and muddy today... gave up on the steel and caught an average carp in about 20 minutes of soaking a nightcrawler.

Photo of it on my blog.

My 3 Steelhead outings of 2012 have yielded 2 carp and 1 steelhead... I think I'm just gonna say I'm going carp fishing and might get an incidental Steelhead.


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## cwcarper

Well, I finally made it out and fished one of the local ponds today. Caught nothing and didn't see a single fish the 3+ hours I was there. Still a bit early, but shouldn't be long until the carp are on the feed.


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## salmon king

At what temp do carp feed?? Was wondering when I could use these mini Wheats


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## oarfish

salmon king said:


> At what temp do carp feed?? Was wondering when I could use these mini Wheats


They will feed at 50+ degrees but some will at lower temps although scarcely and have to be spoon fed.
Peek feeding is around 70-76 degrees of water. Best chance is in the hot summer, early or late in the day.


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## SeanStone

Our most productive time is in early to mid April through May.


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## cwcarper

You can catch them year round with some luck - but the magic temperature seems to be around 50F. Best chances for a big fish are normally now until spawn in May/June, then again in the fall.


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## carpslayer

is the east harbor in rocky river ohio


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## TimJC

East Harbor State Park is further west and is between Sandusky and Port Clinton. If the weather has been as unseasonably warm as it has in the Cincinnati area, the fish should start stacking up in the harbor in the next two weeks.


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## JSykes3

Guys getting any lately? Here in Akron these one guys have been setting up everyday at this one spot. I hear their bite alarms going off every time I'm leaving.


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## SeanStone

JSykes3 said:


> Guys getting any lately? Here in Akron these one guys have been setting up everyday at this one spot. I hear their bite alarms going off every time I'm leaving.


They have probably baited the area and hope that the fish will start feeding there. I do this sometimes as well. This weekend I went out to do some catfishing and at about dark we started to see the carp getting active....rolling, jumping etc. So I took a rather large can of corn and dumped it in an area that I could fish from the bank. The next day I went out and re-baited the area and found a few fish. I'll post pics in a few.


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## cwcarper

I haven't had a chance to get out, but know the fish have definitely turned on around here based on reports from others.


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## zachxbass

Friday night they were biting at one of the local ponds. I had about 4-5 misses (I forget. Read my other post) and landed one that was about 7lbs. I may try for some tomorrow. If I do I'll let ya know how I do.

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## SeanStone

Got to test out my new sling. Lol. 










As always the picture doesn't do it justice. One of the downfalls to being 6' and 260lbs. Fish weighed 14lbs. and 15oz, a new pb for me......still very far off of the 30 plus pound pbs of my friend and little brother. I hope I get the chance to at least break 25 this year.

I also caught a 4lb 9oz carp, and my buddy caught a 9lb 15oz carp. Not too bad for our first carp outing. I also tried fishing boilies, but they went untouched. Hard to compete with corn, but I'll keep trying since I bought a ton of them this winter.


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## LoneWolfNoPack

Sean, is that Rocky? Looks familiar. I sent you a Pm earlier but I don't think it went though. If you didn't get the Pm, let me know and I will try again. Nice carp by the way. 

I went out yesterday to a new spot and had steady action with almost every cast. Everything under 10lbs, but still a blast. Wasn't getting many fish at first, but after some tackle modifications we started hammering them. Always having to adapt.


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## SeanStone

LoneWolfNoPack said:


> Sean, is that Rocky? Looks familiar. I sent you a Pm earlier but I don't think it went though. If you didn't get the Pm, let me know and I will try again. Nice carp by the way.
> 
> I went out yesterday to a new spot and had steady action with almost every cast. Everything under 10lbs, but still a blast. Wasn't getting many fish at first, but after some tackle modifications we started hammering them. Always having to adapt.


Yes, the Fisherman's Wharf area in fact. If you spend any time out there at all you quickly find its loaded with carp. You cant go an hour without hearing a jump or seeing one roll. North shore is another good spot for carp, the waters a little deeper so we typically target it in the summer months. Average carp at Rocky usually goes about 6lbs, but we have caught several over the 12lb range.....19lbs being the largest. It's not a big fish lake, but it does produce numbers. One night my little brother and dad caught 18 carp out of there, largest was 10lbs but I imagine it was fun all the same.


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## JSykes3

I talked to those guys yesterday after heading home bass fishing. As I started to walk over to them I heard one of their bite alarms going off. The one guy landed a nice, maybe 15 pounder. I asked them if they were using boilies and they said yeah. They said they were using pack bait, so I guess that's kind of like baiting the area, in a way. They had unhooking mats and one of those HUGE triangular nets. We talked about fishing for about 5 minutes. As I started to leave I heard another huge run on one of their bite alarms.
I may go out for carp this weekend or later this week.


