Big Baits Effective Now!

 

Here is a "big bait" that
I used today to catch
the mid twenty pound
carp at the right. The
boilie is a homeade
15mm strawberry boilie.

We are in the post spawn period right now.  This is a time when big carp are
really feeding after doing little feeding in the spawn.  Last year at this time I switched tactics and went to larger baits which seemed to catch far more carp and bigger carp than the smaller baits. I'm doing that again this year and it is working, especially with carp over 20 lbs. Here are a few "big bait" ideas:

1. Boilie/ maize combo- I used a homemade strawberry boilie today along with a kernel of maize to nail a mid-twenty pound carp.  Boilies were really hot last year at this time. I landed several thirties last year at this time on boilies.  I will use 12, 15 and even 20 mm size boilies. Fruity flavors and coconut flavors are good.

2.  Snowman set up-  Many big fish sharpies will opt for two 12 mm boilies on a hair rig which is called a snowman rig.  Good idea to have two different colors and two different flavors. I have a friend who landed several twenties this week on a snowman rig.

3. Two quads- I have been writing a lot  about using Mainline Quads.  I have used two of them (different colors) to catch some decent size carp in the last week. A lot of buoyancy with the two quads.

Note that boilies can be purchased at online stores such as Big Carp Tackle.

Photo of the Day..."On the Quad"

Here is a twenty pounder that I landed 
yesterday.  The hot bait was a combo bait
of a chartreuse quad with a kernel of maize
on the hair rig. For more about quads,
check out the previous post.

 

Hot Stuff

 

Check out this 29 lb. beast that was landed on
a quad several days ago. These are some of the 
hottest baits I have ever used.

I'll bet most of you reading this have no idea what a QUAD is. I was introduced to this bait by one of my friends from the UK. Quads are small square baits produced by Mainline baits in the UK.  They actually look like small colored oyster crackers. The ones I have are pink, light green and white and have a pleasant fruity smell. This variety is called Essential Cell Baits and they pop up. These are some of the most buoyant baits for their size that I have ever seem.  When hair rigged on a hook with a combination of maize and the quad, they will lift the bait off the bottom.

My friend from the UK started using these while I was fishing with him.  He far out fished me as I was using my old standby plastic artificial corn with a kernel of maize. I decided I just had to have this bait so I ordered a jar from a tackle store in the UK. Big Carp Tackle in the US had them but sold out (not surprised).

Almost immediately I started catching with this bait.  At times I used it in combination with maize.  Other times I used two quads of different colors. It seemed to me that the pink ones worked the best.  In a short time using them, I landed good number of 20's and even a 30 lber.  Many times I baited one rod with the quad and the other rod with the plastic pop-up and corn. It was always the quad that produced.

Sometimes fish are used to seeing a certain bait in a certain venue, and they will jump on something that might be different.  This is certainly different, but I can tell you that it is one of the hottest baits I have ever used.

This is THE bait that has been so effective for me.

Quads are small square baits that are
extremely buoyant. My best rigging
has been a combo bait of one quad
and a kernel of maize.

Pink Colors Hot

 

Check out what's in the lip of a carp
I caught today.  It's a combo bait of
a pink artificial corn along with 
a kernel of real maize.

Pink in the hot bait color.  Every bait I use I try to add some pink to it.  In the last two weeks that bright pink  has done the trick in luring good numbers of carp of all sizes to hit. 

Here's a few ideas that have worked well:

1. Pink plastic pop-up corn with a kernel of real corn on the hair rig- This has scored big numbers of fish for me with the pink pop-up far outproducing my old standby white pop-up. I like to use this set-up with a method ball packed around my sinker.

2. Pink quads with either a kernel of real corn or a white plastic pop-up- Quads are small square-like baits similar to a boilie.  They are quite buoyant so this set up lifts off the bottom. Quads are produced by Mainline baits and are hard to find (more coming on this in a later post).  I also fish this with a method ball.

3. Pink, strawberry flavored boilies-  These have also been working in either a sinking or floating version.  I like the 12mm or 15 mm size. Sometimes I cut these in half and use it with another bait, usually a kernel of maize.

April Results for RI Spring Big 3 Tournament

Tom Perron- 21 lbs., 6 oz.

Brian Savage- 31 lbs., 14 oz.!

 Our RI CAG Spring Big 3 Tournament is one third finished with
the April results reported.  In this tournament, RI CAG members will enter their biggest carp for April, the biggest for May and the biggest for June.  We add up all the weights and that becomes the point total. All fish must be caught in RI waters, and the fish must all be released. Winners will receive engraved medals for first , second and third place that are provided by the national CAG.  Once again, our guys did a great job of catching some big fish.  

Here are the current leaders:

1st- Brian Savage- 31 lbs., 14 oz.

2nd- Tom Perron-  21 lbs., 6 oz.

3rd- Tony Carvalho- 13 lbs.