# Why I fish for carp



## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

As I was packing the car after a trip a person asked me what I was fishing for, I replied, "carp." He then asked me, "Why do you fish for carp?" I really can't remember how I responded to him, but I do remember thinking that it was a stupid question. Just like any species of fish, carp fishing presents its own unique set of challenges. I enjoy the challenge of catching carp and I like the fight that they give me. Things were slow this year as I spent a lot of time chasing monsters. There is one lake where I spent over 60 hours of fishing without a single carp to show for it. And there is another lake with monster grass carp where I have spent a similar amount of time without a grasser in my net. Then there are those days where I have seen over 200 lbs of fish landed. Most recently I fished a lake where 30 hours of fishing produced one single 3 or 4 lb carp. He wasn't big, but his thick build provided additional evidence that this place yielded much larger fish. The next six sessions at that lake produced 14 fish with 8 of them being 20 lbs or over, with the biggest being the one pictured below at 30 lbs 12 ounces.

The biggest mirror carp of the year was 22 lbs even. It took 9 minutes to get her in. I actually caught her twice this year. four different carp anglers have caught this fish. If you think a carp fights hard, then try reeling in a mirror carp.

My biggest grasser was 35 lbs even. Grassers don't fight much - until they get in or near the net. It's cool to see these long guys jump and tail-walk out of a net. I spent a lot of time fishing in a weed-filled lake with monsters literally twice that size, but luck was not on my side.

I got my first ever koi at 8 lbs 6 ounces. Boy, was I thrilled to catch her.

There is the satisfaction seeing a 2 lb carp that was caught and released about 5 years ago being re-caught at about 8 times the previous weight.


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## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

Very nice. I have never caught a carp.


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## deltaoscar (Apr 4, 2009)

Hey. I say to each his own. Haters goin' hate.

Those are some great looking carp, that mirror is a [email protected]


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## strongto (Apr 1, 2013)

I'm not much of a carp fisherman but if I'm not having luck catching anything else and i see!a bunch of carp and then I'll sometimes target them. They definitely put up a nice fight and can be trickier to catch than you'd think. I find that they spook much easier than a lot of other fish. If carp is what you enjoy targeting then more power to you. I've never caught any carp over 10lbs but I bet its a blast.


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## BMayhall (Jun 9, 2011)

deltaoscar said:


> Hey. I say to each his own. Haters goin' hate.
> 
> Those are some great looking carp, that mirror is a [email protected]


Haters gonna hate hate hate hate. But you gotta shake it off, shake it off.

Carp fishing is fun congrats on the catches.


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## savethetrophies (Jul 4, 2014)

Man.. they are cool fish! Do all mirror carp look like that? Where on earth do u catch them at? I've never seen one, it looks really unique...


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Mirror carp are just a genetic variation of the common carp (cyprinus carpio). They can be caught in any body of water that contain common carp, but are more plentiful in some places than others. For the most part, in southwest Ohio, about 1 in 25 carp are mirror carp. Some have no scales, called a leather carp. A true leather carp is a 1 in 10,000 fish and it is doubtful that I will ever catch one. There are fully scaled mirrors, like the last fat one shown in my pics. There are linear mirror that have scales running down tere lateral line. Over in Europe, mirror carp are far more common than common and those anglers are thrilled to catch. In Europe, carp are as popular as bass are in the USA. Just do a Google image search on mirror carp and you will see all sorts of enormous bloated mirror carp that are caught the world over.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Another great thing about mirrors is that their scale patterns are like fingerprints. The scale patterns do not change with age. It is cool to see a fish caught and released many times, often by different anglers. Here are but a few of the recaptures that I have had over the years.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

GMR_Guy said:


> Another great thing about mirrors is that their scale patterns are like fingerprints. The scale patterns do not change with age. It is cool to see a fish caught and released many times, often by different anglers. Here are but a few of the recaptures that I have had over the years.


Never knew that! Makes sense. Neat!


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

Nice fish!!
Carp are a lot of fun! All the carp in your photos are really good ones. 
I bested my personal best carp twice this year but Im not sure if two fish would crack your top twenty not girth wise for sure.


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## Crawdude (Feb 6, 2013)

Cool report! Thanks! A lot of, new to me, interesting information about carp. I like to catch them too but I hardly target them, mainly because they are so frustrating for me to catch


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## Trout-waters (Jul 15, 2014)

Great report! Thank you! Carp are a blast to catch! I fell in love with fishing as a kid catching carp! They fight like hell!


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## cwcarper (Apr 5, 2004)

Great post and explanation on why you fish for carp. I'm glad to see your efforts have paid off with some nice specimens. I don't have the time or patience to chase the big fish right now, as I'd rather spend a few hours fishing an "easy" location with more action. I do like the challenge of fishing new places (at least new to me), though.


