Photo of the Day- "Yes, They do Hit at Night"

 

Yes, they do bite at night.  With the cooler nights and darkness
setting in earlier and earlier, it might be time to fish a
night session.  I landed this high 20 tonight after dark.

15 Minutes of Insanity

The biggest fish of the day was this 31 lb. 
common. I was the biggest carp I have ever 
caught in August here in RI.

 I went out carp fishing yesterday. I was fishing a spot that had been producing some fish in the last week. It was interesting that in recent outings I would catch my fish in bunches. Nothing for an hour and then two or three fish in a short period of time, like in a half to an hour.

On this day, I put two rods out baited with a combo bait of a kernel of maize and a white artificial pop up corn on the hair rig. I sat for an hour and a half without so much as a twitch on the rod tip. Then, a screaming alarm broke the silence and boredom, and I was onto my first carp of the day.  Nothing special, maybe a ten pounder. While I was unhooking that one, my other alarm goes off.  This time it was a bigger fish, and soon I had a twenty pounder in the net. I unhooked and released that one and casted out both rods.  I no sooner put those on the alarm when I get another runner. I knew I had a bigger fish on since this one moved very slowly and hugged the bottom, a sure sign of a biggie. I never saw this fish until it was right at the net, and it was a "wow" at first sight.  This was a big fish. Once on shore I got it into my weigh sling, attached the scale and it pulled the scale down to exactly 31 lbs., 6 oz., making this the biggest carp I have ever landed in  the month of August. After a quick photo and a release I went to cast out this rod when the other alarm went off. Once again, I was onto a decent fish. Once close to shore I knew I had another large one, but not a thirty.  This one turned out to be 25 lbs.

ALL OF THIS HAPPENED IN A TIME SPAN OF 15 MINUTES!!!

And, that was it.  I stayed another hour and a half and never got another hit. But, today's action would turn out to be one of the best and wildest 15 minutes I ever experienced in carp fishing.

Photo of the Day- "Another Double Header in the Net!"

 

It's another double header in the net. The fishing has
been better than average lately as I have scored good
numbers of carp as well as some big ones.

What is a GHOST Carp?

 Yesterday I had a carp on that I fought to the net.  When I looked in the water, the fish resembled a white sheet swimming around.  I knew right away I had a ghost carp or a "ghostie".

Ghost carp are common carp that have a whiteish glow to them in the water.  Once out of the water you can see they are very light in color with almost a white/gold body.  They tend to have white/gold heads with splotches of normal coloring.  They also tend to have white dorsal fins, and frequently they have orange colored tails and orange bottom fins. They are some of the most beautiful carp you'll ever see. In all my years fishing. I've only caught a few, so yesterday's fish was special!

This is yesterday's ghost carp. Note the light body,
gold splotchy head, white dorsal fin and orange
tail and bottom fins.

200th Carp of the Year- A DOUBLE HEADER!

 

A double header in the net-
fish nos. 200 and 201 on the year.

I landed my 200th carp of the year and at the same time got number 201! Yup, a double header.  It's always a frantic event when you get two on at the same time.  Today, I was fighting one fish and just barely got it to the net when the other alarm went off.  I scooped fish number 1 into the net, and quickly grabbed rod #2.  I fought that one and scooped it into the net which already had a fish in it. In all the confusion, I never got a good look at the fish until they were in shallow water.  As it turns out, the smaller one was 15 lbs. while the larger on was 20 lbs., real decent fish for the dead of summer.

Surprisingly, the fishing in the last few days has been very good in this heat.  I am getting them all sizes from small 3 and 4 lb. footballs up to 20 lb. hogs.  The hot bait continues to be a combo bait of one kernel of maize along with a white, plastic pop-up corn on the hair rig.  I have been chumming maize before fishing and during my sessions.

Bait Preferences Can Change

 

Here's the hot bait right now.
It's a combo bait of a white,
plastic artificial corn with a
kernel of maize on the hair rig.

A couple of weeks ago, I was catching pretty good on a combo bait of a pink Mainline Quad along with a kernel of maize on the hair rig. This was a good size bait and those bigger baits tend to work well right after the spawn. Then, the hits stopped, and I went a couple of days without a fish.  So, I decided to go back to my old favorite from the springtime.  That was a combo bait of a white plastic artificial corn along with a kernel of maize on the hair rig. It was also a smaller bait.  Well, that did the trick as I am now catching again with some consistency.  In the last week, I was able to catch good numbers of carp from 5 to 20 lbs., all on the pop-up and maize. By the way, I have not been using pack bait or method mix because the turtles have been super active in this heat.

The fish also continue to hit in this heat.  I've been mainly out in the cooler time of the day, the morning, and generally fish until early afternoon when the weather is too hot to stand. I've seen a good amount of activity in this heat as fish are jumping and bubble trails can be seen on the surface.

Results for 2024 RI CAG Spring Big 3 Tournament

 Our 2024 RI CAG Big 3 Tournament has ended.  This event ran for three months.  Members who took part entered their biggest carp for the month of April, their biggest for May and their biggest for June.  We add up all those weights and that is the total number of points.  All carp had to be caught in RI and all had to be released in good shape. Gold, silver and bronze medals donated by CAG will be awarded to the top three finishers. Congrats to everyone who entered.  Some real quality fish landed!

Here are the results:

1. Dave- 29/12 + 32/2 + 31= 92/14

2. Brian- 25/8 + 25/14 + 22/11 = 74/1

3. Tom- 12/6 + 20/11 + 19/4 = 52/5

4. Evan- 10/6 + 16/9 + 16/6 = 43/5

5. Tony- 19 +10 =29 

6. Scott- 10/10 + 9/1 = 19/11

7. Manny- 19

Dave- gold medal. Here was the biggest carp 
in the tournament at 32 lbs., 2 oz.

Brian- silver medal.  Here was the biggest mirror
entered at 22 lbs., 11 oz.

Tom- bronze medal. Here is a 20 lb., 11 oz. common,
Tom's biggest in the tournament.