February Opportunities

 

Here's a mirror that I landed today, Feb. 17. This
is a very early start for me here in RI.

If you were outside today and didn't know the month, you would think we were in the middle of April. In fact, just about all week seemed like mid April weather.  That warm weather melted the little ice that was left and upped the water temperatures.  It all gave the carp a false sense of spring.

In the last two days I was on a scouting mission, checking out a number of places in the state that usually produce in the early season.  While these places usually give up the first carp in late February or early March, I found out it's happening much earlier this year.

In my travels, I  landed a couple of feisty mirrors.  Nothing big, they went about 5 to 6 pounds apiece. I was amazed that these early season fish really ran off the line on the hit causing my alarm to scream.  Normally, the first fish are sluggish on the take and the fight, but not these.  It tells me the water is warmer than I thought and the fish are more active than I expected. Both fish fell for a combo bait of maize and a white artificial corn fished on the hair rig.  I caught the fish in spots I was prebaiting with maize in the last few days.