Fishing Cools in this Heat

In the last week, the fishing has cooled off for me in this intense heat.  I'm still seeing fish around, but they don't seem to be actively feeding.  I suspect this heat has put a damper on their feeding.

This was today's hot bait
combo.

I've been getting 1 to 4 fish a day in this recent hot
weather. Not hot and heavy but steadily fair.

I have been trying to get out at the cooler times of the day so I have been fishing mostly mornings up until about noontime. I'm getting about 1 to 4 fish an outing, way off from the average of 5 or 6 I had been getting earlier in the month. Still, I am catching so I continue to fish for carp just about every morning.

The hot baits seem to change almost daily.  Earlier in the week, a single white, artificial corn fishing on the hair rig did the trick.  Today, they wouldn't touch it.  The hot bait today that got me 4 fish was a combo bait of a small, pink, artificial corn with a single, small kernel of maize on the hair rig.  I haven't been going with a method ball due to the presence of turtles.

I've tried to bait up specific, small areas when I get to the location I fish. If I see a snapping turtle near me, I tend to move. Ah, I will be glad when they leave!

So, they fish are still hitting but we are in a slowdown.  Things should improve when we get a shot of cooler and rainy weather.

Photo of the Day....A Good Size Summer Mirror

This good size mirror that I landed this morning sits in the water about to
be released.  Fishing in the last week has been fair at best for me with one to three
fish an outing.  On the bright side, the fish have been bigger.

Photo of the Day....Catching in the Morning Rain

The morning rain was just enough to light up the fishing today.

An Unusual Mirror

This unusual colored mirror sits in the water about to be
released. Mirror carp are all different, but this one was
highly unusual with its orange fins  and lips and pinkish body

Check out this mirror carp that I caught tonight.  Its body was a pinkish/orange color.  It's dorsal fin was orange.  The tips of the other fins were orange.  It also had orange lips and orange nostrils. I've landed thousands of mirrors and they are all different, but this one was REALLY different.
On another note, I landed my 900th carp of the year this week. The big numbers I was catching earlier in the month have diminished in this heat, but it is still running good.  I got out this morning and landed 5 small ones.  I went out again in the evening and banked a couple of mid sized mirrors. We need a shot of cooler weather to perk things up with the bigger fish, but it doesn't look like that is happening anytime soon.

You Won't Believe this Trick

Looking to get a supply of
plastics? Try cutting up
some plastic worms.

Here's white and orange
plastic pieces on a hair rig.
This has been a hot bait in
the last few days

I have discovered something real hot.
As most of you know, I have been fishing a lot with plastics these days.  I've been using small plastic pop-up corn to avoid turtles and other pests. I was running low on my plastics so I decided to "make" my own.
I found a bunch of plastic worms in the basement so I simply cut them up with a razor blade into small pieces. I did this with some white worms and some orange worms.  This gave me a big supply of plastics.  Guess what?  They worked every bit as well as the plastic corn.  I caught a lot of fish in the last two days with white and orange cut up worm pieces fished on the hair rig.
These cut up worm pieces are so soft that you could fish them on a bare hook if you don't use a hair rig.
Fishing for me has turned real good again as I hit some fast fishing in the last three mornings.  In those three mornings, I have banked 24 carp with many of them coming on the plastic worm pieces.

Here's the proof as this good size mirror hit these white
and orange plastic pieces mounted on a hair rig.

Just Too Hot

Try to fish the coolest part of the day in this
heat.  For me, mornings have been the best
time to fish.

I am not a fan of hot weather, so my fishing has been curtailed in this hot streak we are now experiencing. I have tried to get out in the morning and I fish until about noontime.
The fishing has been ok for me in the last few days.  I tend to get a couple of fish, but even they are not feeding heavily in this hot weather.
This morning I got out and fished from  10:00 until 12:30.  I had a good outing and landed three commons and two mirrors.  I got them all on one kernel of white, artificial corn fished on the hair rig.  Forget using a method ball.  The turtles are all over the place, super active and will pounce on any kind of real bait that hits the water.  I tried a method ball yesterday to get some distance to my cast and had two large snapping turtles take the whole ball of bait. Even the sun turtles have been brutal in this heat.
Watch for the fishing to really improve once this weather breaks.  I hit a big day on Saturday in the drenching rain, and I look forward to the next soaker.  That little drop in water temperature usually gets the bigger fish active.

Photo of the Day....Another Big Fish on a Nasty Day

I landed this good size common in today's nasty weather. The fish hit a combo
bait of a white, pop-up artificial corn and a kernel of maize fished on the hair
rig.  I was also using a small method ball.