Some Like it HOT

Carp fishing has been very good for me in this
heat.  This mirror was landed yesterday evening.

 I'm on a real good streak of carp fishing right now.  I've been getting very good numbers of fish, and they seem to be quite active (jumping, bubble trails, grubbing in the shallows).  It all seems to coincide with this hot streak we are experiencing with the weather.  It's been so hot I've limited my fishing to a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours before dark in the evening.  The before dark fishing has been the best. My best bait continues to be a kernel of maize with a kernel of white artificial corn on the hair rig with no method ball.

While the carp have been active in this heat, other undesirables have also been super active.  The turtles have been a big menace, often stealing the real maize on my hair rig.  These smart son-of-a-guns will not touch the plastic but have a way of picking off the maize without being detected on the alarm.  I'm talking sun turtles as well as snapping turtles.  When this happens, I will throw out a longer cast into deeper water which the turtles tend to avoid.  By the way, avoid using a method ball since the turtles REALLY are attracted to that. 

3rd Place Finish in National CAG Big 4 Spring Tournament

 

This was my biggest carp landed in the 
tournament.  It weighed 35 lbs., 4 oz.
It was a potential state record and was released.

The CAG Big 4 Spring Tournament has concluded.  This is one of CAG's signature events and it featured about 60 of the best carp fishermen in the county competing to see who could accumulate the most poundage with their four biggest fish.  You could fish anywhere in the US, and we had entries from many different states. The tournament started on March 15 and ran till June 15.

I had one of my better years in this year's event. Yes, little Rhode Island has some great carp fishing and some real big fish to boot.  My four biggest fish for the event were 35 lbs., 4 oz.,  32 lbs., 10 oz., 31 lbs., 8  oz. and 31 lbs., 4 oz. That gave me a grand total of 130 lbs., 10 oz. and earned me THIRD place. All my fish came from RI waters.  Note that my two biggest fish were potential state records which were released.

The top ten finishers were awarded gift certificates to Big Carp Tackle.  My prize for third place was a $100 gift certificate.

This year's event was not easy here in New England.  The weather was ever changing- cold, hot, rainy, sunny, windy with no consistency. For the most part, my fishing was inconsistent, but I did manage to bank a lot of great fish between 25 and 35 lbs., just what I was looking for.

Here are the final results of the Spring Big 4.

Change in Strategy Delivers BIG Day

 

I had a big day in some crappy weather yesterday
as the carp were on the feed.

I had been having a very poor June.  I spent a lot of time targeting big carp in my big carp spots.  When you go after the big girls, expect a lot of blanks, and I was getting them.  So, I decided to make a change yesterday and head to some of the productive spots I used to fish.  It paid off in a big way. Once again, the rods were bent and the alarms were singing.

I ended the day with 11 carp on the bank.  While I had no real large fish, these were all good looking 8 to 13 lb. carp that were very aggressive.  This was all done cold turkey with no prebaiting ahead of time.  

Yesterday was one of those ideal carp fishing days.  It was overcast and cool with light rain and drizzle. Maybe because of the weather, the carp were charged up.  I saw a lot of jumps, mud clouds and bubble trails. I also saw many carp prowling around the shallows, so close that I could have touched them with my rod. I landed all my fish on a combo bait of maize and a white artificial corn fished on the hair rig.

It was great to get in on the action again. These were not 25 or 30 lb. fish, but I'll take it.

May Results for RI CAG Big 3 Tournament

 

Brian Savage logged in this 24 lb.,
12 oz. mirror. A beauty!

The second leg of our RI CAG Spring Big 3 Tournament is in the books, and once again, our members logged in some impressive fish.  We have one more month, June, to go, and it looks like the tournament will go down to the wire! The results listed below list the April and May fish along with the totals thus far.

1. Dave- 31/8 + 35/4= 66/12

2. Scott- 20 + 25/8= 45/12

3. Brian- 20/8 + 24/12= 45/4

4. Tom- 19/7+ 24/10=44/1

5. Evan- 23+20/8= 43/8

6. Daphne- 20+15/3= 35/3

7. Tony- 23/4

Evan Aziz logged in this 20 lb., 8 oz. common.
Nice going.