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## Danny Ball (Jun 21, 2013)

I too love fishing for carp! I would love to find a good hole on the gmr north of Dayton. Send me a pm, maybe we can trade some spots.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

I carp fish quite a bit. If I ever get asked that questions I tell them what bass fisherman can go to a local creek, set up a lawn chair and catch 5, 10 or 15 10lb+ fish in a couple of hours. 
Plus the daughter an nephews love going and catching big fish.

This is my CAG centerfold nephew.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

I am fairly discriminating when it comes to my own angling pursuits. However, this does not leave me intolerant or disrespectful of other fishing passions. I can fully appreciate the difficulty, fun and challenge carp fishing offers. You have made a sport of their chase and experienced all the same enthusiasms every other angler experiences in the hunt for their own individually chosen game. Well done, those fish are all monsters. 

I do have a question: Are any of these carp species native? I am fairly certain the common carp is not but I am unsure about the history of the others. If I am wrong please do educate me. 

On a side note, last year I had a very large carp actually take a double willow chart spinnerbait straight throw the lips. I thought for a moment I had a massive smallmouth, I was sorely disappointed. But thats the first time Ive ever had a carp actually hit a fast moving target. He took it right through the side of the mouth. I thought that very odd behavior for a carp!?!?!


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## savethetrophies (Jul 4, 2014)

What kind of carp is this?


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## GarrettMyers (May 16, 2011)

savethetrophies said:


> What kind of carp is this?



Looks like a smallmouth buffalo from what I can see in the pic. Not in the carp family surprisingly. 


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Yes, savethetrophies, that is definitely a smallmouth buffalo. Though buffalo are not carp, they are often caught by using many of the same techniques and baits used by carp fisherman.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

"I do have a question: Are any of these carp species native? I am fairly certain the common carp is not but I am unsure about the history of the others. If I am wrong please do educate me."

None of these carp species are native. Also grass carp are not carp, they are more correctly called a white amur and originate from China. Grass carp are also caught on a lot of common carp baits, especially if they are in a water where there favorite weeds have been depleted. They are also a blast to catch on the surface. 

There are lots of invasive species in trout waters. The state stocks, trout, hybrid striped bass, and saugeye into many of our waters. Largemouth bass are not native to many places in the United States such as California.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Danny Ball said:


> I too love fishing for carp! I would love to find a good hole on the gmr north of Dayton. Send me a pm, maybe we can trade some spots.


I am sure there are plenty of place in the GMR in Dayton where a person can catch carp all day. I tend to avoid the GMR because while it can produce great numbers of carp, a person would be hard-pressed to find a legitimate 20 lb plus fish. It's really a matter of finding a good spot and supplying enough chum to attract and then hold fish in the area. Most people do not chum nearly enough bait. Chumming a can of corn will bring some carp and channel cats into the area, but it only take a few minutes for them to totally remove all of your chum. In my most recent carp outing I was using a gallon of sweet corn and about 6 pounds of method mix (a mix of various things that carp like - there are a million different recipes) and that really wasn't enough to produce optimal results. Chumming a couple hundred pounds or more of bait per day is not uncalled for in situations where many fish are present.


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## Eatsleepfish (Aug 3, 2008)

Dude those are some nice girthy carp! I love doing a bit of carping myself and get the occasional negative comment. If others don't like it who cares. There are more fish for us that way. I hate the intense smell they leave on my net, but other than that they are a blast to catch 

Those mirrors are awesome looking. I saw my first one ever on the GMR a few months back. I just wish I had some bait to attempt to catch him that day...

I don't know where you find those fatties, but keep it up! This will be my first year fishing beyond October. How is the winter bite and would I need to change up my techniques at all?


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Do you any of the euro rigging techniques where the bait is on a loop and a small hook is outside of the bait? If so do you think it helps your hookups? Im a big fan of carp fishing i think a person can learn a lot from it. There are some really involved methods used worldwide


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

oldstinkyguy said:


> Do you any of the euro rigging techniques where the bait is on a loop and a small hook is outside of the bait? If so do you think it helps your hookups? Im a big fan of carp fishing i think a person can learn a lot from it. There are some really involved methods used worldwide


That's an excellent question. 95% of the time that I fish I use the hair rig that you describe. Whether or not the hair rig results in more hookups is a matter of debate. Is hair-rigged sweetcorn more effective than sweetcorn fished directly on the hook? I don't know the answer. 

But it is important to realize that the hair rig allows a person to fish baits that could never be threaded on a hook, either because they are too soft or too hard. Chick peas (when purchased cooked and canned) are too soft to thread on a hook, they will simply come off as you try to get them around the corner of the hook. Tiger nuts (chufas) are very hard baits and getting them on a hook would be difficult. 