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## zachxbass

I think I may try at eastwood this weekend... I've seen a few big ones out there but never targeted them

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## LoneWolfNoPack

SeanStone said:


> Yes, the Fisherman's Wharf area in fact. If you spend any time out there at all you quickly find its loaded with carp. You cant go an hour without hearing a jump or seeing one roll. North shore is another good spot for carp, the waters a little deeper so we typically target it in the summer months. Average carp at Rocky usually goes about 6lbs, but we have caught several over the 12lb range.....19lbs being the largest. It's not a big fish lake, but it does produce numbers. One night my little brother and dad caught 18 carp out of there, largest was 10lbs but I imagine it was fun all the same.


That's what I was thinking. Sounds like the lake has treated you well. Seven or eight years ago we would head to the west end of the lake and do extremely well on the carp. Then the Carp Virus hit and had the massive carp kill off and it has never seemed the same to me since then. The ODNR also does (or did) shock the lake exclusively for carp so they could milk the carp of eggs and feed the carp hatchlings to the muskie fingerlings in the fish hatchery. They say that carp fry are the prefered food source for the muskie fingerlings. All the carp that get milked then good taken to the raptor rehibilitaion facility and feed to the birds. After I saw them haul a 30 plus pound carp out of there along with hundreds of others, I stopped fishing that spot. I think that the overall size of carp in the lake has probably improved though with the lower population.


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## carpslayer

i dont know the area.. where is Rocky?? or fishermans wharf?? im sorry for these questions.. just new to the area i live in cleveland so when you say rocky i think Rocky River, Ohio


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## SeanStone

There was a small die off last year as well. I'm guessing it could have been a virus because the carp were still floating around the lake.....if it would have been the ODNR I believe they would have removed them. Size is definitely increasing though, 3 years ago a 15lber and a 10lber would have taken several trips. I look forward to finding a few larger ones in the next few months.

From what I have heard Paint Creek Lake seems to be a big fish lake, might have to head up that way a time or two this spring as well.


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## SeanStone

carpslayer said:


> i dont know the area.. where is Rocky?? or fishermans wharf?? im sorry for these questions.. just new to the area i live in cleveland so when you say rocky i think Rocky River, Ohio


Rocky Fork Lake, Hillsboro, Ohio. It would be a heck of a drive from Cleveland, probably 5-6 hours. I'm sure some guys on here could help you out with lakes up there though.


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## carpslayer

oh ok i gotcha.. yeah im looking up here or really im looking for a place to take my family camping that has nice carp and catfishing that way i get the best of both worlds.. you guys know any areas like that


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## SeanStone

Here's a few more pics I got off of my friends camera. 

30" 14lb. 15oz









Rylan's 29" 9lb 15oz 









A few release pics.


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## LoneWolfNoPack

SeanStone said:


> There was a small die off last year as well. I'm guessing it could have been a virus because the carp were still floating around the lake.....if it would have been the ODNR I believe they would have removed them. Size is definitely increasing though, 3 years ago a 15lber and a 10lber would have taken several trips. I look forward to finding a few larger ones in the next few months.
> 
> From what I have heard Paint Creek Lake seems to be a big fish lake, might have to head up that way a time or two this spring as well.


The diesease outbreak that I was speaking of and the ODNR shocking trips were non related. The outbreak was in the Ohio Outdoor mag. if I remember right. It was a very large die off. Just researched the outbreak you talked about happening last year. Wasn't aware of that one. Interesting.


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## LoneWolfNoPack

Nice pictures, well documented. Hope you get many more like that out of there. Paint Creek has some nice carp as well. I caught one there Saturday afternoon that had a very dark color phase.


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## cwcarper

I fished Rocky Fork and Paint Creek quite a bit back when I lived closer (12+ years ago) for multiple species, not just carp. Never caught anything huge from either - but that was before I really knew what I was doing when it came to carp fishing. I had heard rumors about the 30+ lb carp removed by the ODNR after milking and always wondered if that was true. Didn't know about the virus, though, that's too bad.


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## LoneWolfNoPack

cwcarper said:


> I fished Rocky Fork and Paint Creek quite a bit back when I lived closer (12+ years ago) for multiple species, not just carp. Never caught anything huge from either - but that was before I really knew what I was doing when it came to carp fishing. I had heard rumors about the 30+ lb carp removed by the ODNR after milking and always wondered if that was true. Didn't know about the virus, though, that's too bad.


The ODNR shocking for carp is not a rumor, I wish it was. I witnessed it first hand and waited for them to come to shore to see what they had. When I saw them they were in the shallows by the campgrounds. They had the biggest carp in the livewell that I had ever saw. The 30 lbs is just a guess, but I know it was close. They also had a Largemouth over 5 lbs, but I believe they were going to release that one.


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## salmon king

The erie tribs are producing some nice carp too!!!went to the Chagrin river today caught 3 and lost a pure brute. He took me up river and before I knew it he was stuck in a log ....Oh well gotta love dem bruisers... Hey Ive been using frosted mini wheats alot latley and was wondering if there was a way to grind corn flakes down and make dough balls out of them. I dont have alot of food in da house but I have flour ond powdered suga ... any suggestions???


