Successful Take A Kid Carp Fishing Day in RI

Today was TAKC, RI, or Take a Kid Carp Fishing Day here in RI.  It is an event sponsored by the national Carp Anglers Group.  State chapters all over the country are holding events this weekend. Our RI CAG group held our own event here in a small pond in Lincoln, RI.  We had three kids, Austin, Ben and Peter show up to try their luck at carp fishing.  At the end of the morning all three boys landed some good looking mirror carp.  And, all three landed the biggest fish they had ever caught in freshwater.  These fish were all in the 5-6 lb. range.  They were all caught on chick peas fished on a hair rig. 

By coming to the event and catching a carp, all three boys will be entered in a drawing for prizes that will be given out by the Carp Anglers Group. Congrats to all the boys on their catches and hopefully, this will be the first of many carp that will come their way!

Change in Plans for Take A Kid Fishing Day

Cancel Lincoln Woods for our Saturday event....way too many people, dogs, cars and boats.  It was a real zoo there this week.  So, we are moving to a small, quiet venue. Anyone interested, drop me an e-mail and I will send you directions.

Add Doughballs to List of Hot Baits Right Now

In the last few days I have gotten decent numbers of carp in the 8-15 lb. range.  All of them have been taken on either doughballs or chick peas, the two hottest baits to use right now.  I have tried sweet corn and maize with no luck.

A few posts ago, I gave the readers a lot of information about fishing with chick peas.  Here's the scoop on using doughballs.  Doughballs are the white part of a piece of bread.  Take a small piece of it and knead it into a hard ball that is 10-12 mm in diameter, or about the size of a small marble.  I then like to set the doughballs out in the sun to harden a bit.  I then hair rig these doughballs (see photo).  Another option is to simply pack the bait around a small #6 or #8 hook if you are not using a hair rig.  While doughballs are top notch baits for carp, everything else that swims loves them including snapping turtles.  Yes, I have gotten a couple of those in the last couple of days also!

Take A Kid Carp Fishing Day....next Sat.

The national Carp Anglers Group has designated next Saturday, June 23 as "Take a Kid Carp Fishing Day".  We will join in the event here in RI by hosting a kids fish-in at Lincoln Woods State Park on Saturday from 9:00 to noontime.  We'll be fishing the islands area along the main road just past the main beach parking area and before the boat landing. Some of our members will be there to assist kids who might want to give carp fishing a try.  If the carp are not cooperative, there are plenty of bluegills and other fish to perk the kids' interest.  Anyone can join us at this informal event.  Just bring along your gear and we'll assist you in getting started. Best bait for carp here includes doughballs and chick peas along with boilies. The use of corn is prohibited because this place is stocked with trout  We will have bait if you need it.   Note that any kid who attends must be accompanied by an adult. Hope to see some of you.

Record Day.....for Turtles!

Today was a record day for me as I landed more snapping turtles in one day than any other.  SEVEN! Yup, seven different snappers made it to shore on the end of my line today in Brickyard Pd. in Barrington.  That pond is loaded with two things....turtles and carp and today it was the turtles that were most active.  I fished there with my friend Paul.  He only got one turtle but it was the pool winner that had to go at least 50 lbs.  It was enormous.  It's been a bad summer for turtles thus far and the summer has only begun.  I feel like I have a turtle curse this year.

Mulberry Drop in Full Swing

Mulberries are falling like raindrops in a lot of places right now.  Do you know of a mulberry tree along the shore of a carp pond or river?  If so, fish that spot.  Carp just love mulberries and they will go crazy feeding on them.  They will take them off the surface as well as off the bottom.

The strategy for the carp fisherman is to freeline these berries.  Simply impale them on a #6 or #8 hook (see photo at left).  You may have to squeeze them a bit to get the air out if you want them to sink.  Simply cast the offering (no sinker) and let it sink.  Any carp in the area usually go right after your offering.  I've been catching carp (see photo at right of fish caught this morning) the last two days on mulberries.  They should continue dropping for the next couple of weeks.  In the past I have caught several carp over 20 lbs. using mulberries.

Chick Peas Hot Bait Right Now

The last six carp I have caught in the last few days have all been caught on the same bait- chick peas.  In the photo at right is a near 20 lber. that I landed yesterday on a chick pea. This is a great substitute to use for corn when fishing trout stocked waters in RI and you can use them in other waters as well.  When using chick peas (also called garbanzo beans), I generally use only one pea on the hair rig since they are much bigger than a kernel of corn and about the size of a 10 mm boilie.

 

If you want to try this bait, avoid buying the canned chick peas.  They are way too mushy to use on the hair rig.  You want to buy the dried ones.  Here's how to prepare them.  Boil some water in a pot.  Once the water is boiling, toss in the amount of chick peas you want to prepare.  Boil exactly 20 minutes and then take off the heat and let them cool.  You can keep them for a while in the fridge until you use them.  They may last upwards of a week when refrigerated.

Turtles Incredibly Pesty

Here comes my turtle tirade for 2012. 
I can't stand them!  They are out in full force right now.  Both the large snapping turtles and sneaky sun turtles are keying on anything that hits the water, especially my bait.  I swear they go by the sound of the sinker and bait hitting the water and immediately hone in on the bait like bees to honey.  There's not much you can do about it except to check your bait often and rebait.  Sun turtles have the nasty habit of picking the bait apart without moving the rod tip a twitch so there is no warning that they are removing your carp bait.  Snapping turtles will bounce the rod tip or even move off slowly with the bait setting off the alarm as if it's in slow motion. You'll hook most of them.  Good luck getting your hook and sinker back.  It seems to me that there is an explosion in the turtle population compared to years ago.  Maybe it's our warming weather or maybe there are just not that many predators after them to control the population.  What the heck eats a turtle?  I know a couple of Russians who catch a lot of carp who could really put a dent in the population if they could develop a liking for turtle soup.
So, I'm on a hunt for that ideal summer water that holds lots of carp and very few turtles.  I've been looking for that spot for years but have had no luck finding it.  Meanwhile it looks like I'll be putting up with these pests for the next three months. I can't stand those darn turtles!

Moving into a Summer Pattern

I'm convinced we have moved into a summer feeding pattern.  Most of the carp in RI have spawned and are now on the summer feed.  For fishermen, that means the best times to fish are now early morning and right before and after dark.  The daytime action is pretty much over, especially if you are fishing on a sunny day.  Lousy, rainy days can also be good.

With summer fishing comes an abundance of pests to deal with.  Turtles are a major problem in some spots as they will pick you to death and barely twitch the rod. Large snapping turtles can play havoc with the equipment and are not predators to take lightly.  Break the line in close to avoid dealing with a hooked one.  Other pests such as horned pout, suckers, dace and bluegills are also actively stealing bait.  In the last week, my bait (mostly sweet corn) has been constantly taken off the hook by pests.  Maize is a more durable bait but less effective than the sweet corn.  However, every once in a while a screaming runner grabs hold of the bait signaling a carp hit.  My advice is to check your bait every half hour or so, especially if you notice small taps on the rod tip.