2023- The Year in Review

 

My biggest carp of the year was this mammouth
fish of 38 lbs., 12 oz., a potential state record that
was released.

One word describes this past year of carp fishing in RI- SUBPAR. This was a year that I landed my fewest numbers of carp in the last ten years even though I fished the same number of times.  However, I must admit that I did land good numbers of large fish over 20 lbs., including three thirties.  I released two fish that would have been potential RI state records.  Those fish, 38 lbs., 12 oz. and 36 lbs., 4 oz. were magnificent RI fish. The 38 was a top 5 fish of all time for me.  Another highlight for me was coming in 3rd place in the CAG National Big 4 Spring Tournament, my best finish in recent years. I had 4 fish totaling 133 lbs., 12 oz., an average of over 33 lbs. per fish!

Some of the big issues that affected the numbers were high water and invasive weed. I was constantly struggling in these big rainstorms which sent the water in the woods in many places. When that happens a lot of carp feed in the flooded woods and you just can't get to them.  Invasive weed was also a big issue with big time weed growth happening because of a perfect storm of hot weather, lots of rain and runoff. The water chestnut took over many of my favorite spots.  Milfoil was another culprit that clogged many of my carp spots. All this weed was around big time from June to October.

Here are some numbers from my logs:

*Total number of carp landed - 411

*Number of carp over 30 lbs.- 3

*Best month numbers-wise- April, 114 carp landed

*Worst month (non winter)- November, 18 carp landed

*Best month for big carp- April, 17 carp over 20 lbs.

*Best Bait- Combo bait of one kernel of white artificial maize and one kernel of real maize on the hair rig

Invasive weed like this water chestnut covered
massive areas of some ponds and made fishing
impossible in 2023. Milfoil was equally as bad 
in some places.

CAG Fall Big 4- 11th place

 

One of my entries in the Fall Big 4- 24 lbs., 6 oz.

I ended up in 11th place in this year's CAG National Fall Big 4 Tournament.  I just missed the prize categories of 1st through 10th place. 

This was a tough fall tournament. We had a lot of sharpies from all over the country competing.  These were some of the best carp fishermen in the US, and they were fishing some of the best fall locations, mainly big rivers. I knew before I started that I needed about 110 lbs. of fish to make the top ten (weights of top four fish). That meant catching at least two thirty pounders or a couple of high twenties along with other fish over 20 lbs.  That's a tall order here in RI.

Here are my top four fish that I entered: 20 lbs., 6 oz., 22 lbs., 4 oz., 24 lbs., 6 oz., and 29 lbs., 6 oz. My four fish total came out to 96 lbs., 6 oz.  All my fish were caught in either RI or MA waters. 

November proved particularly tough for me. There was a lot of wild weather and the waters were high.  Weed was dying in a lot of places and problematic at times. And, the fish were just not cooperative.  I landed only a grand total of 18 carp in November, and I did not have a single carp over twenty pounds.  All my tournament entries were landed in October.

December Nights

 

First one of the night was a mirror.  It hit a combo
bait of maize and an artificial corn.

This is the time of year that I often fish at night, especially a warm night.  For some reason, carp will prowl the shallows at night in late fall in search of food.

Tonight I had the right conditions.  It was warm yesterday followed by a warm night and warm again today.  So I prebaited a spot I wanted to fish this afternoon and headed out after dark.  I managed to get three fish, all mirrors and all mid size- 6 to 10 lbs. I got them all on a combo bait of a white pop-up artificial corn fished with a kernel of maize on the hair rig.  I used no method. I like to go "small" on the bait in cold water.

Carp will continue to hit even in cold weather until skim ice starts to form. Once the ice comes, they seem to go into a funk in still water lakes and ponds.  They tend to be more active in moving water (rivers and streams).  Don't expect to catch big numbers in December, and any carp landed in December is a bonus in my book!.

Final fish of the night was this good looking mirror!

Results of 2023 RI CAG Fall Combo Tournament

Tom Perron, gold medal!

 

Brian Savage- silver medal!

The RI CAG fall combo tournament is in the books. The event ran from Sept. 1st to the end of November.  Our members fished and entered fish by length (inches).  We had three categories: mirrors, commons and a bonus fish (catfish or sucker). Add up the total lengths and that was the score.  Once again, our top two big carp fishermen, Tom Perron and Brian Savage, slugged it out for the top spot with some impressive fish.

Here are the final results:

Gold medal- Tom Perron- 79 points (30 inch mirror, 30 inch common, 19 inch sucker or catfish)

Silver medal- Brian Savage- 60 points (30 inch mirror, 30 inch common)

Bronze medal- Tony Carvalho- 15 points (15 inch catfish)