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## SeanStone

salmon king said:


> The erie tribs are producing some nice carp too!!!went to the Chagrin river today caught 3 and lost a pure brute. He took me up river and before I knew it he was stuck in a log ....Oh well gotta love dem bruisers... Hey Ive been using frosted mini wheats alot latley and was wondering if there was a way to grind corn flakes down and make dough balls out of them. I dont have alot of food in da house but I have flour ond powdered suga ... any suggestions???


We used to make dough balls out of corn flakes, frosted flakes, and wheaties all the time. We got a bowl and put about a half inch of water in the bottom, we then crumbled the cereal up by hand and added it to the water. We did this until the cereal and water had formed a good doughy...if that's a word.. constancy. Kind of like biscuit dough or cookie dough. We then rolled the dough into balls and put them in a zip lock bag for use later. 

Every now and then we added vanilla to the water for added flavor. Other people use jello, anise, sugar, etc. Its best if you use lake water or well water, rather than city water. Something about chlorine turns carp off. LOL.


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## JimmyMac

SeanStone said:


> We used to make dough balls out of corn flakes, frosted flakes, and wheaties all the time. We got a bowl and put about a half inch of water in the bottom, we then crumbled the cereal up by hand and added it to the water. We did this until the cereal and water had formed a good doughy...if that's a word.. constancy. Kind of like biscuit dough or cookie dough. We then rolled the dough into balls and put them in a zip lock bag for use later.
> 
> Every now and then we added vanilla to the water for added flavor. Other people use jello, anise, sugar, etc. Its best if you use lake water or well water, rather than city water. Something about chlorine turns carp off. LOL.




With Wheaties I've always had my best luck just grabbing a handful, then holding my hand in the water for 5 seconds (the trick is 5 seconds exactly), then mash it into a ball, each handful is good for several pieces of bait. If it doesn't get eaten I literally have to peal it off my hook. I agree with you on using the lake water, there certainly is something about tap water they dislike, lol. 


My grandpa used to make some concoction out of red soda, wheaties and gooseliver, we used to wear the carp out on that stuff... Got my personal best carp on it when I was 14, from the GMR at rentschler park that went 28lbs.


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## Goosebuster

Wheaties,canned sweet potatoes,and a flavor of your choice.crush the cereal in a blender,then start puting the sweetpotatoes in little at a time until you get the consistancy you like.


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## BanksideBandit

I used to use a cracker called Rye Crisp everytime I carp fished and it always out performed wheaties and any other dough ball. Haven't been able to find it the past few years. If you see it at your grocery store you should give it a try.


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## Vince™

BanksideBandit said:


> I used to use a cracker called Rye Crisp everytime I carp fished and it always out performed wheaties and any other dough ball. Haven't been able to find it the past few years. If you see it at your grocery store you should give it a try.


Used to use Rye Crisp as a kid and had pretty good success. Moved to Wheaties later on and now I'm on to full on euro techniques. I believe you can still get Rye Crisp at the grocery. I'll sometimes see empty boxes in trashcans at Buckeye Lake so I know they are still around.


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## JustWannaGoFishing

Hey guys! New to the site. Nothin better than fishing. I just use wheaties when i fish. Grab a handful, soak em in water for a few seconds an then crumble them up into a ball. Then i roll them into lil balls. I've had pretty good luck with them. I've used corn also. Works well. But, i'm always looking for ways to improve my catch ratio. I mainly fish in the scioto river here around chillicothe, ohio. Always lookin for nice places to wet a line. Who knows...maybe one day we'll cross paths an share some gr8 fish stories.


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## KWaller

Snagging them on buckeye









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## JustWannaGoFishing

Morning! Never fished Buckeye. I've been there once but it was for a picnic. Any pointers on locations for carp and catfish? I'm gonna try to get out a lil more this yr, an try to hit some different lakes an rivers maybe. That's my goal anyways. Nice carp!


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## Vince™

Brooks Park is always a good place to start. There is a ton of bank access and the chances of getting into some carp and catfish are pretty good. Liebs Island is probably my preferred spot on Buckeye. Last time I went out there though, there was a dredging pipe in the water where I normally fish. I've also caught at the North Shore and the Fairfield beach area. I would say that you can't go wrong fishing for carp and catfish anywhere on Buckeye Lake.


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## JustWannaGoFishing

Ok, thanks 4 the info. If i pull up a map of the lake, will it have those places listed as landmarks? Don't know my way around there. As long as i'm fishing...i can't go wrong. Even if i don't catch anything.


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## KWaller

My mother use to live near fairfield beach as a kid and caught one she swears they weighed it over 20lbs. Ill try to get a pic of it.

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## yogi

Dam thats a big one i got a 36 incher But nowhere that big in wait


Fish long and Hard


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## Vince™

JustWannaGoFishing said:


> Ok, thanks 4 the info. If i pull up a map of the lake, will it have those places listed as landmarks? Don't know my way around there. As long as i'm fishing...i can't go wrong. Even if i don't catch anything.


All these places are on the western half of the lake. The only one not shown on this map by name is the north shore. It's titled "Buckeye Lake Launch Ramp"

Liebs - West end
Brooks Park - South West end
Fairfield Beach - Southern end of the lake and right in the center
North Shore - North end of the lake and right in the middle


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