I went out to Johnson Lake last night (Wadsworth and Bowles) and tried fishing for carp. I used corn and PowerBait corn...both on the bottom and under a bobber. NOTHING!!! They were all around jumping like crazy. Any advice for catching them?
For carp I always do better with malberries if there is a mallberry tree on the lake, but if not dough bait is great or nightcrawlers right before they turn all mushy from being in the sun all day.
Isn't it alittle late in the year for that? I know @ Barr they spawned a couple months ago, Wouldn't it be the same everywhere based on the water temps?
Carp that you see jumping out of the water are not feeding. If you see carp thrashing about in the shallows and weedbeds, they are spawning and will not eat.
If they are doing neither of the above, you can probably catch them. One of the best carp baits I have found is homemade doughballs. Here is the recipe:
Take equal parts of flour and WHITE corn meal (not yellow). About half a cup each is about right. Mix them up together in a bowl until thoroughly blended. Then mix in water, not quite half a cup and stir until the mix has the consistency of soft biscuit dough. It should just barely stick to your hands when you try to roll some into a ball, but it should not be real gooey.
Roll the dough up into balls about the size of the end joint of your thumb, and drop them into a pan of boiling water for about 15 minutes. Move the pan to the sink and run cold water in it until you can handle the doughballs. Close them up in a jar or tupperware container and you are ready to go carp fishing.
To rig up, if you need a sinker to cast far enough, use the sliding egg kind of sinker so the carp can pull the line through it without feeling the weight of the sinker. No sinker at all is better if you can manage it. Attach a #2 Eagle Claw hook and form the doughbait in a ball around it to cover the lower 2/3 of the hook, including the point. You don't have to use a whole doughball at one time, just pinch off what you need.
When fishing, leave quite a bit of slack line out, don't tighten it up. When that slack line suddenly takes off and starts splitting the water like a knife, you have a carp, and the fight of a lifetime!
One thing: do NOT leave your rod unattended unless it is firmly secured in some way. More than one carp fisherman has turned his back for a moment to take a pee, only to have his rod and reel leap into the air and take off for parts unknown. (The same applies to catfish, of course.)
There are variations on the basic recipe -- some like to add sugar, vanilla, etc. Suit yourself, it won't hurt anything. My dad liked to add strawberry Jello to his. But when we fished side by side, I caught as many as he did using just the recipe above.
One last thing, carp fishing is not the place to be using ultralight tackle. Get a 15 or 20 pound carp on there and he will run you out of line without even slowing down.
Yep, so have I. I look at the situation this way: if you are specifically targeting carp, and only carp, go with the doughballs. If you are out after anything that might bite, including perhaps a carp, that's when you go with the night crawlers.
Nuke Bait
Submitted By Jay, Aurora, Colorado
Ingredients:
* 2 cups cornmeal
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1 cup oatmeal
* 3 tsp maple syrup
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 pkg gelatin(strawberry,cherry,grape-Any flavor)
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 2 cups h2o
* 1 bag of small flavored marshmallows
Preparation:
1. Pour all ingredients except flour into pot, mix together
2. On medium-low heat, stir all ingredient together till all marshmallows are gone
3. Add 1/2 cup flour and stir till there is no flour left.
4. Add another 1/2 cup flour and stir till there is no flour left
5. And once again add another 1/2 cup flour and stir till there is no flour left
6. Keep stiring till its like dough or till your wrist is broken, what ever comes first :-)
7. Put in a old butter tub and place in fridge till ready to use
8. When at the water, roll into good sized ball around hook.
i just buy cheap bread at the store and smash it down on a hook ....the lake i fish for carp at they jump pretty much all year round so i honestly think they are feeding on something .
Actually I have caught the most carp while they are spawning my secret is a small white jig for somereason it drives them nuts and they will almost always take it. I just toss it out in front of the fish and drag it along the bottom just in front of them works really well anytime you see em feeding on the bottom actually. I do a lot fo sight fishing for carp this way with an ultralite rod its a blast.
Scott
Thanks for all of the advice. Where would everyone reccomend trying for carp? I would really like to try the ponds on the golf course where I live - but probably would get kicked out. Any small public ponds anyone can suggest?
Again, thanks.
And to whoever put this site together - it is great! too bad I can't find enough time to get out and fish as much as I would like and give more reports.
;D Try Chatfeild ponds off of C470 and Santa fe there are plenty of hudge carp in those ponds and also in the platte river. I ve caught several in the 20 lb range. on dough balls. We sometimes keep them and use carp for our garden. They make great fertilizer.
I just moved to CO and part of the reason I moved her is that I wanted to be able to hunt and fish.
So far I've been kind of skunked. Lots of smaller trout but nothing that big.
Barker Meadow Reservoir is closest to me as I live in Boulder Canyon.
For the most part it still seems dead...
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