Photo of the Day...Number 800 on the Year Landed

This good looking common is my 800th carp of the year.  The mid summer
fishing continues to be productive.

Crazy Action in this Crappy Weather

This mirror carp is one of thirty carp landed in the last two days.
The action has been great in this crappy weather.

Clouds, sun, rain, wind, thunder, clearing.  Pick your weather. It seems to change by the hour.That's the way it has been in the last few days.  Yet, with all this unpredictable weather, the carp are on the feed.  I've had the BEST back to back days numbers-wise of the whole summer banking a whopping  30 carp in the last two days. They haven't been big, but they sure have been plentiful.
The top bait continues to be plastics with white being the best color.  I am fishing one small, white aritificial corn on the hair rig with no method. I am baiting up along the margins and am fishing  just a flip cast from shore.  Turtles have been all around me every day, but for the most part, they have left the plastics alone. At one point, I counted nine sun turtle heads within a ten foot radius of my bait pile.
For the most part, it has been an uneventful July for me except for the hot action of the last few days. I'm guessing that so long as this weather pattern remains the same, the fishing will remain good.

Taking the Fight to the Camera

I have been experimenting with a Go Pro type underwater camera that I bought.  I can get some neat underwater video with this camera.  The fishing has been good from my end, and here is just the latest adventure!

Beating the Doldrums.....an Approach to Dead of Summer Fishing

This is one of 20 carp landed in the
last two days.  They are hitting in this heat.

So simple.  I am using one
kernel of artificial corn on
the hair rig to catch all my fish.

We are in the summer doldrums for sure.  The water is oh, so warm, maybe in the mid 80's in shallow places.  The water is also very low and weedy.  And, pests are everywhere.
Yet, summer carp fishing can be good.  In the last two days I have banked 20 carp in just 6 hours of fishing. So they are hitting.  It's just a matter of your approach.
Here are some tips for beating the doldrums:
1.  Fish the Coolest Part of the Day- I have been fishing the mornings, generally before noontime.  In the afternoon, the action really trails off.  The cooler times of the day are mornings, evening and nighttime.  Those are the most productive times to fish in the summer heat.
2. Fish the Shade- If you can, try tossing your offering into the shady spots.  It's cooler there and you'll find the fish more active.  I like to fish "shade lines", those shady lines formed by tree's shade along the shore.
3.  Use Plastics- All the fish I caught in the last two days were taken on white, plastic corn.  I am only using one kernel on a short hair rig.  I'm using no method to avoid luring pests. Turtles and horned pout tend to turn their noses up on plastics, and generally only carp will hit it.
4. Prebait a Small, Tight Area- When I get to my spot I will toss in a few handfuls of maize into a small, tight area. If a snapping turtle comes along I will leave and go to another location. I will keep the bait going into the spot if I am catching fish. I'll cast my offering right into the bait pile.
5. Take What you Can Get- I have never landed a thirty pounder in July so big fish are tough to come by here in RI at this time. This is a time to take what's available and not worry about the size of the fish.  Most of those 20 fish I landed in the last two days have been under 10 lbs.

A Stealthy Approach: Freelining Maize

This good size mirror was landed on freelined
maize, and effective way to catch fussy carp.

I've written many times on this blog about freelining both bread and mulberries.  This past week I have been freelining maize a lot and have had good success doing it. Maize is large and tough corn that you buy in feed stores as "whole corn".  You boil it for about half and hour to soften it up before use.

Freelining maize involves
just using the hook and one
piece of bait. Toss this into
a chum pile in close to shore.

