A Terrific Day

I headed out yesterday to do some carp fishing in one of my favorite spots. Everything was just right for a big day. It was cool and cloudy with a rain threat, and there was just a slight breeze. It was ideal carp fishing weather to fish in the daytime.

As for the fishing, I ended up landing 18 carp with the biggest one going 26.5 lbs. (pic at right). I had two other low twenties and nearly everything else was in the teens. It was my best day this year numbers wise. The hot bait was Wild Whiskey maize (what else?) fished ahead of an oatmeal based method ball. But, here's a surprise. They stopped hitting the wild whiskey so I fished doughballs made from wheat bread on one rod. That was hot as I had three fish in less than an hour on it with no hits on the wild whisky on the other rod. Don't underestimate the power of a doughball. It can be real effective.

RI CAG Members Scoring

In the last week, many of our members have landed some hefty fish. Here is just a sampling of what has been taken. Nice catches, guys!

In a Summer Mode

I know the weather has become cooler, but it seems to me that the carp are moving into a summer feeding pattern. In the last week or so, I have noticed that the action has been the best right before and right after dark with the daytime action really trailing off. The rainy days have also been good. That is similar to what happens in summer fishing.

Earlier in the week, I went out on a rainy day and landed 5 good sized mirrors up to 18 lbs. Tonight my son Jon (photo at right) and I went out and sure enough, three runners went screaming off right after sunset. We had fished for an hour and a half before that and nothing. The times you fish do make a difference in your success rate in the coming months.

The CAG "Big 4"

The Carp Anglers Group is holding a tournament for its members that runs the whole month of May. It is called the Big 4, and it is the total weight of the biggest four carp you can catch in the month of May. This is the first year that I have entered the contest. In fact, I don't believe anyone from RI has entered this event in the past. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a Rhode Islander to win this thing considering you are competing against fishermen from big carp hotspots like Texas, the St. Lawrence River, Ontario and Michigan.

When I started, my goal was a top ten finish and landing 100 lbs. for 4 fish. I am happy to say I've already surpassed the hundred pounds and currently I sit in second place. At the present time, I also have the largest mirror entered at 29 lbs., 4 oz. Lots of things will change before the end of the month as some of the big names in carp fishing have still not even entered a fish.

The CAG offers many events such as this to its members. Membership certainly has its privileges. You can join the CAG by going to its website at http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/

Not Always Hot

The RI CAG group held their spring fish-in yesterday at Roger Williams Park. We had about 12 fishermen (over 20 rods) and guests and everyone who was fishing knew what they were doing. We also prebaited the area yesterday so we did everything just right. We were also fishing a place that had hot fishing for the last week. We didn't make out well. There was one small fish on and lost at the net and that was it. For six hours, there was not one fish landed.

It points out the difficulties of getting these fish to hit at times. They are moody fish, especially during this prespawn period. They also react to changes in the weather, and yesterday was a big change to hot weather. So, it all points out that things are not always hot in the world of carp fishing, just like any other fishing.

Mirror Madness

I am "in a zone" right now and can do nothing wrong. In the last few days, I have had unbelievable fishing, especially fishing for mirror carp. I have been targeting the Blackstone River in MA and RI where the action has been terrific. The numbers of the last few days read like this: 1 fish over 25 lbs., 5 fish over 20 lbs. and 9 fish over 17 lbs. There have been lots of other smaller ones! At one point, I had 6 eighteen pound mirrors in a row before I got a smaller fish! My biggest was a mirror of 28 lbs. (see photo), the biggest mirror I have ever caught in 20 years of fishing the Blackstone River.

My key to success is what I have been preaching in previous posts. Prebait, fish the margins and use wild whiskey maize. I am also using an oatmeal based method ball that is packed around the sinker. That method ball is flavored with chili powder. The fish are hitting in the daytime and at night.

Fish the Margins

I am having a banner year of carp fishing and I credit that to learning to fish the margins. In carp fishing lingo, that means fishing close to shore where the shoreline drops off. It doesn't matter whether I am fishing the Blackstone River or most of the carp ponds in the state, I am now catching most of my fish quite close to shore.

I was fishing the Blackstone River last night and I was simply using a flip cast to get my rig out about 15 feet in front of me. I landed several good sized mirrors to 18 lbs. That spot where the shoreline dropped off was where the fish were hanging out. A day before I did the same thing while fishing Scott's Pond in the morning and Roger Williams Park in the evening. That day I had 6 fish from 10-20 lbs. fishing very close to shore.

My tip here is try to avoid that long cast that often lands in dead water. Prebait the margins and then fish it close to shore. In addition, get some wild whiskey maize on that hair rig.....very hot stuff right now. Learning to fish the margins has been my ticket to some great success with big fish this year!