500

This mirror was carp number 500 on the year!

 I landed my 500th carp of the year today on this beautiful late fall day. It was a mirror that weighed about 10 to 12 lbs. I keep extensive logs on my fishing so I knew I needed just one fish to reach number 500.  I ended up getting 10!  If you asked me back in July if I'd get to 500, I'd say no way. This year I was committed to chasing down big fish, and it's often difficult to catch good numbers of big ones as well as big numbers. But, the second half of 2024 proved to be very good with good numbers as well as many big ones.  In fact, this has been the best second half of the year (from August to now) that I've had in a long time.

I attribute the good carp fishing in the second half of the year to low water.  Carp are always easier to catch when the water is low rather than when it's high and flooded.  In high water the carp have just too many places to hide.  Many places are inaccessible in high water.  River currents are also hard to fish when the water is high and really moving.

The window on carp fishing is slowly closing as the ice is coming soon (maybe next week), and that will put an end to pond fishing. Even today I found skim ice along the shoreline this morning. While carp can still be caught in river currents in the dead of winter, they are often lethargic and unwilling to hit.