calling to carp anglers

[Loggerhead Mike]

we went out to our honny hole in the river that runs threw our town rite above the lake/dam. we usually catch catfish left and rite but the bit was slow. there were fish hitting top water all around us but wernt jumping out like bass except a few, then a huge carp hits the top water rite next to our boat so i recon thats what they all were

after that we started slaying the carp just using nite crawlers. ive never seen so many carp hitting top water like that before and i fish this place a few times a week

my ? is what was going on? it was a hot sunny day and we got a good rain shower before we headed out. could they have been spawning or somthing? i know the lake/ river is full of them, ive just never seen them splashing all around like they were

I ended up catching a 4-5 lb'r with 1 eye. on his missing eye you could see the end of a hook where the skin had grown over it. pretty neat! ill try and get a picture up but its from my pos cell

we ran out of worms from the gills but we ended up landing 5 carp in 30 min from 2-5 lbs

 

[jtw33029]

You said it was a hot day right? Do you know what kind of carp they were? Grass carp will feed almost twice as much when the water gets warm. Spawning usually occurs in spring once the water gets above 63 degrees, and usually takes place in long stretches of river because their eggs have a long incubation period. So it is quite possible that spawning was taking place. Grass carp came consume up 75% of there body weight daily and even more when they are under the 6 pound mark. when they are feeding a lot on top water its mainly due to a lack of vegetation on the bottom. Which sounds likely because while they do eat worms its not their preferred diet. If available they will almost exclusively eat vegetation.

Here is a picture of one I caught recently so you can see if in fact we are talking about the same kind of carp.

i know its not the greatest picture because you can't see the head but the are rather difficult to hold.

 

[Brine]

If they were up shallow, they were probabaly spawning.

For the ones that are jumping out of the water in deeper water, I've heard everything from it being males trying to attract females, carp cleaning their gills since they root around on bottom so much... Don't know if anyone has the answer. All I know is my tourney partner insists on throwing his bass lures at them each time he sees them cuz he swears it's a bass. :roll:

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

they were the same color but the mouth is more on the bottom of there face like a sucker fish. im going to try and look it up

 

[slim357]

Id guess spawning I was out the other day and thats what they were doing here, id see 3 and 4 fish bunched together hittin stuff on top, even had one try for a basstrix

 

[DocWatson]

Those would be Common Carp in either spawn or post spawn behavior. They tear up the water this time of year, jumping and splashing in the shallows. Were they actually hitting the topwater lures or were you foul hooking them. They will hit lures on top, but it's not normal behavior.

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

yah i beleave they are just common carp from the images i can find on the net.

we were just tossing worms in the channel that runs along the bank on a turn. the bank is full of catfish holes and they are usually pretty active.

im gonna throw some top waters when i go out tomaro and see if i can get one to break my pole again. 4 lb carp is a blast on a crappie pole w/ 6lb test. alittle ducktape and it should be good to go for another round :mrgreen:

 

[Brine]

Bring you a bag of Cheetos to munch on, and make a ball with a few that have been crushed up. Bury a treble inside and put it about 18" from a swivel and egg sinker. Reel up all the slack and set your drag super loose until you hear the zzzzzzzzzzzeeennnnggggg.

 

[russ010]

mentioning carp - I saw some pretty amazing stuff this past sunday while I was bass fishing.. I heard some commotion going on around the cove so I went to check it out. I saw fish literally coming out of the water onto land and just thrashing around til they got back in the water. I stayed as far back as I could cast throwing flukes and everything else (I though it was bass feeding on baitfish)... I noticed a gold back on one of them and thought it was strange so I went in closer... turns out it was schools of carp just tearing the place up. Some of them were over 36" long, and they weren't bothered by me and I was right in the middle of them. They went under my boat, all around it, but I couldn't get one to bite. I finally left and noticed them schooling all over the place, even out in open water.

There were a few loners, but most were in schools of 4-6... the water temp was 73*

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

thanks for the tip brine ima give it a try

glad to hear im not the only one thats seen these carp going crazy

 

[mr.fish]

My best guess would be that they are spawning, but usually the feeding is very minimum while doing so. So can't say for sure. Right place at the right time I guess.