# where are the monster carp at?



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

anyone know where the monster carp are in ohio,please dont say the GMR....


----------



## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

I think Cowan Lake and Paint Creek hold some monsters. If I remember right the state record was caught in Paint Creek. BTW why not the GMR? Rivers in Southwestern Ohio hold some bg carp. Ive caught a 37 out of the LMR and a 30 out of the Ohio River.


----------



## catfishing22 (Mar 7, 2009)

Ya why not the gmr it's loaded with big carp
Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


----------



## SeanStone (Sep 8, 2010)

Both Paint Creek and Paint Creek Lake hold some nice carp. I too have heard that the GMR has an above average carp population and size.


----------



## BIGTCAT'N (Apr 12, 2006)

I haven't been there for a few years but we use to get some big ones @ cowen. In the lake and bellow the spillway


----------



## BMayhall (Jun 9, 2011)

Triple Creek and Marsh Park


----------



## Crankb8 (Jan 1, 2009)

If you can acquire permission to fish in a gravel pit somewhere, I'd start there. I used to have permission to fish a couple in my hometown........there were some Red October-class submarines in those pits. We never caught any though..........wary bastiges they were.


----------



## QueticoMike (Sep 25, 2008)

My biggest carp came out of the GMR. I caught it using an A.C. Shiner black and silver stick bait. I was in a canoe. Just got back from a long canoe trip in Quetico and as soon as I got the truck unloaded I was floating the GMR. The first hole we get to I hook into a monster fish. Thought it was a record smallmouth or something, carp don't hit stick baits. But sure enough it was hooked right on the inside of the lip. My buddy paddled us around for awhile chasing the fish until he realized it was a carp and then told me I was on my own. Some friend, huh? So I said at least paddle me to shore and let me fight it from there. I didn't have a scale to weigh it, but did manage to measure it with my rod by placing a scratch where it measure out at. Turned out to be a 42 inch fat carp. I spent 10 days fishing up in Quetico and didn't catch a fish that big and as soon as I get home I hook into a monster carp, with a lure and in a canoe. 

Fish on.........


----------



## cwcarper (Apr 5, 2004)

Biggest ones I know are in the GMR  I've seen a bunch in there that go at least 40 lbs.

Just kidding - I'm sure you'll know when I find them. I know of at least two 40+ lb fish caught out of Lake Lorelei, but it's private and I no longer have access to fish there. I think there are a lot of places that hold at least a few big fish but don't have big fish on average, which makes catching them nearly impossible.

Oldstinkyguy - a 37 out of the LMR is definitely a monster and quite an accomplishment for that river.


----------



## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

Lakengren and Acton have monsters in them. My biggest is 46lbs out of the GMR


----------



## E_Lin (Jun 30, 2011)

Not sure if anyone will believe me, but a couple years ago at Winton Woods I was fishing in a boat in the narrow section leading to the dam area when about three feet offshore I saw what looked like a toy shark fin. I was staring at it trying to figure out what it was when it sloshed around and I got a look at the tail of the biggest carp I've ever seen in person. It had to be at least a foot from the top of the tail to the bottom, I have to believe that carp to have been at least 30 lbs or more. I've been fishing off and on at Winton Lake since I was a kid and never suspected there was anything that size in there. I know there are a lot of decent sized carp in there, but the one I saw that day was an absolute brute. I will be going there a few times this year specifically to target ones like that.

Like I said, it was right around the middle of that narrow channel, close to where the concrete remains of an old bridge are, if anyone is familiar with that section. Has anyone else seen carp like that there?


----------



## JoshGibson (Feb 18, 2006)

+1 on the GMR. You really cant beat it for those. CORN CORN CORN!!!!

Chum it with the juice and about 1/2 the can. When I fish em its like blue gills. I dont leave it in a spot more than 10 mins, and I can rarely use 2 poles without losing one.

Not from middletown nor familiar with it down there or I'd give you a direct spot. If your will=ling to drive bout 10-15 miles north I will even give you my own personal honey hole on gmr for them. Just hit me on a PM. and I will set you right up. You wont be disapoiinted with this spot.

Mkay, Just re-read your post and missed the MONSTER part. Not monsters at my spot but numbers of them.... heres a pic of whats normal in my spot. Sorry if I wasted your time.


----------



## Aqua Man (Aug 8, 2011)

Ive caught some pretty big carp in Ceasar Creek where if feeds into the lake. Caught several 24" + and a few pushing 30". I've not tried for them in several years but I see no reason why they would not still be present.

Don't understand the reasoning for "not the GMR" but it's hard to beat for big carp. I have caught several in the 30" range, typically below low dams. Often caught them while targeting something else.

