The Birthday Carp- 31 lbs., 6 oz.

 I celebrated my 76th birthday today as I usually do- by going fishing.  In the past I have mostly gone striper fishing on my birthday, and I landed some memorable stripers on Sept. 27th. But, today's severe northeaster and monstrous waves put a crimp in that plan.  So, I figured I would pack my heavy duty rain gear and head out carp fishing in the hopes of catching a memorable carp to celebrate. How does 31 lbs., 6 ounces sound!!!

I got the big hog in some on and off heavy rain and wind, something carp just love (check out previous post).  The fish hit a combo bait of maize and a white artificial corn fished on a hair rig, my best bait this year. I also had three other carp between 8 and 15 lbs.

Thirty pounders are very tough to catch here in RI, and I know this is the biggest carp I have ever landed on my birthday. What a way to celebrate!

My birthday carp- 31 lbs., 6 oz.!

Carp Hitting in the Northeaster!

 It's taken a stormy northeaster to end the late summer doldrums and get the carp feeding. Carp love stormy weather; carp fishermen for the most part avoid it.  Yet, there are lots of opportunities to make some great catches in storms like northeasters, tropical storms and even hurricanes. Storms get the carp into a high energy mood and they can feed with reckless abandon in the lousiest of days.

I was out fishing the last three days in these big winds and heavy rain. I had been doing very little the previous week of beautiful weather averaging one fish an outing. Yet, the catches have piled up in this stormy weather. In the last three days I've banked 11 carp up to 28 lbs. and lost a few more. That's quality fishing for this time of year which would not have been possible without the nasty weather.

So, if you don't mind the wind and rain, put on some quality rain gear and head out to your favorite carp fishing venue. Northeasters offer some of the best opportunities to catch good numbers of carp as well as big ones. We've got another few days of this weather.

Big CAG Tournaments Highlight September

 

I'm on the board on the CAG Big 4 Tournament
with this 25 lb., 8 oz. common caught on Sept. 1.

September starts the calendar of fall tournaments for CAG.  We have one big tournament day called the CCC, and we start two other tournaments, the CAG Fall Big 4 and the RI CAG Fall Combo.  Here are the details:

CCC- This tournament called the CAG Carp Classic will be a big one day event held on the Seneca River in Baldwinsville, NY.  This is the Super Bowl of CAG Tournaments and a North American Carp Champion will be crowned in this event. At least one of our RI CAG members has entered.  Expect expert carp anglers from all over the US to converge on this popular event.

CAG Big 4-  This national carp tournament runs from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 and features carp fishermen from all over the country competing.  They will enter their biggest 4 carp by weight.  It awards well over a thousand dollars in prizes and gift certificates to the top ten finishers as well as regional winners.  In the past our RI CAG guys and gals have done very well in this event.

RI CAG Fall Combo- This tournament, open to all CAG members runs from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30.  The idea here is to enter your biggest common, your biggest mirror and a bonus fish (catfish or sucker).  Fish are entered by length.  Total up the inches and that's how we get the winners. All fish entered must be caught in RI waters.  Medals donated by CAG go the the first, second and third place finishers.

Winner- Essence of Carp Fishing Photo Contest for August

 I was recently informed that my entry into CAG's monthly photo contest has won the first prize for August.  That was a $100 gift certificate to Big Carp Tackle.  CAG runs this monthly event, called Essence of Carp Fishing, for members.  Members can enter two photos per month. The winner gets the gift certificate while the 2nd and 3rd place finishers win engraved medals.

My winning entry was a black and white photo of me releasing a carp.  It was taken with my iphone 13 Pro using voice activation while the the camera sat in a holder on a bankstick!

Our RI CAG members have done very well in this event as RI CAGers have won first place for the last three months. It's just another perk that's out there for CAG members.

First Place- CAG Essence of Carp Fishing Photo Contest

UNEVENTFUL

 

While I wrote that July carp fishing turned out to be better than expected for me, I have to say that August fishing, so far, has been uneventful.  The small ones continue to hit but not in big numbers.  I still manage to get a decent one every once in a while. Earlier in the week I had a 20, but for every fish over twenty pounds, I probably land 15 small ones under ten pounds.  Still, the skunks have been rare as I have been able to catch 1,2, or 3 carp on just about every outing in August. 

This is August fishing in some real hot weather. It's not great but not poor either.  Just simply uneventf

August fishing has been uneventful with fair 
numbers of small ones.

ul! Things will change as we begin to see the cooler days and nights in September.

By the way, the turtles (both sun turtles and snappers) continue to be a big problem as they are super active in this warm weather.  Just can't seem to get away from them. I have to reel in often and check to see if the bait is still on the hair as they will steal it without as much as a twitch on the rod tip.

Small Ones in Abundance

Here's a "hand size" carp that I landed today.
Small ones tend to dominate the summer fishing.
They are feisty and tend to zip around on the fight.

 I'm fishing many of the same places that I landed big carp in the spring. Yet, lately it has been mostly small ones.  In the heat of summer smaller carp generally dominate the daytime fishing.  I was out today for a few hours in the morning.  I landed 4 commons.  They were all under ten pounds with the smallest going about four pounds.

I will say that those small five or six pounders are really feisty and put on a show on the fight.  They will generally run off the alarm on the hit and zip around as you battle them to shore. They are incredibly fast for their size unlike the big ones that can be heavy and slow while digging the bottom on the fight.

I continue to catch my fish on hair rigged maize and a white artificial corn.  If you are going to fish for carp at this time of year, avoid a lot of bait like using a method ball.  Turtles key on these big bait offerings and will not leave you alone.

Hot Weather /Hot Fishing- July Turning out to be a Decent Month

 

Here's a good size mirror resting in some 
shallow water before release. July fishing
has been as hot as the weather!

As past Julys go, they are usually slow carp fishing months. Not this year.  I am working on a good July numbers-wise and size-wise. The weather has been generally hot and the water has been super warm, but the carp continue to hit well. So far I've landed 64 carp in July with still a week to go. I've also had some decent ones.  I've had 8 fish over 20 lbs. with the biggest going 27 lbs. July is not regarded as a big fish month but this July has produced some good size fish.

I have to admit that the turtles has been a Royal pain in the you know what! Both snappers and sun turtles have been messing with my bait. I'm generally using a combo bait of real maize and a white pop-up plastic corn on a hair rig.  They will take off the real maize and will not touch the plastic artificial.  Yet, the carp will not hit my bait unless I have that kernel of the real stuff on the hair rig.  So, I'm reeling in more often than usual just to check that I have my bait.

Note that I have been fishing mostly the coolest parts of the day- mornings and evenings.  I also keep an eye on the weather and have fished a lot in the rain or the day after it rains.  It seems like the cooling rain drops the water temperature and the carp feed well afterwards. That's always been the pattern in the dead of summer.