First Carp of 2023

 

My first carp of 2023!

I went out carp fishing today in this mild January weather.  It felt like fishing in late March or early April. In the past I have scored some nice carp in January during these mild spells and today was no exception. I landed this 13 lb. common on a combo bait of maize and a white artificial corn.  I was also using a small method ball packed around my sinker.

If you are trying for a carp in the middle of winter, you might try looking in "small places".  I'm talking ice free small shallow ponds, small rivers and canals. The carp have no place to hide in these smaller spots, and these bodies of water tend to heat faster making the carp more active.

With mild weather forecasted for later in the week, I expect the winter action to continue.

SHOWTIME!

 In a couple of weeks I begin doing my winter seminars at many of the big outdoor shows in New England.

My first show will be the New England Fishing and Outdoor Expo in Boxboro, MA at the Boxboro Regency.  This show runs three days on Jan. 27, 28 and 29.   This is a big fishing and outdoor show that covers freshwater fishing and saltwater fishing with a lot of exhibitors, displays, dealers and seminars. 

On Saturday, Jan. 28 at 11:00 AM, I will be running my all new saltwater seminar for 2023.  It is titled "Stripers from Shore and Kayak". This seminar will take show goers on a year long journey of catching stripers from both shore and kayak here in southern New England. It will outline some of the best lures, techniques and places to catch stripers from both shore and kayak.  The emphasis will be on catching after large stripers, slots and overslots.

I will change hats on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 11:00 AM as I do my freshwater carp fishing seminar.  My new carp fishing show for 2023 is titled "Understanding Carp- Choosing the Best Baits".  This show will feature rigging as well as baits to catch trophy size carp in southern New England.  It will be an eye opener and a wealth of information for those who are beginners as well as experienced carpers.

Making Boilies

 

Here's a bunch of strawberry flavored
boilies that I made this morning.

Happy New Year to all my loyal readers!

On this crappy morning I decided to make some boilies.  Remember last year I started making my own and had the best success with a strawberry flavored boilie. I caught a good number of carp while using them.

Here are the ingredients to make about 100 15mm boilies:

* Half box (8 oz.) plain bread crumbs

*1/2 cup corn starch

* 2 tablespoons of sugar

* 1 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

* 2 eggs

*half a box of strawberry jello

Mix all these ingredients in a big bowl and then knead the mix.  It should be the consistency of a snowball.  If too dry, add more egg.  If too wet, add more bread crumb.

At this point, you need to roll the mix into small ball shapes the size of a marble. I use a sausage gun from Big Carp Tackle and push a sausage onto a small rollaball table which will make 20 boilies at once.  You can also roll these by hand but it takes a long time. These tables can also be purchased at Big Carp Tackle.

Next, drop all the rolled balls into a pan of boiling water.  They will sink at first but after a minute or so, you will see them floating on the top.  They are now ready to be taken out and placed on a tray to dry.

I let mine dry overnight. I then package them in a zip lock bag and place them in the freezer until I am ready to use them.

Making your own boilies is time consuming, but far more inexpensive than buying them.

End of the Year Summary-2022

 

One of 8 thirties I landed this year. This pre spawn 
tank was landed in April. It was released.

There are two main takeaways from my 2022 carp fishing. This was a year of big fish, my best year ever in terms of the numbers of large carp over 20 lbs. that I landed.  On the other side of the coin, it was a year with far less fish than I'm used to catching.

It was the year of the big carp for me.  Here in RI it is tough, really tough, to land a 30 lb. carp.  Most fishermen who fish RI a lot would be happy to land one thirty pound fish.  We just don't have a lot of them that size.  But, I managed to land 8 over thirty pounds from RI waters this year, the most 30's I have ever landed in RI in a calendar year.  Of all those big fish, I had four fish that would have qualified as RI state records had I chosen to keep the fish, bring them to an official station and have them weighed (sure death for the fish).  Instead, I weighed those fish on my certified scale, snapped a quick photo and let them all go! Those four record fish tipped the scale at 32/8, 34, 36/8 and 35/4 lbs. All of them were caught in April and May.  In fact, I landed 7 of my thirties in the first half of the year and had only one other 30 lb. carp in mid November. The spring definitely fished better for big carp than the fall.