A couple of these posts gave me a thought also. The unusually large "carp" seen in some ponds or gravel pits may not be carp at all. White Amur (aka Asian grass carp) are regularly put into ponds / lakes for weed & algae control. They can get huge and do look similar to carp. I've never caught one fishing but I bet they would put up one heck of a fight.


----------



## buschlight_comando (Mar 20, 2012)

I've always done quite well in the stillwater and the gmr. Those two were the stillwater last fall probablly sometime around october. Same spot always produces nice size carp


----------



## QueticoMike (Sep 25, 2008)

Aqua Man said:


> Ive caught some pretty big carp in Ceasar Creek where if feeds into the lake. Caught several 24" + and a few pushing 30". I've not tried for them in several years but I see no reason why they would not still be present.
> 
> Don't understand the reasoning for "not the GMR" but it's hard to beat for big carp. I have caught several in the 30" range, typically below low dams. Often caught them while targeting something else.
> 
> A couple of these posts gave me a thought also. The unusually large "carp" seen in some ponds or gravel pits may not be carp at all. White Amur (aka Asian grass carp) are regularly put into ponds / lakes for weed & algae control. They can get huge and do look similar to carp. I've never caught one fishing but I bet they would put up one heck of a fight.


Those grass carp do put up one hell of a fight. I was fishing for bluegill cut bait at pond with a tiny piece of bread. The slip bobber went under, went to set the hook on what I thought was a gill and my pole tripled over the drag started to scream. One of the biggest fish I ever caught. Took forever to land that thing.


----------



## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Im suprised that you guys say the GMR holds big fish??, I have off and on fished it for carp for 25 years and can tell you an honest 10+ lber is a nice fish, anything bigger is even rarer, the river is lousy with 2-4 lbers and all of the serious carp guys I know consider the GMR a numbers factory vs a size fishery. Youll have to weed through plenty of small fish to get nicer ones. We hammer them all spring with the fly rods and rarely do we ever get anything bigger then 7-8 lbs. I think many folks overestimate what there carp really weigh as a 30" carp needs to be "heavy" to go over 10 lbs. and 30" is kind of a standard for what folks think is a nice carp to which I agree, anything over 10 lbs is a nice carp. Just my opinion though...

Biggest i ever got was on the LMR in Beavercreek 4 lb test and a redworm looking for smallies, probably around 20 lbs... Biggest I have ever seen was a dead one at Eastwood lake many years ago, probably pushing 30lb range.

Salmonid


----------



## cwcarper (Apr 5, 2004)

Salmonid - you're spot on with my thoughts on the GMR, and the general fishing public's view on "large" carp. Most of the reports of "huge" carp that I've heard were either over exaggerated or turned out to be grass carp. Catching a 30+ lb carp in Ohio is fairly rare, and a 40+ lb carp is almost unheard of.


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

these are the monsters i am for..these are over 30lbs,and well over 30".these were all caught at dale hollow,not ohio waters.these are the monsters that i am looking for in OHIO...


----------



## SeanStone (Sep 8, 2010)

Goosebuster said:


> these are the monsters i am for..these are over 30lbs,and well over 30".these were all caught at dale hollow,not ohio waters.these are the monsters that i am looking for in OHIO...
> 
> View attachment 55911
> 
> ...


Those are definitely some nice carp. In the last three years of fishing I have only seen 2 carp go over 30lbs, 4 over 20lbs.....and I've been carp fishing for almost 10 years now in Southern Ohio. (Not a solid 10 years but on and off.) Monsters like that don't come often, not from my experience anyway. I feel blessed catching a double digit carp (10lbs plus). We know a few lakes that hold some nice fish, but they are well kept secrets, only spoke about in dark corners. LOL. Seriously though, If you can find a small body of water with carp in it, and by small I mean 25-500 acres, with little pressure (NO BOW FISHING) and deep water give it a shot. One of our best carp lakes just so happens to be controlled/managed by flathead catfish. My theory, really more of a hypothesis, is that the flathead keep the numbers of small carp down while allowing the 20+ pound carp to thrive. The lake in mention we have fished dozens of times and never caught a carp under 7 pounds. I guess that this is about the size that flathead quit eating them at. (once again just a guess.) 


Maybe this makes sense, then again maybe I'm crazy. Just my opinions here. There's a lot of guys with way more experience out there.


----------



## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Some LMR carp...


----------



## Aqua Man (Aug 8, 2011)

Goosebuster said:


> these are the monsters i am for..these are over 30lbs,and well over 30".these were all caught at dale hollow,not ohio waters.these are the monsters that i am looking for in OHIO...
> 
> View attachment 55911
> 
> ...



