Dealing with Fussy Fish

Just one small kernel of
maize on a small hair rig
with no sinker did the trick
with fussy fish.

This mirror went for the one
kernel of corn on the
freelined (no sinker)
rig.

This summer has been a struggle for me. The numbers and the sizes have just not been  there even though I have tried many different places.  Same story all over for me- slow fishing.
Today was an interesting day, though. I was in a place where I was getting hits.  I know they were carp because I saw some cruising around. They would pick up my combo bait of maize and artificial corn, go to run with it and drop it.  I knew I was dealing with fussy fish. So, I made some big changes.  I took off my rig and sinker rig and tied on just a hair rigged, small, #10 hook with a short hooklink. No sinker.  I decided to freeline just one one small kernel of maize on a weightless set up, something I have done in the past with fussy carp. That did the trick.  Within minutes, the alarm was screaming and I was onto a fish that turned out to be about a six pound mirror.
I wish I could tell you I killed the fish, but the truth is that I only landed one more fish today. Oh well, with the way things have been going, I'll take two fish in this morning's outing!

A Summer Surprise Leads to a Summer Hat Trick!

This was the surprise of the day!

I got quite the surprise today when I caught a beautiful white and orange koi. Over the years I have caught only a few of these so this was a special fish.  In addition to the koi, I also landed a good size common and a good size mirror, making this morning's catches a rare summer hat trick.  All these fish were caught on a combo bait of one kernel of maize and one, white, artificial corn fished on the hair rig.  I'm not using a method ball these days because it attracts too many turtles.

FINALLY....Number 500

This common, landed today, is number 500 on the year. Fishing
has been inconsistent lately.

It's been a grind for me this spring.  The carp fishing overall has been so inconsistent, maybe as a result of the weather. This extreme weather...very cold spring, very hot summer, real big rainstorms has played havoc with the fishing. Normally, I've got 500 carp by late June or early July, so I am way behind what I normally catch. I'm still hoping to hit a thousand fish this year, and I've got  five solid months to get it done. Things can get mighty hot mighty fast in this game.  We'll see what happens.
That 500th fish for the year turned out to be a common of about 6 or 7 lbs.  It hit a single kernel of maize threaded onto the hair rig.  I'm usually catching on plastic corn at this time of year, but they are not going for the plastics lately.  Today I had one outfit baited with plastics and one with real maize.  I landed three carp and they all went for the real stuff. I know full well that what happens today might not happen tomorrow and this fishing is a constant experiment for me.

Photo of the Day....Catching in the Heat

The hot weather is here, but the carp fishing remains productive.  This is one
of many landed this morning.  Plastic corn or combo baits of plastic corn/ maize
on the hair rig has done the trick. Carp adapt quite well to any weather.

In a Summer Mode

I landed this 5 lb. mirror two days ago
on maize and a pop-up fished on
a hair rig.

I landed this 10 lb. mirror today using
freelined maize fished right on top of
a bait pile close to shore.

I'm now in my summer mode.  I try to fish the coolest parts of the day, mainly the mornings. On these hot days I'm content to sit under a shady tree by the shore and catch what I can.  After chasing down big fish from May into mid June with heavy gear, it is nice to get a break and go after the more abundant smaller ones with light tackle.  I have also been mixing up how I do it. Some days I am freelining mulberries under a berry tree.  On other days I am fishing in tight to shore and freelining maize (one kernel on a hook, no hair rig) into a pile of bait I've chummed.  Still, on other days I am doing it the traditional way- hair rig with maize and a plastic corn.  It just depends where I am fishing, and how I want to approach it.
I went out this morning locally for a few hours.  I landed 4 carp, all mirrors.  They ranged from 5 to 15 lbs.  A couple of days ago I went out and fished in the morning again.  Landed 5 mirrors up to 10 lbs.  So, while the action has not been hot and heavy like the weather, it has still been good.  It's the dead of summer and the fishing is productive. I'll take it!

On the Mulberries

A hooked mulberry is ready to go.

This high teen mirror was caught a few days
ago on a mulberry.

It took a while to happen this year, but the mulberries are now dropping in southern New England.  If you know a place where berry bushes and trees exist along a lake shore or river bank, more than likely carp are waiting below for the berries to hit the water. Carp just love mulberries.
I've been fishing mulberries for the last ten days. I've landed good numbers of carp up to 25 lbs. while freeling them in various spots here in RI. So easy to do.  Simply tie a #8 hook onto the end of your line, impale a berry and toss it in.  Most likely a carp will rise up from the bottom and grab the berry as it hits the water.  One note here.  The carp get wise to this game very quickly. The wise ones will figure out which berry has a hook in it and ignore it.  Others will scatter when a fish is hook knowing something is "fishy" with this scene.

2019 RI CAG Spring Big 3 Tournament Results

Sean Reed...1st place, 73 lbs., 13 oz.

Brandon Dee....2nd place, 72 lbs., 7 oz.

We've been running this tournament for three months, and it is finally over.  And, the results are fantastic again this year. Members entered their biggest fish by weight for the months of April, May and June.  The weights were added together and that became their score.  All fish entered had to be caught in RI waters.
Our top three finishers are listed below along with their entries:
1. Sean Reed- 26/3 +27/13 + 19/13 = 73/13
2. Brandon Dee- 25/12 + 28/9 + 18/2 = 72/7
3. Brian Savage- 27/3 + 23/0 + 20/9 = 70/2
Others entering some quality fish included Laura Mitchell (4th), Tony Carvalho (5th), Tom Perron, Jeff Henderson and Manny Dias.
The top three finishers will get engraved medals provided by the national Carp Anglers Group.