The hair rig also allows me to sometimes present the bait a few inches off of the bottom where algae or weeds may be a problem. A pop-up boilie or fake buoyant corn, used in conjunction with other bait, can allow my baits to stay above the bottom rather than become hopelessly tangled.

I understand that you sometimes use dough baits. I would try molding them around a spring that is tied on a hook. This does away with the problem of wondering if the hook point will make it through dough bait and into the fish's mouth.

Most importantly, regardless of whether a person puts there bait directly on the hook or uses a hair rig, those fishing for carp would benefit from using a bolt rig. Basically a bolt rig is a fixed, heavy sinker from 2 to 3 ounces that is fished from 4 to 10 inches from the bait. Carp will basically hook themselves as they feel the hook, bolt away, and the heavy sinker places the hook in the skin of there mouth. The great thing about the bolt rig is that the fish are always hooked in the front of the mouth. I have caught hundreds of carp and catfish and have never gut-hooked a single fish using this method.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Here are the hair rigs and bolt rigs that I mentioned. The sinkers that are used have a twofold purpose: they allow a person to mold a packbait around it and they do not drag across the bottom as easily, enhancing their ability to hook the fish. In one pic there is a piece of fake floating corn that was used in conjunction with real sweet corn, this provided just enough buoyancy for the hook point to be lifted off of the muskgrass that lightly covered the bottom.


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## Perch (Apr 5, 2004)

My personal fav is to watch for the carp milling at surface in certain lakes that I frequent and then use crusty French bread pieces that float- What a BLAST when they inhale those !


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## HookBender (Apr 2, 2012)

Why are these named "Mirror Carp"?


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Perch said:


> My personal fav is to watch for the carp milling at surface in certain lakes that I frequent and then use crusty French bread pieces that float- What a BLAST when they inhale those !


Surface fishing is a blast. I remember that one of my first ever 20 lb + carp was caught on the surface using a piece of bagel. I saw a set of lips skimming the surface and watched them move across the water toward my bait. awesome.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

HookBender said:


> Why are these named "Mirror Carp"?


Supposedly the larger scales are supposed to resemble mirrors. It is probably not the most descriptive name, but it is the name that stuck. Usually mirror carp fight significantly harder than common carp.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Here is a video of my carping body and I catching a couple of 21 lb + carp earlier this year. I get the mirror and he gets the common. It shows a lot of the specialized equipment that we use and the care that we take in handling our fish.


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## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

GMR_Guy said:


> Here is a video of my carping body and I catching a couple of 21 lb + carp earlier this year. I get the mirror and he gets the common. It shows a lot of the specialized equipment that we use and the care that we take in handling our fish.
> 
> Gods of the Gravel Pits - YouTube


Nice video


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## canoe carp killer (Apr 2, 2014)

GMR_Guy said:


> Here is a video of my carping body and I catching a couple of 21 lb + carp earlier this year. I get the mirror and he gets the common. It shows a lot of the specialized equipment that we use and the care that we take in handling our fish.
> 
> 
> 
> Gods of the Gravel Pits - YouTube



Great video!!! What kind of bait alarms do u use? Where do u get them and how much do they cost? Need to get some.


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## savethetrophies (Jul 4, 2014)

That's a big boy! Amazing how strong those things are... the title is pretty awesome too, very fitting!


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## Murky&deep (Aug 28, 2013)

I've discovered a cold water buffalo bite in the ohio river. They can stack up pretty good in places when the water is high and muddy and not much else is biting. I'm still fishing jigs and plastics in hopes of a gamefish, then feel the jig grabbing along something pulling back but not quite the thumping bite. Set the hook and sometimes it gets a buffalo fin and the game is on. Given their large size, a foul hooked specimen is very fun to try to land. Many just pop off, but occasionally one is netted, usually avg. about 10 pounds. Then release and repeat. It beats looking out the window and reading fishing magazines.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

canoe carp killer said:


> Great video!!! What kind of bait alarms do u use? Where do u get them and how much do they cost? Need to get some.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Ohub Campfire


There are only a handful of places in the USA where much of this tackle can be purchased. wackerbaits.com and bigcarptackle.com have the most complete sections of euro carping tackle. bankfishingsystems.com is based in the USA, but all of there stuff is made in China, the prices are cheap the quality of some of there items varies greatly.

A bite alarm from Bank Fishing Systems goes for about $19. They will screw into a bankstick that goes for $3 to $5. This simple setup alone would allow you to try out a bite alarm without going to the expense of buying a rod pod. You could also buy a second bankstick and purchase a u-shaped rod rest should you choose to keep the back end of your rod off of the ground.

