White Pop-Ups Hot

In the last few days of lousy weather I have caught a lot of carp and a lot of big ones.  ALL of those fish have been caught on the same bait..... two kernels of maize combined with a kernel of white, floating, artificial ESP corn which acts as a pop-up to my baits.  This artificial gives the bait some lift, something the carp find appealing when nudging a bait.  The pop-up makes a big difference in your bait and often separates those who are catching and those who are blanking.

This is a hot bait
combination right
now...2 kernels of
maize and one kernel
of white artificial corn.

Color is an interesting thing in carp fishing.  Back in the spring I was using a lot of pink and orange artificials in combination with sweet corn or maize.  Those were hot colors for spring carp fishing.  Yet, it is the white that is working best for me this fall. I've seen this pattern in other years where certain colors work better than others in different seasons. I've noted this fall that if I am fishing two outfits and one has an orange pop-up and one has a white, the white is getting far more fish for me.
So, carp fishing is constant experimentation to find what catches best.  Right now it is the WHITE pop-up in combination with maize.

Heavy Rain, Gusty Winds Light up Fishing

I've carp fished in hurricanes, tropical storms and northeasters, and I can tell you that for two hours this
morning the weather was as nasty as anything I've fished in. The rain was falling in wind driven sheets. And, like all those other bad weather days, today's storm just lit up the fishing. The fish were active and charged up, more so than I have seen them since the spring and early summer.  They were rolling around, sending off bubble trails, shooting out of the water like missiles and they were HITTING.  I put 11 fish on the bank today with sizes going upwards to 20 lbs.  I also had a lot of other bangs, hits and taps.  These were not horned pout or turtles.  They are not active in this nasty weather.

The hot bait today was a combination of maize and a white pop-up artificial corn fished on the hair rig.  I was using a method ball ahead of the bait.  With nasty weather forecast for the next few days, it will be an opportune time to get out and fish. Bring on the wind and rain!

This large carp coming to the net was one of 11 fish landed today during the storm.

Nighttime Action Far Outpacing Daytime

This was one of three carp landed
tonight after dark. Hair rigged maize
did the trick.

Things have perked up a bit in the last few days for me.  That's because I am fishing much more at night.  The same spots that will not produce as much as a twitch in the daytime are giving up three or four runners in the dark of night.  Not exactly hot fishing, but not blanking either.
Tonight I got out for a couple of hours after dark.  I had four screaming runs.  Man, that screeching alarm really cuts through the quiet of darkness and gets the adrenalin rushing.  I landed three out of the four runs.  They amounted to two mirrors and a common and all were under ten pounds. While not large fish, they were feisty.  All were caught on hair rigged maize with no method ball.
As I drove home the temperature outside was a cool 49 degrees.  With cold nights forecast for this week, the carp fishing should continue to perk up here in RI.

Typical September Slump

This good size mirror was the
highlight of the day. It was caught
after dark on maize.

I'm in my usual September slump. This happens just about every year, but it seems to be worse this year due to the warm days, the relatively warm nights, the extremely low water and the lack of rain and storminess. In most years September does turn out to be my worst month numbers-wise, and it is following the same pattern this month.
So far in September I have 42 carp.  Most fishermen would think that is pretty good but all the other months this year I have averaged about 75-80 carp a month with several months over 100 fish. It is not for lack of trying. For example, I got out this morning and fished till early afternoon in two good spots.  Got nothing.  Then I went out again this evening. After two hours of trying, I thought I was going to blank until an alarm sounded well after dark.  I got that fish, a mirror of about ten pounds  and shortly after nailed another one. Considering the time I spent fishing today, it was not good.
Note that Kev Wasliewski, one of our best carp fishermen in RI, wrote about this same topic in his Dark Carping Blog. I think we are experiencing the same September slump.
This marginal fishing has prompted me to fish a lot more at saltwater in September.  It's a different story there as the fishing has been excellent.  There have been big numbers of false albacore, big bluefish and lots of stripers. You might want to check out the action on my striper blog.

Pic of the Day

A good size September common was the best fish of the day.

Nighttime Producing

Here's nice mirror caught a few nights ago on maize.

Most carp fishermen who know me know that I don't fish a lot after dark for carp.  My schedule on most days is to fish for carp in the morning/early afternoon and then fish for stripers in the evening/nighttime.  Can't be two places at the same time!  But, fall is the time of year I do fish more and more for carp at night. With darkness setting in early, I will go out at night and try for them when I am not fishing at saltwater.
In the last week I have fished a number of times for carp after dark, and it has been good. Other RI CAG members have also been scoring decent fish at night. Carp will go on  the feed in fall and with water temperatures still warm.  And, with the air temps relatively mild at night, carp fishing is just as productive at night as it is in the daytime.
It's done the same way at night as in the daytime.  Baits at the same, good spots remain good.  The one thing I have noticed, though, is that carp will feed much closer to shore after dark.  That cover of darkness gives them a sense of security, and they will sometimes come so close to shore that I have spooked them right in front of me when getting up from my chair.
Night fishing will work well until the weather turns colder.  It works terrific in Sept. and Oct, but quickly dies out when the nighttime temperatures really drop in November.  So, if nighttime fishing is your thing, it's prime time right now.

Rain, Cool Weather Light Up the Fishing

Up until yesterday I had been having a poor start to September. For the first nine days I had caught exactly ten fish, and I had put in a lot of effort to get those ten.  That was during that hot, humid weather, tough conditions to catch in.
Things started to change for me yesterday as I got out and landed three good size commons up into the teens.  If things were looking up yesterday, it was out of sight today.  My friend and fellow RI CAGer Nick and I got out this morning.  Together we landed a whopping 20 carp, and they were all decent size (see pics at left and right) running up into the mid to upper teens. We probably lost another five fish on the way in and had several more runners that we missed.  It was simply fabulous fishing for this time of year.
And, everything seemed to be working in the last two days. The carp were caught on sweet corn, maize, boilies, chick peas and artificials. All of these baits were fished ahead of a method ball.  Just everything seemed to work as the carp were on the feed.
This is what happens when the carp turn on in the fall. It can be poor in the hot weather, but get a change, a little rain and cooler weather and it just lights up!