Those _are_ some real monsters, I've never caught carp that big in ceasar or the GMR. Bet that was a big fight, very nice.


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

I have fished CC in three diiferent locations,and all i caught was little ones or small teen agers,just like GMR.Although out of the hundreds i have caught from GMR,only three have been above 20lbs.And yes a 30+lb carp is a blast.I still love to catch a bunch of small fish too,i target big ones but i dont lose sight of catching anything that bites....lol


----------



## young-gun-fisher (Jan 19, 2011)

Here is a photo of a carp that I accidentally snagged while crappie fishing at Acton with an ultralight. It was a healthy and fairly large carp, no monster by any means and it doesn't look very old.

It was over the 30" mark but not real fat and probably only at the 10 or so lb mark.


----------



## JimmyMac (Feb 18, 2011)

If someone was able to fish old Lesourdesville Lake where Americana used to be, they'd be in for the carp trip of their life, lol. I doubt its like that anymore or if the lake is even there, but back when it was a park (last season was 1999) you could drop piece of funnel cake in the water and seriously like 100+ carp would come up rolling over each other after that cake... You would see several over 30lbs doing so...

They even had little food dispensers you stick a quarter in and get a handful of fish food to feed them, it was madness.


----------



## DLarrick (May 31, 2011)

JimmyMac said:


> If someone was able to fish old Lesourdesville Lake where Americana used to be, they'd be in for the carp trip of their life, lol.
> 
> i second that one for sure. i remember going there and seeing the same thing. my dad snuck one of those collapsible fishing poles in and put a peice of bread on it.........had a big one hooked up real fast but a park employee was on him before he could even get it in. made him cut his line and threatened to kick him out. kinda figured that would happen but we still got a kick out of it.


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

Actually i heard they broke the damn on lesourdsville lake and drained it out into the GMR.....


----------



## docrich52 (Feb 15, 2012)

if you really want a chance at catching a good fish like that around where i live, you have to throw conventional methods out the window. I wait untill its hot hot hot outside and the water temps go up. Then when the water levels are really low, really low, i scout creeks and tribs that feed all the lakes and rivers in the area. Concealment is a must and move slow. Scout the water from a distance and I always seem to find the bigger fish just cruising not so much tailing in the mud. I also look for flooded areas that are very grassy and flat, like soccer fields or baseball fields. When the river goes over the banks of the river by me it is amazing how many big fish leave the river to feed on the grass and bugs from the fields. My biggest to date is probably 27 lbs maybe closer to 30 but I only fly fish for them and I have had plenty of fish break me off using 15 lb floro leader and tippet.

Fly fishing for carp is like bowhunting turkeys... its pretty tough but the payout is well worth the effort.


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

Dont get me wrong i catch my fair share of ohio carps in the high teens and low twentys.Actually my personal best is from ohio waters at 38.6lbs.I just like to fish differnet waters with potentials for giants.I love to fish for 24 hrs or more,and i will,and can wait out a big fish.But all in all i just love to catch big or small.I just love to catch,it lets me know my bait is irresistable.....lmao


----------



## Crankb8 (Jan 1, 2009)

SeanStone said:


> Those are definitely some nice carp. In the last three years of fishing I have only seen 2 carp go over 30lbs, 4 over 20lbs.....and I've been carp fishing for almost 10 years now in Southern Ohio. (Not a solid 10 years but on and off.) Monsters like that don't come often, not from my experience anyway. I feel blessed catching a double digit carp (10lbs plus). We know a few lakes that hold some nice fish, but they are well kept secrets, only spoke about in dark corners. LOL. Seriously though, If you can find a small body of water with carp in it, and by small I mean 25-500 acres, with little pressure (NO BOW FISHING) and deep water give it a shot. One of our best carp lakes just so happens to be controlled/managed by flathead catfish. My theory, really more of a hypothesis, is that the flathead keep the numbers of small carp down while allowing the 20+ pound carp to thrive. The lake in mention we have fished dozens of times and never caught a carp under 7 pounds. I guess that this is about the size that flathead quit eating them at. (once again just a guess.)
> 
> 
> Maybe this makes sense, then again maybe I'm crazy. Just my opinions here. There's a lot of guys with way more experience out there.


 Your hypothesis could well be a fact. About 20 years ago a guy named Tom Graham who lived in my area wrote a small book......more like a pamphlet......about how he specialized in chasing the biggest catfish. His favorite bait for big flatheads was a carp up to about 2 lbs.


