Dealing with Fussy Fish

Just one small kernel of
maize on a small hair rig
with no sinker did the trick
with fussy fish.

This mirror went for the one
kernel of corn on the
freelined (no sinker)
rig.

This summer has been a struggle for me. The numbers and the sizes have just not been  there even though I have tried many different places.  Same story all over for me- slow fishing.
Today was an interesting day, though. I was in a place where I was getting hits.  I know they were carp because I saw some cruising around. They would pick up my combo bait of maize and artificial corn, go to run with it and drop it.  I knew I was dealing with fussy fish. So, I made some big changes.  I took off my rig and sinker rig and tied on just a hair rigged, small, #10 hook with a short hooklink. No sinker.  I decided to freeline just one one small kernel of maize on a weightless set up, something I have done in the past with fussy carp. That did the trick.  Within minutes, the alarm was screaming and I was onto a fish that turned out to be about a six pound mirror.
I wish I could tell you I killed the fish, but the truth is that I only landed one more fish today. Oh well, with the way things have been going, I'll take two fish in this morning's outing!

A Summer Surprise Leads to a Summer Hat Trick!

This was the surprise of the day!

I got quite the surprise today when I caught a beautiful white and orange koi. Over the years I have caught only a few of these so this was a special fish.  In addition to the koi, I also landed a good size common and a good size mirror, making this morning's catches a rare summer hat trick.  All these fish were caught on a combo bait of one kernel of maize and one, white, artificial corn fished on the hair rig.  I'm not using a method ball these days because it attracts too many turtles.

FINALLY....Number 500

This common, landed today, is number 500 on the year. Fishing
has been inconsistent lately.

It's been a grind for me this spring.  The carp fishing overall has been so inconsistent, maybe as a result of the weather. This extreme weather...very cold spring, very hot summer, real big rainstorms has played havoc with the fishing. Normally, I've got 500 carp by late June or early July, so I am way behind what I normally catch. I'm still hoping to hit a thousand fish this year, and I've got  five solid months to get it done. Things can get mighty hot mighty fast in this game.  We'll see what happens.
That 500th fish for the year turned out to be a common of about 6 or 7 lbs.  It hit a single kernel of maize threaded onto the hair rig.  I'm usually catching on plastic corn at this time of year, but they are not going for the plastics lately.  Today I had one outfit baited with plastics and one with real maize.  I landed three carp and they all went for the real stuff. I know full well that what happens today might not happen tomorrow and this fishing is a constant experiment for me.