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.