One of the most beautiful fish I landed this year
was this orange and black wild koi. It was 
released in good shape!

That big carp bonanza helped me to placing in the top 10 in both the Spring and Fall National Big 4 Tournaments sponsored by CAG.  I came in 4th place in the spring with 138/4 lbs., the best poundage I have ever gotten in this tournament.  In the Fall Big 4 I ended up in 8th place with 108/6 pounds.

The numbers were not there, though.  I was on a streak of at least 10 years with 700 or more fish until this year.  My total for 2022 was 440 carp.  I had 116 mirrors and 324 commons.  A lot of factors led to those low numbers.  I was targeting big fish in big venues. I landed good numbers of big ones, but the numbers took a hit. Invasive weed killed a lot of my spots, and many of my favorite places were unfishable from early summer to mid fall.  Water levels in the summer were also very low, which combined with the weed made fishing difficult.  The extremely hot weather also did not help. Finally, I found myself fishing in saltwater more for stripers since this was a record year for them.

Here's a few more stats from my logs:

*First carp of the year landed- Jan. 13

*Last carp of the year landed- Dec. 7

*Month with the most carp-  April, 68 carp

*Month with the most carp over 30 lbs.- April- 4 30's

*Best bait overall- one kernel of maize and one white artificial corn on the hair rig

* Number of carp released- ALL OF THEM!

Photo of the Day

 

Dec. 7, Nighttime, 60 degrees, carp hitting!

CAG National Big 4 Fall Tournament- 8th place

 

My biggest carp in the CAG Big 4 tournament
was this 30 lb., 4 oz. beauty. My four fish total
was 108 lbs., 4 oz., good for 8th place.

I recently competed in the CAG National Big 4 Tournament.  This tournament runs nationally for 2 months in October and November.  This year over 40 of the best carp fishermen in the US took part in this big event. The goal here was to enter your 4 biggest carp by weight.  You needed to provide photo evidence of the catches along with photos of your scale and the CAG logo. You could fish anywhere in the US. Prizes were awarded for the top 10 finishers.

I ended up in 8th place.  I always try to get into the top 10, but it seems to get harder and harder every year. You need to accumulate at least 100 points to have any chance of cracking the top 10 in this fall event.  Not easy if you are just concentrating your fishing here in RI.  So, I was pleased with the 8th place finish which got me a nice gift certificate to Big Carp Tackle, one of my favorite online stores.

My point total was 108 lbs., 6 oz.  I had carp of 30/2, 27/8, 26/8 and 24/4 pounds.  That gave me an average of over 27 lbs. a fish.  Fishing this fall was particularly difficult due to the changeable weather, and I had to really work to land these 4 big fish. All of these fish were released in good shape.

Yes, they hit in December!

 

This is one of six mirrors landed on
this stormy December 3rd.

I had the perfect set-up today.  It was rainy (heavy rain), very windy and warm.  The key was that the temperature was sixty degrees.  And, when you combine all those things, it should mean that carp fishing will light up even in the winter. And, it did today.

I had been in a late November/early December slump.  The weather had mostly taken a dive in late November, and the plummeting water temperatures just about shut down the fishing. But, as typically happens, these sudden warm-ups seem to perk things up.

I had a banner afternoon in the rain landing 6 mirrors. I was using what I call winter tactics. Small baits ( one small kernel of maize and a small white artificial corn), small hooks, small sinker and no method.  I was also fishing a "small" place.  I like to hit small, shallow ponds or rivers in the wintertime since those places are easier to explore. They also tend to warm up faster on a warm winter day.

Note that the carp were very sluggish today as they are in cold water.  There were no alarm screaming takes.  It was just tapping of the rods.  On the fight, they were also sluggish. And, when I got them to shore, handling them was like handling fish packed in ice.  They were that cold.

So, in this winter period coming up, it will be a pick,  They will hit some days; other days they will not. Your best bets will be days with a warm up or days following a warm night.