All of the options on rod pods, alarms, hangers, buzzbars, etc. is a big subject and my eyes glazed over with confusion when I first started to consider purchasing the stuff. Go to YouTube and type in "rod pod" and you will be bombarded with an endless supply of videos.

All of my carping gear and tactics is also great for catching channel cats. My best day for channel cats this year was 17.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

Murky&deep said:


> I've discovered a cold water buffalo bite in the ohio river. They can stack up pretty good in places when the water is high and muddy and not much else is biting. I'm still fishing jigs and plastics in hopes of a gamefish, then feel the jig grabbing along something pulling back but not quite the thumping bite. Set the hook and sometimes it gets a buffalo fin and the game is on. Given their large size, a foul hooked specimen is very fun to try to land. Many just pop off, but occasionally one is netted, usually avg. about 10 pounds. Then release and repeat. It beats looking out the window and reading fishing magazines.


Buffalo and carp will generally fall to the same tactics, but buffalo bites tend to be more delicate and trickier to detect - they can drive you nuts.

Pictured below is my all-time biggest buffalo at 30 lbs.


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## EStrong (Jul 23, 2014)

Cool stuff GMR_Guy! Big fish of any kind are fun to catch. My next venture may be to get a fly rod and catch some of those monster carp when they're feeding at the surface.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

I guess mine is the ******* version of a hair rig. I use braid to tie a small treble and a small short shanked single hook forward of that about a half an inch apart. the dough is formed on the treble while the single hook hangs free to hook the fish easily.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

here's a link to a bunch of carp stuff, from euro fishing to flyrods

http://www.carp.net/art.htm


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

oldstinkyguy said:


> I guess mine is the ******* version of a hair rig. I use braid to tie a small treble and a small short shanked single hook forward of that about a half an inch apart. the dough is formed on the treble while the single hook hangs free to hook the fish easily.


I have done something similar for fishing with sweet corn where I tie a single hook onto the hair. I then thread my sweet corn on the added hook.

Both of our rigs would be banned in any carp competition. I do not use my mentioned rig in any place where I think the fish are large or where there is potential to break off the fish as there is a remote chance that it could conceivably keep the mouth of the fish in a closed position. 

Treble hooks are such a pain to get out of the mouth of a carp or cat.

Many present and former members of OGF are members of Carp Anglers Group:

http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/cag/

This past year, many past members were starting to revive the carp forum on OGF, but then the forum got most of its content deleted. I presume this was an accident. At one time, this was one of the more active forums on OGF.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

If a person really wants to see how carping is done on the other side of the pond, I would highly recommend the following video:






These two British anglers do an excellent job of documenting there quest to catch a 40lb+ carp. They are really good at cinematography and video editing.


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

GMR_Guy said:


> Another great thing about mirrors is that their scale patterns are like fingerprints. The scale patterns do not change with age. It is cool to see a fish caught and released many times, often by different anglers. Here are but a few of the recaptures that I have had over the years.


Wow! Those are cool looking fish, and I do not mind catching carp at all! They're a blast, and are good eating if caught from cool, clean water. The only problem with carp is people's attitudes. After the early settlers trashed the brook trout fisheries of the northeast carp were introduced to the country. The carp could manage to survive in the warm, fetid, cesspools that the rivers had been turned into, and then the people turned around and blamed the carp for ruining the rivers! 

I also love catching freshwater drum, aka sheepshead, out of Lake Erie! They are willing biters, grow large, and fight like crazy! I got a tip from a buddy, they are also great eaters. Clean one and cut into 1"x1" chunks. Boil in 7Up! It will fool you for lobster! Have plenty of drawn butter on hand!


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## nick.mitchell1984 (Mar 13, 2012)

i took up catching some carp this summer. I go down to Cowan lake spillway. TONS of them in there. Always catch them on corn and a tiny bobber : )


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## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

buckeyebowman said:


> I also love catching freshwater drum, aka sheepshead, out of Lake Erie! They are willing biters, grow large, and fight like crazy! I got a tip from a buddy, they are also great eaters. Clean one and cut into 1"x1" chunks. Boil in 7Up! It will fool you for lobster! Have plenty of drawn butter on hand!


I have heard that before. I would like to try it someday.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

nick.mitchell1984 said:


> i took up catching some carp this summer. I go down to Cowan lake spillway. TONS of them in there. Always catch them on corn and a tiny bobber : )


 Cowan is an excellent carp lake and it produced my first 30 lb fish. As far as the spillway is concerned, I have heard that there are a lot of fish there, but that they tend to be on the smaller side. still, I'm sure that there are a few big ones that end up there.


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