----------



## prhodes2 (Jul 3, 2009)

These stories are awesome. I have not tried for carp yet, but I would love to catch some this Year. I live in Troy just 3 min from the GMR. Loving the pointers. I can give one pointer to the origional question. I was at the Stillwater Prairie Reserve ponds outside COvington last fall and I saw a couple crusing the top water which had to be 40 inchers. I tried and tried everything to get it, but I was setup for bass for me and bluegill for the kids. It was almost like they were basking in the sun. They did not even look at my lures when I would cast around them. http://www.miamicountyparks.com/stillwater.html


----------



## ohiooutdoors365 (Mar 15, 2011)

Eastwood lake is by far best for numbers and size.I seen and have caught 30+ lb carp from the lake on homemade doughball in april.You can catch them about anywhere on the lake. Its not un common to catch 20 fish ranging from 10lb on right before and right after the spawn. Watch your poles or loose them!!! have fun.


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

I may give this a try.do they still lock the gates at night,then open at 8AM?


----------



## cwcarper (Apr 5, 2004)

Hmmm...I've not had such good luck at Eastwood. I must be doing something wrong, or maybe I was just at the wrong place/wrong time. I'll have to give it a try again this spring. I've always thought that place looked like it would hold some big carp.


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

Gimme a time Cw i will fish it with you? Just leave me a pm here or one of the other sites...


----------



## cwcarper (Apr 5, 2004)

Sounds good - I'll look at my schedule and let you know what's open.


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

I am on long weeken next weekend i think i am gonna do a 2 day session somewhere,i have a idea where jus gotta iron out some plans.i will let ya know the details if i can make it out.naybe get some of the other ohio carp crew together?


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

Hey Cw my dads 60th party is saturday so thats out.I may get out sunday,or monday.If anyone wants to tag along carp fishing with me,leave me a message,and i will give ya details....


----------



## cwcarper (Apr 5, 2004)

No problem - my father-in-law's birthday is Saturday and I'm in charge of making him dinner. I might try to get out somewhere early in the day on Saturday or possibly Sunday, depending on weather, but I'll probably have to do a short trip somewhere close to home. No weekday trips until things slow down at work a bit.


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

Looks like i will be off the summer anyway,maybe we can plan a trip to cowan or anywhere.even get the guys from occ to join too..


----------



## Catfish John (May 10, 2004)

i will second eastwood lake... there are two areas that hold the big carp... the water pipe running under harshman road.. in the summer time right at sunrise you will see the big ones sunning ... but my best luck has been down at the end of the main lake were when it floods it goes over into the little lake behind the jet ski beach its been about 8 yrs ago now but i caught a 48lber back there... bad thing was it was a tagged fish that someone took from rainbow lakes and let it loose in eastwood... the game warden was there watching me fight the fish and he netted it for me... when we both noticed the tag it was a major let down... couldve been state record... i didnt even get a chance to photograph it... he confiscated right there.. due to not being nature to the lake... and fish was destroyed.. but their are days back there you can seen em rolling and they are huge... 3-4ft in length... i used corn, homemade doughball and bread to catch em back there.... good luck...


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

i have fished eastwood several time all i could catch was dinks and their brother doink...lmao...seriously tho i saw several carp moving in their rolling and thrashing in the mornings but they were all small.Never saw any big fish roll or surface.I am sure there are a few big fish there just never saw them.Its likely the spawn may bring some fat women to the banks,but its hard to catch big fish in clear water during the day.Its better to fish them at night.Like when i go to dale hollow,90% of thr big fish are caught at nite.I personally belive its due to the clear water.Now if you can have a good grey cloudy day,they will move alot more.I will give eastwood another go but i will wait a little later in the year for it to warm more,because its a deep lake and it seems to take it a while to warm up.Maybe i will head there in April some time.


----------



## Catfish John (May 10, 2004)

yeah it was late june when i caught that pig there... so maybe the water temps and clarity are a big part of the dinks... lol..


----------



## ohioiceman (Jul 19, 2004)

or over to Rocky Fork. Not a flood control lake so steady lvls most of the year, tons of depth and structure choices from the bank and TONS of park and fish areas. Fished Cowan exclusively last year- you can't go wrong there, did not break 30 but pushed it twice with many 20-26#. Rocky Fork is the lake this year. 19 biggest so far but it just turned April. Hardest part with all the acces is sticking with my choice of swim for the weekend


----------



## Goosebuster (Mar 30, 2008)

well i spent most of the weekend at the nutter center with my girlfriend.Her daughter had a winter guard comp/so i havent made it out yet.I am going to heuston woods tomarrow bout 3 am.have a couple decent fish swims there.Also i will be fishing with my partner from hamilton.Stop out and see us if ya want....


----------