Freelining is a simple yet very effective technique.  It involves just using a small hook (suggest #8) with no weight, no hooklink, no hardware. The hook is tied to the end of your line.  The bait is then put directly on the hook. There's little weight here so casting is tough.  The fish must be feeding right near you for this to work.
This works especially well when you have spooky, sensitive fish feeding in close to shore in shallow water. I found a spot just like this description this week.  When I arrive at this spot I toss in a handful of maize into the water.  That scares off the wary carp that are there.  I then toss my freelined maize right into the pile of bait, find a quiet location to sit, and wait with the rod in my hand. After about 10 minutes the curious carp return to check out the maize and begin to feed.  I can there quietly and watch a feeding carp pick up my hooked piece of maize.  As it takes off, I pull. The fight of that hooked carp and the landing of it often scares off the others, but they return after 10 minutes of so.
Freelining is just another method in the bag of tricks many experienced carp fishermen use. For fussy and sensitive fish, it is a very effective way to catch them.

Music to Our Ears

Experienced carp fishermen can't live without them. Newcomers want them.  And, non-carpers don't know what the heck it is. Yup, I'm talking about a bite alarm.

Hot and Steamy

This good slize mirror that's coming ashore
was one of ten carp landed on this hot and
steamy day.

It's been more than the weather that has been hot in the last few days.  The carp fishing has been equally hot for me.
Today was a steam bath, but the carp were still hitting.  I went out in the morning for a two hour session and came away with 7 fish. Carp, just like us, like the cool shade on these hot and steamy days.  I was sitting under a shady tree and fishing right along the shade line in a pond, a great location to try on these hot, sunny days.  That's where the fish were holed up.  I tossed in some corn when I got there, and the fish came around in no time.  I was using plastic artificial corn on the hair rig since my chum also attracted a bunch of sun turtles.  The carp will hit the plastic corn, but the clever turtles are not fooled!
Later on in the evening I went out right before dark for an hour or so.  I landed three good size carp on freelined mulberries.  Once again, I was in the shade of a mulberry tree that was dropping berries. The carp were right there.
Carp are some of the most adaptable fish in freshwater. They will feed on these hot and steamy July days when the water temperatures in shallow ponds get  up into the low eighties.  These same fish will also feed in December when ice hugs the shoreline and water temperatures are barely 35 degrees.

Results of 2018 RI CAG Spring Big 3 Tournament

Angel Medrano, gold medal winner-
76 lbs., 10 oz.

Sean Reed, silver medal winner-
62 lbs., 7 oz.

Our big spring tournament is over and once again, our guys and gals landed some impressive carp.  In this tournament all the fish must be landed from RI waters. Our members entered their biggest carp for April, their biggest for May and their biggest for June.  We added up the weights and that was the final score.
Angel Medrano took the gold medal (provided by the national CAG organization).  Angel was the only one able to put three 20+ lb. fish on the board.  He led the tournament from start to finish and had a very impressive combined weight of 76 lbs., 10 oz.
Sean Reed came in second place and won a silver medal with a combined weight of 62 lbs., 7 oz.  What was impressive about Sean's catches was that they were all mirror carp.
Tom Perron, one of the most consistent big carp fishermen in the state, came in third and won the bronze medal with a total of 61 lbs., 6 oz.
Here are the final results below:

Final Standings for RI CAG Spring Big 3

2018

1.Angel Medrano- 25 lbs., 15 oz.+ 26 lbs., 5oz. + 24 lbs., 6 oz. =76 lbs., 10 oz.

2. Sean Reed- 21 lbs.+ 22 lbs., 4 oz + 19 lbs., 3 oz. = 62 lbs., 7 oz.

 3.Tom Perron – 26 lbs., 10 oz.+21 lbs., 6 oz.+ 13 lbs., 6 oz.=61 lbs., 6 oz

4.Tony Carvalho- 14 lbs., 6 oz.+ 19 lbs., 4 oz.+ 27 lbs., 3 oz =60 lbs., 13 oz.

5.Brian Savage- 18 lbs., 8 oz.+ 21 lbs., 6 oz + 19 lbs.= 58 lbs., 14 oz

6.Laura Mitchell- 16 lbs., 4 oz.+ 17 lbs.+ 15 lbs. =48 lbs./4 oz.

7.Manny Dias- 18 lbs., 3 oz.