What is a GHOST Carp?

 Yesterday I had a carp on that I fought to the net.  When I looked in the water, the fish resembled a white sheet swimming around.  I knew right away I had a ghost carp or a "ghostie".

Ghost carp are common carp that have a whiteish glow to them in the water.  Once out of the water you can see they are very light in color with almost a white/gold body.  They tend to have white/gold heads with splotches of normal coloring.  They also tend to have white dorsal fins, and frequently they have orange colored tails and orange bottom fins. They are some of the most beautiful carp you'll ever see. In all my years fishing. I've only caught a few, so yesterday's fish was special!

This is yesterday's ghost carp. Note the light body,
gold splotchy head, white dorsal fin and orange
tail and bottom fins.

200th Carp of the Year- A DOUBLE HEADER!

 

A double header in the net-
fish nos. 200 and 201 on the year.

I landed my 200th carp of the year and at the same time got number 201! Yup, a double header.  It's always a frantic event when you get two on at the same time.  Today, I was fighting one fish and just barely got it to the net when the other alarm went off.  I scooped fish number 1 into the net, and quickly grabbed rod #2.  I fought that one and scooped it into the net which already had a fish in it. In all the confusion, I never got a good look at the fish until they were in shallow water.  As it turns out, the smaller one was 15 lbs. while the larger on was 20 lbs., real decent fish for the dead of summer.

Surprisingly, the fishing in the last few days has been very good in this heat.  I am getting them all sizes from small 3 and 4 lb. footballs up to 20 lb. hogs.  The hot bait continues to be a combo bait of one kernel of maize along with a white, plastic pop-up corn on the hair rig.  I have been chumming maize before fishing and during my sessions.

Bait Preferences Can Change

 

Here's the hot bait right now.
It's a combo bait of a white,
plastic artificial corn with a
kernel of maize on the hair rig.

A couple of weeks ago, I was catching pretty good on a combo bait of a pink Mainline Quad along with a kernel of maize on the hair rig. This was a good size bait and those bigger baits tend to work well right after the spawn. Then, the hits stopped, and I went a couple of days without a fish.  So, I decided to go back to my old favorite from the springtime.  That was a combo bait of a white plastic artificial corn along with a kernel of maize on the hair rig. It was also a smaller bait.  Well, that did the trick as I am now catching again with some consistency.  In the last week, I was able to catch good numbers of carp from 5 to 20 lbs., all on the pop-up and maize. By the way, I have not been using pack bait or method mix because the turtles have been super active in this heat.

The fish also continue to hit in this heat.  I've been mainly out in the cooler time of the day, the morning, and generally fish until early afternoon when the weather is too hot to stand. I've seen a good amount of activity in this heat as fish are jumping and bubble trails can be seen on the surface.

Results for 2024 RI CAG Spring Big 3 Tournament

 Our 2024 RI CAG Big 3 Tournament has ended.  This event ran for three months.  Members who took part entered their biggest carp for the month of April, their biggest for May and their biggest for June.  We add up all those weights and that is the total number of points.  All carp had to be caught in RI and all had to be released in good shape. Gold, silver and bronze medals donated by CAG will be awarded to the top three finishers. Congrats to everyone who entered.  Some real quality fish landed!

Here are the results:

1. Dave- 29/12 + 32/2 + 31= 92/14

2. Brian- 25/8 + 25/14 + 22/11 = 74/1

3. Tom- 12/6 + 20/11 + 19/4 = 52/5

4. Evan- 10/6 + 16/9 + 16/6 = 43/5

5. Tony- 19 +10 =29 

6. Scott- 10/10 + 9/1 = 19/11

7. Manny- 19

Dave- gold medal. Here was the biggest carp 
in the tournament at 32 lbs., 2 oz.

Brian- silver medal.  Here was the biggest mirror
entered at 22 lbs., 11 oz.

Tom- bronze medal. Here is a 20 lb., 11 oz. common,
Tom's biggest in the tournament.

Hitting in this Heat

 

Here's an upper teen common
coming to the net. The fishing has
held up well in this heat.

Carp fishing has held up well in this latest heat wave.  I've been out just about every day in the past week, and while I have not been killing them, it has been a steady pick of fish here in RI. I've also landed a good number of carp in the 15 to 20 lb. range, so the sizes are there too. I'm getting a mix of commons and mirrors.

I've focused my fishing on the coolest parts of the day, doing double duty of fishing in the mornings and evenings. With striper fishing dreadfully poor, I've been focused more on carp in the last week.

It might be my imagination, but I do believe the carp have moved into slightly deeper water that I believe is cooler. I'm not having as much luck fishing the shallows as I was a few weeks ago.

My hot bait continues to be a combo bait of one pink Quad (from Mainline Baits) along with a kernel of maize on the hair rig.  I am not using method mix these days due to the high level of activity on the part of snapping turtles.  Those tanks just love this heat and seem to be everywhere.

Photo of the Week- "Nice Job, DAD!"

 One of our premier carp anglers in RI, CAG member Tom Perron, holds a near 20 lb. mirror carp that he caught on Father's Day.  His kids accompanied him on this outing, getting up at 5 AM to go with Dad. Now, that's a memory! Nice job everyone.

7th Place- CAG National Big 4 Tournament

 

This year I came in 7th place in the popular CAG Spring Big 4 Tournament. This is a real competitive event as 60 of the best carp anglers around the country duke it out, entering their 4 biggest carp landed from March 15 to June 15. You could fish anywhere in the US. It's tough to compete with these guys who fish some of the famed big carp waters and big rivers throughout the US.  Still, I managed to stay competitive, and I landed all my fish from RI waters.

I entered four thirty pound carp, no easy task here in RI, as thirty pound carp are few and far between. I had carp of 32 lbs., 2 oz., 31 lbs., 31 lbs. and 30 lbs., 4 oz. My overall total came out to 134 lbs., 6 oz. Gift certificates are awarded to the top ten finishers. I will be receiving a gift certificate from Carp Angler.com who sponsored our event.

I always try to shoot for a top ten finish in this event.  So, overall, I'm pleased with the results.

My final entry, a 31 lb. hog of a fish!