FABULOUS Winter Outing

The first fish of the
day turned out to be a
double of a mirror
and a common.

Today, on this rainy and warm day, I had one of the very best winter outings I have ever experienced.  Most of you know I love to fish in this nasty weather, and I have had some very big outings in the past in this weather. January is a tough time to fish for carp in the best of weather days.  I have fished two times earlier this month and blanked. So, when I left the house this morning, I would have been happy to land one or two fish.
I landed a whopping 14 carp. The haul included 11 mirrors and 3 commons.  While most of these fish went 4-8 lbs., I had three fish over ten pounds including a good size mirror that tipped the scales at 17 lbs. I even had a double as the first fish of the day turned out to be two fish, a mirror and a common, that hit at the same time on the two outfits I was using. The fish were all caught in open, ice free water, and all the fish fell for a combination of one kernel of maize and one kernel of sweet corn fished on the hair rig. In addition, I used an oatmeal based method ball up ahead of my hair rig.

Today's biggest fish turned out to be a
17 lb. mirror.  Three fish out of the 14 landed today
weighed more than ten pounds.

With this warm spell wiping out the ice in many places, look for carp fishing to perk up in many spots around the state and in nearby MA.  Most river spots with current are free of ice right now and many small ponds should be ice free by late in the week.  This is a window of opportunity to get out and catch a carp in the middle of winter.