2016: An Excellent Year of Carp Fishing

I was on a discovery theme for most of the year.  Here is a
nice 20 + lb. common that I landed in a new spot
on the CT River in CT.

This past year, 2016, turned out to be the second best year I have ever experienced numbers-wise. I ended up with a total of 970 carp, an astounding number only surpassed by last year's total of 1300 carp. My best month numbers-wise turned out to be August (surprise!) in which I landed 178 carp.  I had my best day of carp fishing with 30 fish on November 8.
Numbers don't always tell the complete story.  This was a year in which I landed very good numbers of decent fish from the high teens all the way up to 30 lbs. plus. The biggest mirror that I landed was a whopping 32 lbs. while the biggest common tipped the scales at 28+ pounds. Both were caught on a combo bait of maize and artificial corn fished on the hair rig.

Biggest carp fo the year for me was this hog of a mirror that
tipped the scales at 32 lbs.

One of the themes in my fishing this year was "discovery".  With many of my past spots being loaded with fishermen, I decided to look for lots of new places to fish. My travels took me instate to places I had never fished before as well as to big waters out of state.  For the first time I bought a license in CT and fished the world class CT River numerous times.  I landed quite a few 20's there along with some big channel catfish.  I also found lots of new places in nearby MA that delivered hundreds of carp for me up into the 20's. I took this discovery thing one step further and entered the CAG Discovery Month contest.  I won that along with the CAG Discovery Month Photo Contest.
I did my best this year in in CAG's Big 4 Tournaments.  I came in second place the the Spring Big 4 (106 lbs., 4 oz.) and third place in the Fall Big 4 (106 lbs., 4 oz).  Both were my best finishes in those events.
I usually begin my year hoping to land about 500 carp. Catching close to a thousand fish far exceeded this goal,  It was a great year for me.