Yes, They Hit After Dark

 

This mirror grabbed my bait just as it got dark.
Nighttime fishing can be very productive 
on fall nights.

As it gets dark earlier and earlier in the fall, I find myself fishing more and more after dark. The after dark fishing in the fall is just as productive as the daytime fishing at times. You do everything the same.  Just make sure to have a quality headlight with you and fish in safe locations.

I got out this evening and stayed till dark.  As often happens, the alarm sounded right when it turned dark. I ended up landing a nice mirror.  I was using a combo bait of maize and an artificial on a hair rig. I'm still not using method mix due to active turtles. 

Some of our RI CAG guys spend a lot of time fishing at night.  They do real well with numbers and sizes of fish.

September Results for RI CAG Fall Combo Tournament

 
The first leg of our RI CAG Fall Combo Tournament is in the books.  In this tournament, our members enter their biggest common, their biggest mirror and their biggest bonus fish (catfish or white sucker).  The fish are measured to the nearest inch and we add up those inches and that becomes the point total.  All fish entered must be caught in RI water and RI rules and regulations must be followed. The tournament runs from September to the end of November.  Here are the results so far:

(common + mirror + bonus)

Dave- 38 + 30 +17

Evan- 30 + 25 + 19

Scott- 29 + 0 +15

Westin- 32+ 0 + 28 1/2

Brian- 0 + 0 +18 1/2

Tom- 0 +28 +0

It's still early in the tournament and anyone can take that gold medal.  In the past the bonus fish has figured big in this tournament! Good luck to all.  Two months to go!

The biggest fish landed in the tournament so far
is this 38 inch common carp.

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.