Photo of the Day- "Memorial Day Biggie"

I celebrated a quiet Memorial Day along the bank today. I was rewarded with
this gorgeous fully scaled mirror.  Big carp are hitting in RI as several  RI CAG members
report big fish catches in the past couple of days.

A Disappointing May

May is supposed to be a great month for carp fishing here in the Northeast. But, so far it has not been for me. Most Mays I can put about 100 fish on the bank with many large ones in the mix.  So far, I have landed a disappointing 17 fish for the month with most of them on the small side. And, I have been out trying just about every day.  I've seen very little activity (fish jumping, bubble trails, fish swimming by).They are just not active and not hitting. The other day I put a pile of bait in some clear water right in front of me. I saw several carp swim right over it and they never stopped to eat.

Here's a recent catch coming ashore.  Fishing
has been off big time in May so far here in RI.

Some of it I blame on the coronvirus restrictions.  Lots of lakeside spots that I normally fish are closed and off limits to fishing.  I have not tried to travel to MA and CT waters where I have scored well in past Mays because of out-of-state travel restrictions. In addition, the weather has been crappy.  It's been all over the place.  There have been lots of wind and cold nights with little of no consistency to the weather. 

So, I know from experience that carp fishing can suddenly turn around and go from bad to terrific.  It looks like we are getting into a more favorable weather pattern in the next week.  I'm hoping that will improve the fishing.

Inconsistent Weather = Inconsistent Fishing

Here is my 300th carp for 2020. Fishing has been inconsistent
in May.

The weather in May is following the patterns of April.  It's all over the place. Warm, cold, wind, calm, rainy, sunny. It never seems to get in a consistent pattern, and that has really thrown off the carp fishing for me. On the few warm days, I did quite well, but when those nighttime temperatures dropped into the 30's the fishing fell off. Let's hope we get into a consistent weather pattern soon.
On a positive note, I landed my 300th carp of the year this week.  It was a nice looking 10 lb. mirror. I got it on a combo bait of maize and a white artificial corn fished on the hair rig.
By the way, I am now fishing with maize rather than sweet corn.  The pests (turtles, bluegills, horned pout) are now out in force, and the maize is more durable and lasts longer than the delicate sweet corn.