Bad Start Ends With a Wild Day

I set out this morning with two spots in mind.  According to my logs, both places had fished well in the past in the beginning of September and both places had a history of producing in the rain.  I met my friend and fellow CAGer Paul at the first spot.  We fished here in the rain for over an hour.  We didn't get a hit or even see a fish jump the whole time I was there.  So, it was on to Plan 2.

I went to one pond; Paul went to another.  When I got to spot 2 I knew right away I was in for some action.  Fish were rolling and jumping out of the water like missiles being launched.  I casted two rods out and set them on the alarms.  Just as I was about to sit down, both alarms  went off at the same time.  Yup, a double header to start the outing (see pic).  From there the fishing progressed at a fast rate as I landed 12 decent sized commons up to 10 lbs. and had another two fish on. I also had another double later in the day.  This was all happening in a backdrop of torrential rain and gusty winds. To give you an idea how hard it rained, while I was at the pond, the water level rose at least three inches in just a few hours.  I credit the wild weather for the hot action.  This is a pattern I have seen played out over and over again with carp fishing. They go nuts in bad weather.

Once again, the hot bait was a combo of one kernel of sweet corn along with one kernel of pineapple/whiskey flavored maize on the hair rig all fished ahead of a method ball.  But, I will tell you that I ran out of method and still caught fish with just the bait.

This is the start of the fall feed.  Carp fishing should continue to be good in the coming weeks and months as we enter one of the best times of the year to fish for them here in RI.